Rolling Acres - This and That

[farmerjan]

We feed both baleage and haylage. The baleage is naturally hay that is wrapped in the bales. Great when you can't get it dry enough and they are calling on rain so it will get ruined if you let it lay, and it would mold if you put it up as dry "hay." So you wrap it and it will ensile and make baleage. We also do it for the sorghum/sudan and they love it. We also chopped grain sorghum the past 2 years and put it in silage bags. 150 ft long fits in the area we can store them. This haylage the cattle like and do good on. You can make most any "grass/hay" into haylage. It makes stemmy coarse hay more palatable. Great for first cutting alfalfa. They sure won't waste it like they will hay that is over mature. It does not make the hay "better", and well made silage and baleage is a very good feed. IT COSTS to do it, but we find that the calves get to eating feed at the bunk better and it sure will help fill them up.
You mostly feed it free choice. But we feed a certain amount every 2 or 3 days. We top dress it with grain as it usually is not real high in protein. It can be a very good and useful added feed.

The cattle will get FAT on haylage; as they will eat it like candy until they get used to it.
When we feed baleage, we will feed 1 bale and at least 1 or 2 regular bales of hay so they get more "dry matter" in them. They will get loose from the baleage until the bacteria in their gut tract gets adjusted. Realize, we are feeding 15 to 40 head at each pasture, and we feed the baleage/haylage to cows with calves and being bred. The dry cows usually don't get it as it will make them fat ane I don't want them too fat before calving. But there are alot of people that use it that will feed it to everyone. We usually have a limited amount so will feed it to the animals that will get the best use out of it.

Your hay looks very good compared to some of what we made last year with the constant rain. We were very late getting 1st cutting so it was over mature. But they are eating it pretty good, we just have needed to supplement the protein levels. We have been putting out some tubs for that, at pastures where feeding regularly is not practical. Plus with the wet this winter, getting in and out has been a nightmare too.

Your hay feeder looks to be rather short. Are you moving it with each bale or just putting a new bale in on top of what is left? That will raise the hay up and they will pull more out and off that way. Better that they have to put their heads "in the feeder, not over it".

We use the cradles also at some places and like them. they cannot pull it out as easily.

 

[RollingAcres]

Thanks @farmerjan !

 

[RollingAcres]

I did measure the feeder, had to move some hay and snow off the bottom, it's roughly 36".

Are you moving it with each bale or just putting a new bale in on top of what is left?

Just put a new bale on top. This time there isn't much left in the bottom. We just put another bale in yesterday. This summer I'll see if DH can make some changes to the feeder. We won't need the feeder in the summer.

All of my juvenile hens are now laying eggs. I get 5 eggs a day. I don't eat eggs everyday, so they add up quickly. But I have found a buyer for my eggs, so I can start selling some eggs.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

I’m on my iPad but I have a link saved in a file on my phone about haylage. I’ll share it in a bit. My concern for you would be finding haylage, storing it properly, and handling the bales on your small scale. We do have much less waste. We got through 2-5 bales every 3-4 days for 14 head. These are large rounds and their intake varies by temp. They eat more when it’s colder. These bales are HEAVY! There’s no man-handling them like a dry large round.

 

[RollingAcres]

Thanks @Wehner Homestead . I'll read up about it once you have a chance to send the link. I have seen them advertised on CL around here but not familiar so I thought I'd ask.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

https://www.makinhay.com/the-story-on-silage-and-how-to-bale-it/

 

[farmerjan]

@Wehner Homestead is right. the biggest problem with the haylage is storing, moving and consumption. Since it is fermented aneorobically, (sp?) once it is exposed to air, it will "go bad" or mold if not consumed in a reasonable time. Cold weather will slow that down considerably. I think in your cold area, spoilage would not be as big a concern since nights would get cold enough to "rechill" it after a warmer day. We also go through it rather fast due to the numbers of animals able to eat it. When it is decent they will practically lick the ground to get every little bit.
Worst comes to worst, you can use it for mulch also if they don't eat it all. It will break down fast in a garden if used as mulch between rows. I like it between hills of cukes and pumpkins and such. You can lay down big swaths of it easily; which is what I do with crummy hay in the garden too. Easier to roll out a crappy bale, and move sections of it around where you need larger areas covered.
Yes they are heavy, as much as twice what a round bale is but usually in the 1&1/2 times whatever size round bale you get. They don't slide and you can't man handle them around.

 

[RollingAcres]

Thanks for the link @Wehner Homestead .

 

[RollingAcres]

What does haylage look like? Sorry for the stupid question. The reason I asked was because last year when DH bartered for 6 bales of hay. Out of the 6 bales, 1 came in the wrapped form. At that time we didn't know anything about haylage. When we unwrapped it and looked inside, we both made an "ewww" face because it looked green and fermented. We didn't feed it to the cows thinking that it's spoiled.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

I’ll take a pic for you when DH puts out bales tonight.