Haylage or wrapped hay?

[PurBee]

Other way round, which is part of the attraction. Haylage I buy is 50/50 ryegrass timothy. The hay I've been offered is unfertilised long established hill meadow.

i’d give it a try, just to add variety to the winter diet if grazing is limited. As you know the maker of the hay that helps so you know what you’re getting.
Compared to squares round bales are a faff getting the hay off, unless having them in a barn ad lib access.

 

[rabatsa]

My hay that I am using is home made, wrapped and 2019 vintage. Old meadow grasses. I had expected more wasteage than there is. Use a pitch fork for taking the rounds of hay off the bale and I hang nets in an old plastic barrel for filling. These old bales are a bit dusty but small traditional bales of the same age would be as well. One benefit of the wrapping is no vermin spoilage, no rat wee or bird droppings. I have to use a chicken wire fence round the stack of bales otherwise rabbits will eat the bottom of the bales and let other livestock in.

Stand the bale on its flat end, on a pallet and cut the wrap as low as you can. This leaves a disk of wrap as a damp barrier and the rest as a cap. Bungees are your friend.

As it is hay and not haylage they do not go off when opened so if it takes me two weeks to use the bale I am not having to chuck the centres due to it spoiling.

In your place I would choose the forage that has the feed value that you need not on the shape of the bale.

 

[ycbm]

In your place I would choose the forage that has the feed value that you need not on the shape of the bale.

It's not just feed value though, the last two horses I fed very high quality wrapped hay to both coughed. Soaking through winter is definitely not going to happen.

And the shape of the bale is going to be a really significant factor in wrestling wheelbarrows of hay in driving wind and rain on a hillside in the middle of winter.

I fed 2019 crop for two years and the vitamin E degrades over time and I ended up in late winter 2021 with a vitamin E deficient horse
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[Pinkvboots]

What's it like to pull it out if you don't unwind it from the coil? I'm thinking that must be a right faff, I'm worried enough about unwinding it and having to pull it free.
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It's bloody hard work if you just undo a bit of the wrapping and not unwind it off.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

We use wrapped hay in round bales and as long as you wrap something round it to stop it falling apart then it’s fine to use. I fill about 8 x 10kg nets at a time that lasts me four days if he’s in the hard stand and 8daya if he’s in the field and I’m getting about 4weeks out of a bale give or take the days in the hardstand or the field.

 

[Pinkvboots]

My wrapped hay is not dusty at all but I soak it to get some sugar out of it as mine get to fat otherwise.

 

[Hallo2012]

rectangles all the way.
the lack of hassle is worth the ££££

 

[spacefaer]

I prefer wrapped hay but hate round bales. Stuffing nets and pulling the bale apart gives me tennis elbow by the end of the winter.

My perfect forage would be a wrapped hay rectangle.

I find I have consistency issues with haylage and one of the scariest hacks I've ever had was on racehorse quality haylage - delivered and fed by mistake!

 

[Micky]

Wrapped hay user for the first time last winter, was unsure as I have to soak for my ppid horse and fatty pony, ended up feeding straight (no soaking) as the weather was so bad it kept freezing in the trugs, worried re high sugars but ended up being not as dusty as hay, not as wet as haylage and ppid horse lost too much weight so had to upp the morning/evening feeds! Advantage I say is I can store several round wrapped hay bales outside when the snow hits as no room in sheds for big rounds, I’ll be ordering more this winter, much easier than struggling through fog ice snow and wind to fetch small bales of hay.

 

[GoldenWillow]

Having used both large rounds and 4ft hestons in the past I would take a lot of persuading to fight with rounds again. I also itch like mad and come up in red weals with hay but haylage doesn't affect me at all.

 

[ycbm]

Rectangles win then ?
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