Wrapped Round Bales. AKA Baylage.

[Does’ Leap]

Anyone feeding it to horses or have an opinion on feeding it to horses?

Thanks.

George

[ngcmcn]

George,

Horses don’t like anything fermenting in their foregut… I’ve heard of people doing it, but the rule of thumb is never to give them fermented feed. Someone can elaborate on this, but basically, because they are not ruminants, and do all the fermentation of feed in the hind-gut, gas that develops in the foregut can’t escape–they can’t burp–and causes gastric upset (colic). Neal says that if you do see someone feeding silage/baleage to horses, there’s a good chance they’re trying to cover up heaves… the moisture keeps the dust down. Hmmm…

Gwyneth

[sanhestar]

Well,

on the other hand – a good baylage (assuming it’s the same we in Germany call haylage: almost as dry as hay but not quite) is a good feed for horses that have developed an allergy to dust or mold in the hay – chronic bronchitis, etc.

The problem with large silage or haylage round bales is that you have to feed them in a very short period of time – days only to avoid second fermentation setting in which would cause the problems that Gwyneth mentioned.

But proper made haylage will have lots of probiotic bacteria in it.

Poorly made or wrapped haylage or silage on the other hand – with mold, not fully fermented, dead animals (mice, etc.), dirt – is a source of serious infections like listeriosis or botulism.

[Gabe Ayers]

I knew a fellow in Minnesota that was feeding silage to his horses several years back. Had one batch that had a pocket of botulism in it and he killed a dozen horses in one morning. I don’t think he ever recovered from this experience.

[Hal]

I don’t know much about silage/baylage, but after reading these replies, I am wondering why you would feed it at all. It sounds potentially dangerous and more expensive than hay, so what are the benefits?

[littlebow]

I’m with HAL

[Does’ Leap]

We fed out a couple of bales with reluctance b/c it was the best option for certified organic feed in our area. We were also using the baylage as bedding for our certified goat dairy, thus the need for it being certified organic (new national standards). There are numerous horse folks around here who feed baylage to horses, but we concluded before this thread (and these comments confirm it) that it is not worth it. It is cheaper per pound of dry matter compared with square bales (we were paying $25/bale).

George

[sanhestar]

@Hal 7747 wrote:

I don’t know much about silage/baylage, but after reading these replies, I am wondering why you would feed it at all. It sounds potentially dangerous and more expensive than hay, so what are the benefits?

you have higher nutrient value, it’s made faster – if weather, especially rain is an issue in your region during hay-season.

[near horse]

Sanehester is right about the weather issue. Silage or baleage is a common way of putting up a forage when the weather won’t cooperate enought o let one put up decent hay.

Mold and certain anaerobic bacteria like Clostridials (botulism) aren’t good for any species eating the baleage – it’ll (the botulism toxin) wreak havoc in cattle as well.

Another point to consider w/ silage and I assume baleage is similar in this regard, is that much of the carbohydrate is fermented to produce “volatile fatty acids” – like acetic acid, proprionic acid …. as well as lactic acid. These are able to utilized by ruminant animals for energy but I’m not so sure in monogastrics like horses. The production of these acids requires a no oxygen environment and drops the pH and that is what preserves the feed and keeps mold from developing etc.

I know baleage is put up at a lower moisture content (drier) than silage and that can also make it a little trickier to get the fermentation just right.

[karl t pfister]

hello to the debate, I have been feedingWRPs wrapped round bales 4×4 1000 lbs for 12 years no problems ,known some to have lost horses and cattle both , but considering the numbers of WRBs fed now ? At one time I was fedding almost 300 a year to up to 40 horses , now we feed only one group, out of 5,up to 5 in the group . Did do shots in the past but not for a while . Questions to me are ! who is in that group ? older hard keepers overfeeding is a big question with freechoice feeding always! worse the better the feed. We did surprisingly well with august made 1/st cut , no protein lots of chewy made right ,no mold etc.We were haying 200ac as far away as 10 miles . phew that era is over now it’s 100ac in a mile , but still it’s nice make WRBs, the weatherman meant to say 3 days of showers but said 3 good days coming instead . That happened to us in so. VT . It amazing how late in the process we have changed gears and made good haylage. We are able to not feed some to the horses and give it to the beefers ,but do find myself some times feeding a freechoice group after the last sleigh ride 11:00 ? How picky are you when tired ? I like to keep the ones on it on it all winter and not ask their guts to change microbes fast and to start them before going into hard work ie Christmas week doing 2 weeks straight 6-8 hours of rides a day, 1 problem to deal with at a time, they give us so much , I like to be a good team mate ,over the years I’ve seen some good horses die in various ways it’s never easy and I hope none go because of feed I made ,farming with horses is not easy but would it be good if it were easy.?karl so. VT

[karl t pfister]

Bachelor, Phew the plastic is a hugh issue ! They tried once to get it to recycle had to be clean ?? Understand another effort is coming .So many problematics , time , storage move the equvalent of 12 bales at a time leave them outside then move to the paddocks in the fall with the teams or later on sleds . Stacking square bales in the mow 100 degrees no help . I heard it happens in California when it rains on their open stacks of hay horses die from Botulism too. Thanks karl

[near horse]

Here is the real truism of putting up hay today. If you go with small square bales that you can handle w/o special equipment, then you have the problem karl mentioned

Stacking square bales in the mow 100 degrees no help .

. Round bales don’t stack all that well and you need to invest in a new (different) baler. Also, you can get alot of wasted hay feeding them if you don’t have enough animals working the feeder. Big squares – stack nicer, need better equipment and not likely to be able to manhandle them at all. So what do you do?

I’ve stayed w/ the smaller squares (I know how the knotters etc work and can troubleshoot them easier) and put a bit of monet into an accumulator and grapple. Then I can load and haul to the barn myself. Karl forgot to add bucking bales onto a trailer/truck in the field when you are also the driver.:eek: That gets old fast.

I have seen where guys in NZ make baleage w/ small square bales in short stacks covered w/ plastic. Maybe 20 – 40 bales in a stack only 2 or 3 rows high. They, like you guys back east, get plenty of rain in the summer months and use the baleage to keep on top of the forages so they don’t get too mature (lower quality) due to bad weather.

You know the million dollar idea is in what to do with used plastic – from Ag bags, bale wrappers and even baling twine. That’s also the make or break cost in wrapping is the plastic.

[Author]

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