Strange smelling haylage - wish we had 'smellyvision'

[Hackback]

I opened a new bale of haylage this morning (small bales from a local supplier). It looked ok - was obviously late cut, long and seedy - and it didn't smell bad exactly, not musty/mouldy or anything. But the smell was quite overpowering, maybe a bit sickly. I thought it was maybe just strong and my nose not quite up to speed with it being first thing in the morning. I packed it into the nets but the longer I was around them the more overpowering the smell got and it started to make me feel a bit sick (it still does when I think about it now) so I unpacked the nets and threw it all out. Is this a 'known smell' or an over reaction on my part?

Previously on a livery yard where everything came in large bales and YO weeded out the good from the bad before purchasing. After 2 years I'm still trying to get to grips with the whole nightmare of finding regular decent quality supplies.

ETA it looks dry in the pic but it didn't feel dry to touch

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Potentially baled a bit green and you basically have silage instead of haylage which does smell a hell of a lot stronger.
You can feed silage, it's not ideal though and carries a lot higher sugar content than haylage which is why it's so good for keeping cows fed.

 

[Hackback]

Potentially baled a bit green and you basically have silage instead of haylage which does smell a hell of a lot stronger.
You can feed silage, it's not ideal though and carries a lot higher sugar content than haylage which is why it's so good for keeping cows fed.

Ah I see. Maybe a bit of an over reaction then. Maybe I'll save the rest of the bale and see if they like it. As long as I'm not going to poison them, that was my worry.

 

[PurBee]

Was it like a really over-powering worn for 3 days damp sock smell?

If so, it’s likely damp hay in a bag, that has sweated, and not fermented.

Personally, i’d go with my gut and if any horse feed whiffs so bad it churns my gut, i listen to my gut and dont feed it. Not all haylage is made equal, and there’s a lot of ‘sweaty hay in a bag’.

Your pic isn’t showing much to tell if its too bad to feed or ok - looks brown/bleached, which suggests it was drying on the field a bit long, maybe rained on, then baled. But its so hard to tell from a pic.

If it was a really over-powering sugary/sweet smell with some vinegar smells - then its definitely fermented, perhaps over-fermented, and that smell can be a bit gut churning.
That would be ok to feed bits of mixed with something like hay - as suddenly feeding over-fermented forage may cause gut issues in some horses.

 

[Hackback]

Was it like a really over-powering worn for 3 days damp sock smell?

If so, it’s likely damp hay in a bag, that has sweated, and not fermented.

Personally, i’d go with my gut and if any horse feed whiffs so bad it churns my gut, i listen to my gut and dont feed it. Not all haylage is made equal, and there’s a lot of ‘sweaty hay in a bag’.

Your pic isn’t showing much to tell if its too bad to feed or ok - looks brown/bleached, which suggests it was drying on the field a bit long, maybe rained on, then baled. But its so hard to tell from a pic.

If it was a really over-powering sugary/sweet smell with some vinegar smells - then its definitely fermented, perhaps over-fermented, and that smell can be a bit gut churning.
That would be ok to feed bits of mixed with something like hay - as suddenly feeding over-fermented forage may cause gut issues in some horses.

Thanks. No, the picture quality isn't great as I had to resize it, but it didn't look bad, it was tough and stringy to pull out, but that's not unusual. The haylage I get from this supplier does vary from bag to bag - different fields, different cuts I guess. The smell was sweet and sickly. To me haylage normally smells like ripe apples or Christmas cake mix (probably more the alcohol in the Christmas cake mix ) but this was unpleasantly sweet (a bit like cat poo, I know that's weird but cat poo smells sweet to me). Maybe it is sweaty hay. Yuck.

 

[PurBee]

Thanks. No, the picture quality isn't great as I had to resize it, but it didn't look bad, it was tough and stringy to pull out, but that's not unusual. The haylage I get from this supplier does vary from bag to bag - different fields, different cuts I guess. The smell was sweet and sickly. To me haylage normally smells like ripe apples or Christmas cake mix (probably more the alcohol in the Christmas cake mix ) but this was unpleasantly sweet (a bit like cat poo, I know that's weird but cat poo smells sweet to me). Maybe it is sweaty hay. Yuck.

If the haylage is really quite moist to touch and has a sweet smell, without any visual moulds or weeds - its usually ok to feed.

If it is a fairly dry damp hay type feel with a weird smell, usually if i dont like the smell, the horses dont like eating it either. They are likely your best test - if it looks ok and not mouldy or anything - give them a pile of the weird smelly stuff, next to a pile of normal hay, and whichever they go for will tell you which is preferred.

Obviously we all have different individualistic smell perceptions - but i’d agree with you ripe apples and xmas cake sweet is the usual smell of nicely made haylage. But i dont ever smell cat poo to smell sweet!…so cant relate to that

Sometimes haylage is made a bit wetter or drier than usual, its a fine art to make it consistent snd requires moisture testing the crop constantly, ready to bale at precise measurements. Some makers are not so vigilant with these moisture measurements, and sometimes the weather suddenly turns causing a less than ideal baling moisture. Aspects of climate unpredictability can affect the best haylage makers.

If you have more bales of this haylage - its worth opening another bale and seeing if thats the same weird smell - sometimes you can get the odd bale thats too wet, or has been punctured and oxygen microbes are growing.
Its best to check all haylage bags when buying that they are completely undamaged. I’ve had literally a tiny nail hole puncture on bags from the bottom of a pallet load cause the whole bale to go-off and smell weird. Oxygen getting into the bag will cause it to start growing microbes that are hard to see at first, unless left for weeks and weeks to grow.

 

[Bob notacob]

The big danger with silage (over wet haylage) is the poor fermentation may not prevent the growth if the Botulinum bacteria .These are deadly, producing Botulinum toxin.A sign of poor fermentation s the srong smelling Butyric acid produced. Doesnt mean it is necessarily bad but I would not feed it to Bob.