# Could someone explain to me the advantages and disadvantages of chopping alfalfa vs baling it?



## fmfracer44 (Jan 19, 2012)

I wanna know the advantages of baling alfalfa over chopping it. Or the disadvantages. Is it better to bale?? Or chop?


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Kinda like comparing apples to oranges.Totaly different storage is needed.Dry hay can be stored fairly easily vs haylage ferments and needs to be stored to limit oxygen.

Haylage has the advantage of getting off the field sooner then dry hay.less chance of weather damage and helps to get it off sooner for regrowth of next cutting.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

Haulage has limited mobility and special storage needs, we bag it. If those issues are deuable then therare several advantages . It requires a much smaller weather window, chopping first cutting gets a heavy cutting off fast uncool weather. Generally by chopping first cutting we can reduce weevil damage especially if we spray the area where the windrow was laying as we pick it up. Haulage is high speed labor intensive to. Mel


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

For our dairy farm we switched from chopping to baled years ago . For us chopped went in one structure we could only feed one type of haylage . with baled hay we can feed two third 1st cut and one third 4th or 5th cutting . All feed is as tmr vertical mixer. What drove us to the change is it is much easier to sell hay than haylage . We have gone threw times of low milk prices and have decided next time they talk about $9.00 milk . The cows and the hay can go to auction vs it can be difficult to sell haylage


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

All of the previous mentioned advantages, is also much less physical labor intensive.

Lower quality we placed in one silo for dry cows/heifers, best stuff went in a different silo for the milk cows, largest silo was filled with corn silage all was tested and fed in a TMR. Also put up 4-5 silo bags a year as well plus also baled enough hay to let the girls have some dry hay free choice.


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## fmfracer44 (Jan 19, 2012)

Okay I see but it baled alfalfa better for the cow to digest or things like that ?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

fmfracer44 said:


> Okay I see but it baled alfalfa better for the cow to digest or things like that ?


When you ensile hay or corn as silage thou lose some fiber, especially with hay, the cobs in corn silage always retain fiber no matter what you do. Loss of fiber is why we used to feed dry baled hay free choice. If we had a vertical TMR then like I have now for the beef cows we would have ground the dry hay right into the ration.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

It seems like on the average our haylage gets higher RFV tests than what our dry hay does. Dairy cows love haylage, any silage for that matter. However, feeding a ration with no long stem dry hay in it is a challenge, there are more digestive problems. 3 cuttings of our 4 go to haylage.


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

Overall, for our dairy in SE Iowa, feed quality was always higher with silage, and more energy, but we ground long hay for the ration to stimulate the rumen. Speed was by far the biggest advantage for us. We could swath in the morning and be chopping after lunch. Ran a JD 5820 and 3 tractors hauling in, we could cut, chop, and bag almost 40 acres a day of alfalfa/orchard grass mix. We usually took off 9 tons/acre thru a season on 4 cuttings. If we tried to bale a lot, we lost a cutting.

Our full harvest team was cool to see: a JD 4240 and 4440 swathing with 13' disc conditioners, JD 2940 pulling a 28' Vermeer v-rake, a JD 5820 forage harvester that we completely rebuilt, a JD 4955,4960, and 4450 pulling 18' Meyers silage wagons, and another 4240 on a 10'Ag-Bag bagger.

Obviously. labor requirement is the biggest drawback!


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Generally anything ensiled will have better feed
value, but ruminants need some form of scratch to keep things moving thru the reticulum. Silage haylage, anything chopped fine will pass thru quicker. Quicker way to put fat in milk and pounds in the tank. Long stem hay will stay in rumen longer, keeping cows fuller longer. Both have their place . Neither is more right or wrong in my opinion. Hope this helps!


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