This year’s hay season has been a challenge, with a constant three days of sun and then one day of rain.
It’s not easy to make good hay when you really need four to five straight days of sunshine. Those who tried to rush their hay may find later when feeding it, that it may have heated up, which then produces mould spores which makes it “dusty.”
In the United Kingdom, these weather conditions are the norm, so hay making has had to change over the past two decades. No one wants to feed dusty hay, so haylage has evolved.
Haylage is one day short of making hay, where hay is bailed at 14 per cent moisture, haylage is bailed at 25% moisture and then wrapped in plastic to keep the air out and to preserve it, like making pickles or jam.
Some people have to soak their hay to prevent heaves or other respiratory disorders; this process is eliminated when feeding haylage, because haylage is slightly damp – not wet like cattle silage which is 50% moisture – and not dusty.
Haylage is also higher in feed value and nutrients than hay. It retains 90% of the feed value of fresh grass, therefore you may not need to feed as much haylage as you did hay, or even be able to cut back on your grain/supplements.
We have been feeding haylage for the last 15 years. Currently we have five horses/ponies, all with different feed needs. From ponies prone to foundering on a restricted intake, to a young Clyde cross who needs lots of nutrient-rich food to grow, and regular horses in between, they are all fed the same haylage, just different amounts. We get the haylage analyzed so we know what is in it.
Unfortunately, funding for research is limited in this country, so information on haylage is out-dated.
Haylage has been fed in the UK and New Zealand for the last two decades, and not just to recreational horses like ours, but top class show horse.
In summary, the benefits to feeding haylage include:
– it’s dust free;
– no need to soak;
– haylage has a higher nutritional value;
– it’s more palatable to horses than hay;
– it can be stored outside, as it is wrapped in plastic; and
– unopened, it keeps for up to 12 months without any loss of feed value.
Still want to feed dusty hay?
David and Lynn Robertshaw of David’s Fencing Service and Hay Sales, are originally from the UK and have farmed all their lives. They have lived near Arthur for the past decade.
