# Haylege vs Baleage What is the Difference?



## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Is there a difference between baleage and haylege? Are the terms interchangeable?

In my mind I had baleage as being wrapped between 40% and 60% moisture and haylege was normal hay that was wrapped soon after being baled, maybe 20% moisture.

Help me out please, and thanks.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

Haylage is harvested with a forage harvester with 60% moisture being ideal in most situations. We usually swath one day and chop the next. It is great to get hay off fields in wet conditions and make high quality feed. It is great for rermoving weevils from a field to. Most of them will be in the windrow. We position a spray nozzele to spray where the windrow was just removed to kill the remaining weevil.

Mel


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Technically haylage should be referred to as hay silage whether it be put in a bag, bunker or silo while baleage still resembles the shape of a bale and is wrapped.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Baleage also has a longer cut or no cut at all depending on the baler.Some dairies are finding a benefit to the longer stems.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Locally baleage is when anything is ensiled in bale form but may be called sileage too. Bunker, bagged or silo silage is just called sileage here.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

If a person wrapped a fresh round bale not allowing it to sweat, would it ruin the hay?

The question has come up locally. Seems there have been magazine articles discussing haylege and baleage and I have been asked. I have never wrapped anything.

One local is wanting to rent (himself) a wrapper. He is thinking he can go behind me and wrap as I roll his hay, thus making better hay. He is under the impression he can save the protein lost when hay cures in the roll.

He would save on storage.

I believe he is reading into the article what he wants it to say.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I've heard of guys rolling the hay around 20-22% moisture and wrapping immediately, supposed to come back out as green as it went in. Even feed it to horses as it never fermented.

I tried this one fall with some, did come out as green as it was baled but I also figured it had something to do with the bales being in the shade so they never had full sun on the wrap and it was so late it never broke 50 again after being wrapped.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

mlappin said:


> I've heard of guys rolling the hay around 20-22% moisture and wrapping immediately, supposed to come back out as green as it went in. Even feed it to horses as it never fermented.
> 
> I tried this one fall with some, did come out as green as it was baled but I also figured it had something to do with the bales being in the shade so they never had full sun on the wrap and it was so late it never broke 50 again after being wrapped.


Thanks. I believe this must be what the local guy had read something about. He is also a horse guy.

What would it be called? Wrapped hay?


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## askinner (Nov 15, 2010)

mlappin said:


> I've heard of guys rolling the hay around 20-22% moisture and wrapping immediately, supposed to come back out as green as it went in. Even feed it to horses as it never fermented.
> 
> I tried this one fall with some, did come out as green as it was baled but I also figured it had something to do with the bales being in the shade so they never had full sun on the wrap and it was so late it never broke 50 again after being wrapped.


I think we call that "green hay" over here in Oz. I've got 25 ac of alfalfa on the ground right now that'd be a perfect candidate for it if only I had a wrapper. Been on the ground 7 days now, and it's coming off today regardless, time to spray my winter weeds, which also means hay season over


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

They called it sweet hay or something.

Ask and the great and all powerful Oz shall deliver:

http://hayandforage.com/mag/farming_horses_love_sweet


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

mlappin said:


> They called it sweet hay or something.
> 
> Ask and the great and all powerful Oz shall deliver:
> 
> http://hayandforage.com/mag/farming_horses_love_sweet


Interesting article. Interesting concept.

This sounds like what the local guy was telling me about.

The next question is how much more would a person have to charge to make "Sweet Hay" worth while?

I had to chuckle when typing that question. We have trouble getting a decent price for regular hay. Then there are always those with more coins willing to pay for a special product just to have bragging rights.

I like the idea of not having to stress the baler with heavy 50% haylege.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

It all depends on your area, I already have a feeling with the wet weather wrapped hay will be in abundance with dry hay being at a premium as I've seen it before.


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## Dill (Nov 5, 2010)

We've dry wrapped for horses. Yes it saves on weather losses and storage cost.
However you have to make sure its wicked dry. I can't tell you what the mositure content is. But we let it sit for a day to dry out further. The baleiage we make I try to wrap that night.
And yes around here Hayilege is chopped and bunked or bagged.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I can see a lot of advantages to "sweet hay".

First, hay, baled at 20-30% moisture, can be baled with one-two days of dry-down, instead of 3+.

Second, a standard round baler would be able to do this, instead of needing the heavier duty silage specials.

Third, when selling by the ton, you're selling some water, meaning you'd be getting a somewhat better price per ton.

Fourth, losses due to weathering would be minimal.

On the other hand, my BR780A has a problem with hay that is too damp--it plugs up pretty easily.

Worthy of more thought.

Ralph


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## askinner (Nov 15, 2010)

rjmoses said:


> I can see a lot of advantages to "sweet hay".
> 
> First, hay, baled at 20-30% moisture, can be baled with one-two days of dry-down, instead of 3+.
> 
> ...


I baled some wet alfalfa the other day with a standard RB, guessing would've been in the 25% range, and it plugged once around the stuffer, but found after that, if I keep the PTO speed flat out it didn't. I didn't wrap it, as I had a customer ready to take it and feed straight out. They loved it, and couldn't wait to get it home to feed. I always keep every customers number in my ph, and if I have hay on the ground and rain on the way, I'll send a bulk text to them all to see if I can offload it wet. I just warn them of the dangers of bloat / colic etc, and tell them to ration / make dry roughage available. Works well, as I don't lose the hay to rain, and they get a high quality feed.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

rjmoses said:


> I can see a lot of advantages to "sweet hay".
> 
> First, hay, baled at 20-30% moisture, can be baled with one-two days of dry-down, instead of 3+.
> 
> ...


I have rolled ryegrass up to 75% moisture and alfalfa at 60% with my 780A with no problems feeding in the pickup. I do have trouble at times with sticky stuff building up on the rollers on the wrong side of the belts.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

haybaler101 said:


> I have rolled ryegrass up to 75% moisture and alfalfa at 60% with my 780A with no problems feeding in the pickup. I do have trouble at times with sticky stuff building up on the rollers on the wrong side of the belts.


Mine wants to jam up on the right side by the auger. I have the widest pickup, the SuperSweep (I think?) I use it as a moisture tester--second time it jams, I'm done for the day!

I have all the belt scrapers--never any problems with buildup except on the top roller occasionally.

Ralph


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

I have a super sweep also, but I only have trouble if I try to start a bale and I am not in the center of the baler. I also try not to push a lot of hay into the augers either. I adjusted my scrapers and had less trouble with rollers also.


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## askinner (Nov 15, 2010)

I also use the augers as a moisture meter when doing dry hay, works great! But cannor use them in wet hay, they jam for sure. I'm scared of bending one too, they run for about $600, had to replace one due to the drive sprocket on it coming loose.


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