Haylage- storing

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HopOnTrot

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How long can haylage be stored for? I want to change our two ponies onto Timothy haylage and the best way to do it is to buy a pallet of small bales.

We’re moving into spring and summer so naturally starting to feed less forage.

If I ordered a pallet now, how long would it keep in my hay barn?

3/6/12? Months? I don’t want to spend a few hundred quid to find it going off by the time I get to the bottom of the palette.
 
Thanks! 🙏
Yes, buying new season in late summer makes sense, I’ve been buying individual small bales for one and the other has been on mash feed since November so at least next win
 
HopOnTrot said:
How long can haylage be stored for? I want to change our two ponies onto Timothy haylage and the best way to do it is to buy a pallet of small bales.

We’re moving into spring and summer so naturally starting to feed less forage.

If I ordered a pallet now, how long would it keep in my hay barn?

3/6/12? Months? I don’t want to spend a few hundred quid to find it going off by the time I get to the bottom of the palette.
Click to expand...
Be careful. I bought a pallet load once to save money but rats chewed through some of the bales ruining them, thus negating all the savings I’d made.
 
If it is well stored and bags don’t get damaged then mine will last a couple of winters (so about 18months)
 
asmp said:
Be careful. I bought a pallet load once to save money but rats chewed through some of the bales ruining them, thus negating all the savings I’d made.
Click to expand...
Yup, we had that this winter, I lost about half a dozen bales. Our pest control chap has put bait in the stables (not accessible to dogs) so we are on top of pest control.
 
How should they be stored unopened? On a pallet or straight on the floor? I will store some inside my concrete lined shed but some will have to be at the yard in the open fronted hay barn…should I keep those on a pallet? Or direct on the ground (no concrete base). I could probably keep a few in the feed room too potentially.

Obviously I know rodents are a risk!

First time haylage buyer as we can’t get a consistent supply of hay locally!
 
I use large square bales and they always go directly on the floor. If you store them on a pallet - which would seem sensible- it means rodents can get underneath and have a party!
 
Apparently rats don’t like Lavender, I have a lavender hedge and put the cuttings under the pallets. It has worked so far - buts that’s probably partly because we have the rat situation under control, I don’t suppose it would stop them if there was a rat population explosion.
 
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