Commercial haylage supplier

[Hormonal Filly]

My mare is currently on Country Haylage as recommended by my vet. Fab quality, she looks good and hoping it’s helping her liver out.

It just costs £155 every 2 weeks as going through around one bale a day due to her being in. It’s given in several tiny holed nets but can’t cut how much she eats much more.

Can anyone recommend any other suppliers, South West? Would a 100kg bale be ok open for a week?

Thank you

 

[Widgeon]

We leave big wrapped bales of haylage open for a week (or a bit longer sometimes) and it's fine. So long as it's stored somewhere sheltered and not too hot it seems to keep without a problem.

 

[Archangel]

Wow, that is punchy costwise.

I have used 4ft bales (so around 350kg) for two horses and they got through it in about 10 days. I tucked the wrap back round the bale when I had taken a slice out.
The haylage was on the dry side anyway.

 

[cauda equina]

I pay £8.75 a bale for Marksway timothy, at a bale a day that would work out at £122.50 for 2 weeks; that's assuming the bales are a similar size to yours
I'm in East Anglia so buy it through my local feed merchant but it might be much cheaper direct

 

[eggs]

I use big bale haylage but am feeding 6 horses although the majority of their forage ration is hay rather than haylage. The bale should last fine although it it definitely lasts better in cold weather rather than hot.

Could you find a local supplier who would be happy to deliver you one or two bales at a time?

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Could you find a local supplier who would be happy to deliver you one or two bales at a time?

I’m trying to find someone local, one supplier is local but they only manufacture 20kg bags. The local feed merchant (Mole valley) but they only stock 20kg bales. Ideally 100kg would be ideal. Will keep looking

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Could you buy from Country Haylage direct? If it’s the same one based in Bristol I thought they did large bales as well but may be wrong.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Could you buy from Country Haylage direct? If it’s the same one based in Bristol I thought they did large bales as well but may be wrong.

Yes I could, but I save 5p a bale if I buy 40 from them direct. Doesn’t really make much of a difference and Molevalley will deliver for free if I buy any amount.
I’ll ask about bigger bales!

 

[Squeak]

A bale should last a week or even more fairly easily unless it's really hot. Is there a local FB horse group that you could ask for a supplier on? Or sometimes I've seen some adverts for haylage on the noticeboard in Moles.

I haven't used haylage for two years but I was paying £35 for a bale that would last 3 horses a week so even if you ended up throwing away half of a bale, you'd still be far far better off. Others might hopefully be able to help with updated prices.

 

[catkin]

This may not be applicable to your circumstances:
A few years ago I went from 20kg bales to larger ones, was only feeding 2 ponies and the idea was that a bigger bale lasted days.
Sometimes it worked but if you are in a mild part of the country you will waste an awful lot either because it went off before the bale was finished, or, as can happen with any bale, a whole one was off or the ponies wouldn't eat it. Disposing of waste haylage and the stress of getting more became not worth the monetary savings. Have gone back to small bales now.

 

[Goldenstar]

The reason I went back to small bales ( four horses ) was the issue of disposing of waste haylege from the bigger ones .

 

[criso]

A supplier near here does medium haylage bales of 125kg - 150kg, about half the size of their big bales. Size wise that could be an option if someone local to you does the same thing.

Found these in Cornwall that deliver to Devon but not sure what the minimum order is

AA haylage buy online | Liskeard | Cornishcabbageplants

AA haylage supplier of dust free nutritious haylage and also hay, meadow or rye grass, since 1976. email for a delivered quote.covering Devon and Cornwall Andrew Arnold Liskeard Cornwall. 07971317140

www.cornishcabbageplants.com

 

[asmp]

Just a word of warning about buying small bales in bulk. I did this once but the rats chewed holes in a few wrecking them and negating any saving I had made.

