# Alternatives to Crop Saver



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

So I have the Harvest Tec applicator on top of my NH round baler.

One of my better customers buys my bales and feeds them to a good size herd of rescue and easy keeper horses. My last delivery to her last fall she commented some of my bales had a "vinegar" smell to them. She took me to the round bale feeder and there was one of my bales, just opened. She was right. I did detect a vinegar smell in an otherwise very nice looking bale.

She insists its the preservative and I tend to agree with her. She told me she wont buy any more with preservative, and honestly I couldn't blame her. When i got back to my shop, I pulled open a few RB's and they had some of that smell in them, too.

Sooooo, is there an alternative to Crop Saver that will work in my applicator that doesn't have such a strong smell? I remember someone mentioning a liquid alternative that had an apple scent to it.

I don't want to change the applicator, just the preservative.

Any suggestions for horses?


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## mnhaygrower (Jun 7, 2009)

I will be using mult-sile 2 for the same reason this year for the horses. It a bacteria based product.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

It's not so much apple scent, but a flavor added to the one I used to use, that's one of the reasons I quit using acid, baling some wet hay and applying the full rate then jam the pickup, at the very least you will gag unplugging it. Well that and get acid in your eyes and you have a serious problem.

I use Hay Guard now, you can open a brand new barrel of the stuff, stick your nose right in it and inhale deeply, smells like water, if it freezes though then it has an ammonia smell to it, no need to worry about the ammonia smell though, if it freezes it crystalizes and you throw it out.

Only drawback though other than it freezes, it's only good for use up to 25% moisture hay, but to be perfectly honest I could always tell when hay was baled with acid over 25% and so could experienced buyers no matter how nice it might look.

The freezing part is no big deal, towards the end of the year I buy five gallon buckets of the stuff instead of another barrel, drain the tank into the empty buckets and store it in the basement, run a few gallons of water thru, drain the water then add a gallon of RV antifreeze and run that thru the nozzles, good till spring then.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

The thing that impresses me the most about Hayguard is how it keeps the hay cool. Day before yesterday I had to bale a tree line and some of the bales were between 25-30%....so I got out and turned the cut side up on that grab of accumulated bales and flagged. I stacked in the barn on pallets by themselves...took a moisture reading and a temperature reading yesterday and the highest temp of all was a even 80! Most were in the 70's....the outdoor temp was about 75. These bales will be fine. Hayguard is a blend of sulfides....I think 3 types. It does work and I think you will be happy with it JD once you get it calibrated for your system. And zero smell other than the pleasing aroma of fresh hay. It is nice to be able to try it in a 50 pound container.

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Hay Fame is a low odor product for the guys that dont like the prop smell.Reasonably priced too!!


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

So if I switch from CS to HG and I have the cab mounted touch screen, do I simply recalibrate the touch screen application rate, or do the tips have to be replaced? 
Anything else have to be changed? 
I usually quit baling any hay over 25% because of the cost of CS anyway.

MLappins post was spot on regarding plugged balers. Man that's a nasty job and the "permanent eye damage" aspect really scares me, too.

What would be ideal is a product that works like acid without the caustic/smell aspects.

Cy, taking off your "sales hat" for a second: what are the drawbacks of your product? What is the cost compar d to Crop Saver per ton of baled hay? 
Is there a local distributor finder on line so I can locate a local seller?


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

I guess I don't understand. The hay has a vinegar smell - otherwise is good hay, no dust or mold, not weed filled, stemmy straw. The animals eat the hay otherwise?

If necessary, we are going to use acid - IMHO it works, is easy on the equipment and is readily available. I can explain the acid and the vinegar smell and assure the customer is getting top quality hay. I can't explain dust and mold.

Is the only objection the smell?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Yes, smell. 
She's a big time buyer and I want to keep her happy. 
I wish I could gently and tactfully explain to her while SHE may object to the smell, the horses may/may not. 
Funny how hay buyers buy hay according to THEIR senses and not as much for the HORSES senses.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

JD3430 said:


> Cy, taking off your "sales hat" for a second: what are the drawbacks of your product? What is the cost compar d to Crop Saver per ton of baled hay?
> Is there a local distributor finder on line so I can locate a local seller?


Products that are mainly buffered proponic acid will work to higher moisture content.30% ish

Products like Hay Fame and others won't work in as wet of hay more like 25% ish

Prop is a preservative.

Some others are oxygen scavengers that get rid of the oxygen to prevent mold from growing

Hay Fame is a combo


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## CowboyRam (Dec 13, 2015)

What is the effect do these preservatives have on the baler?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Is it available nationally? 
I've never seen it.
Do you have to change pump nozzles?


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## gearhartfarms82 (May 10, 2015)

We have that complaint once in a while. After a few times of educating the buyer its normaly never an issue. Education to ur buyers is key.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

gearhartfarms82 said:


> We have that complaint once in a while. After a few times of educating the buyer its normaly never an issue. Education to ur buyers is key.


What's your technique?


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

JD3430 said:


> What's your technique?


Not to hijack, but....

Here is a link to a website article on hay, including hay preservative. Scroll down to see the paragraph, but it's short, IMHO well written and geared towards the buyer.

http://eventingnation.com/what-the-hay-working/

I wouldn't sell hay with any preservative without telling the customer. I consider it a means to better hay - at no additional cost to the buyer. I can explain preservative, not dust or mold. Some of our hay we are going to sell this year straight out of the field. The buyer can choose that we turn off the preservative (keeping in mind we'd only use it if moisture content was higher than our comfort level), but if the preservative is off, there is no guarantee - hay is bought as is.

I hope can educate your buyer that Cropsaver is a benefit.

Bill


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I think the problem was that part of the batch she got had heavy preservative rates applied to it.
I always tell my customers it's had preservatives applied to it, too. 
What I really wonder is if the horses even care.
Lots of hay sellers say "the horses eat the hay, not the customer". To that I often say, "the horses don't pay me, the customer does"


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

My friend uses preservative on everything but also has an old hay dryer fan in his mow that runs for a week after any hay is loaded in. Never any preservative smell left by the time its fed out.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

JD3430 said:


> Is it available nationally?
> I've never seen it.
> Do you have to change pump nozzles?


I have no idea who else handles it.

I can ship

Uses the same nozzles.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I've never smelled vinegar from CS, but I have smelled CS itself. This is usually when a bale was baled too tight or stacked too son or too tight and the CS couldn't evaporate our of the bale.

I apply 4 lbs/ton routinely nowadays, just so I feel safer about putting the hay in storage.

Ralph


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## gearhartfarms82 (May 10, 2015)

Long story short is no one likes moldy bales. So with that said educate accordingly we have only ran into one horse out of a few thousand that had a allergic reaction to the acid. the problem with most horse people are they haven't realized that the acid has been around since the 1970s. Once they figure that out 9 times out of 10 there's never an issue. If all fails when they buy moldy hay from somebody else with no acid they sometimes will be calling you back anyway. And if there that picky after all that is said you have to ask yourself is it worth dealing with somebody like that that's going to hurt your checkbook because they don't like the smell?


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