 

[Haniki]

Yeoman Haylage are in Devon, don’t know how their prices compare but you can collect from them or have it delivered directly.https://www.yeomanhaylage.uk/how-to-buy

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Just a word of warning about buying small bales in bulk. I did this once but the rats chewed holes in a few wrecking them and negating any saving I had made.

Wow, didn’t even consider this. Will keep an eye on them, thank you. Although my mare chewed holes in 3 bales this morning as they got left outside her stable.. but they should last a week.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Yeoman Haylage are in Devon, don’t know how their prices compare but you can collect from them or have it delivered directly.https://www.yeomanhaylage.uk/how-to-buy

Will email, thank you!

 

[HelenBack]

For the people who use small bale haylage on a continuous basis, what brands do you use? I'm thinking of swapping my horse over to this as my yard only supplies hay and I think he could do with a few more calories. So I'd probably be looking at Horsehage green or something similar.

Near to me I can get Horsehage, the Country Haylage rye version and possibly Devon Haylage. Horsehage looks to have the best spec but is about £2 a bale more.

Also it's years since I fed haylage for weight gain and looked for a high calorie version as opposed to feeding a limited amount of a low calorie one for weight watching. Am I right in thinking that a good place to start would be about half a bale a night for a roughly 500kg that's in overnight from about 6pm-7.30pm. It's a horse that came to me underweight and has gained quite a bit but plateaued now, although I think it's probably as much muscle as anything else that he needs now. Has decent daytime grazing for the time of year but obviously it's February and he will eat some hay if I put it out but then wander off and go back to the grass. Obviously I know I'd need to see how he goes and adjust accordingly but just need a starting point really.

 

[Fieldlife]

For the people who use small bale haylage on a continuous basis, what brands do you use? I'm thinking of swapping my horse over to this as my yard only supplies hay and I think he could do with a few more calories. So I'd probably be looking at Horsehage green or something similar.

Near to me I can get Horsehage, the Country Haylage rye version and possibly Devon Haylage. Horsehage looks to have the best spec but is about £2 a bale more.

Also it's years since I fed haylage for weight gain and looked for a high calorie version as opposed to feeding a limited amount of a low calorie one for weight watching. Am I right in thinking that a good place to start would be about half a bale a night for a roughly 500kg that's in overnight from about 6pm-7.30pm. It's a horse that came to me underweight and has gained quite a bit but plateaued now, although I think it's probably as much muscle as anything else that he needs now. Has decent daytime grazing for the time of year but obviously it's February and he will eat some hay if I put it out but then wander off and go back to the grass. Obviously I know I'd need to see how he goes and adjust accordingly but just need a starting point really.

personally I’d stick with hay and add more calories and quality protein to support building muscle.

2 mugs of micronised linseed l and some linseed oil should work really well.

Haylage by weight provides less calories than hay as is high water content. Does tend to be higher calorie by volume.

 

[HelenBack]

personally I’d stick with hay and add more calories and quality protein to support building muscle.

2 mugs of micronised linseed l and some linseed oil should work really well.

Haylage by weight provides less calories than hay as is high water content. Does tend to be higher calorie by volume.

He's already on a high protein and high oil bucket feed, including linseed and oil. It's made a massive difference and his coat, skin and hooves are looking great. I just felt that as the bucket feed is the smaller portion of his overall daily intake then increasing the calories in his forage would be helpful too. He doesn't always eat loads of hay overnight so the fact that the haylage is more nutrient dense would be helpful. I also have a feeling that our farm hay is not that high in nutrients based on what I know about it, although obviously I would need to have it analysed to actually know that!

 

[Melandmary]

i recently contacted several commercial haylage supplier that did the next size up to the small 20kg bales. A lot are not taking on new customers due to poor yield last year and so are just looking after their regulars. The quote I did get turned out to be no cheaper than getting a good deal on the small bale ones from mole valley though it is an extortionate way to feed multiple horses. I only use it in winter when the horse with COPD comes in with my others . I am seriously considering buying a hay steamer for next winter instead.