Best Hay Preservative ....(apart from sun )

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
OP clearly already has an applicator. Pretty sure he was just after recommendations on different buffers. Some of us have given that. Some as usual on this forum have argued black vs white when never having any experience using it.
My experience is with a farmer who baled 50,000sm all bales with the stuff .I had to stop buying his hay as no one liked it as it smelled. Like a Jet Fighter , and the day no one is allowed to pass their opinion is the day I will , well not post for a day [emoji23]
 

cows sh#t me to tears

Member
Livestock Farmer
My experience is with a farmer who baled 50,000sm all bales with the stuff .I had to stop buying his hay as no one liked it as it smelled. Like a Jet Fighter , and the day no one is allowed to pass their opinion is the day I will , well not post for a day [emoji23]
Well clearly the individual you were purchasing from needed a bit more patience. Either what you were buying wasnt hay. Or ,he was just wasting money. Smell shouldn't linger after a few weeks even if you put 4 ltrs/ tonne on at 22% or higher.
 

Goweresque

Member
Location
North Wilts
My experience is with a farmer who baled 50,000sm all bales with the stuff .I had to stop buying his hay as no one liked it as it smelled. Like a Jet Fighter , and the day no one is allowed to pass their opinion is the day I will , well not post for a day [emoji23]

Do you know what product he used? If not you're hardly well placed to comment.

I've been using buffered propionic acid on hay when necessary for 10 years now, and have never had any customers complain their horses wouldn't eat it. As I said some actively chose the treated hay over untreated hay. I've been supplying a livery yard with about 40-50 tonnes of hay per year for over 5 years now, and the hay they have is often treated as it comes from my arable margins and thus is all close to hedgerows, and sometimes hard to get 100% fit. I have never had one bale rejected because of additive, this is a yard that has 20-30 horses, many different owners. What you describe just does not fit my personal experience of 10 years using the product.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Don't you remember the old silage additive applicators
Yeah.

But I Can make something up fairly easily i reckon, got several plastic tanks around about diapram pump 2 or 3 nozzles etc
Tbh I dont see how over application is a problem ( if its the lessor of 2 evils) as even that is more cost effective than mouldy .

Get it down to 15 to 20 percent ( no damper) ir and then splash it on .

Anyone used kelvin cave balesafe ?

Does @Great In Grass do one I wonder.

Keeping adding more and more plastic wrap ain't a goer for me anyway, cost waste disposal etc etc very bad for the umviroment :sneaky:as well.
 
Last edited:

Deerefarmer

Member
Location
USA
@cows sh#t me to tears remember dad talking about how you could push the envelope on baling moisture back when making 5x5ft rounds, not as dense as say today's big squares or a 4 ft round... supposedly the bale could breathe a bit .


Anyway as you say hard to beat propionic acid. Always used it when in doubt...never smell it in the bale after it stored a few weeks.
 

cows sh#t me to tears

Member
Livestock Farmer
When I did /do rolls they sit out for up to 6 weeks till I've finished all my hay , then I start carting. Soon see any hot ones then. But your right with big squares. A 600kg 4x3 doesn't like too much moisture....I know the harvest tec stuff works. Neighbor uses a powder one that you have to mix up.. not sure on how long it lasts once made up??
 
I’ve never used an additive in 45 years of making hay.
Maybe I’m lucky but I wonder if it is yet another invention to tempt us to spend money.

They’ll invent a tractor cab soon and everybody will want one of them too!
Eh??? You might have a job convincing some of those antipodean nutters to have cabed tractors, cabs are only needed when it gets cold like -25°c or colder.🤣
 

zetor-man

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northern Ireland
Thanks for all the replies

I remembered a barrel came with the baler , so will be giving baler choice a go this year

weather is quite changeable so I think the additive will be a very good insurance policy !!

will be hoping to try the Perstorp's ProSid M700 in the future as I'm hoping it will do grains as well as a forage preservative


Zm
 

Attachments

  • 1623478512424.png
    1623478512424.png
    917.7 KB · Views: 0
What do people use now

I have a balers choice kit on a 80*90 new Holland

Have used eco bale DA on haylage very successfully

Balers choice is £650 for 200 litres

I'm looking for other alternatives

I don’t work for the company anymore So the advice really is non biased, the cost per litre of Balers choice looks high in comparison to other products.
There are plenty of companies now offering “equivalent products” but during my time I collected lots of samples and on independent testing found that none of the products tested came up to the strength and stability of Balers Choice or its associated brands, ThirtyPlus, CropSaver or AGCO buffered acid.
I found the products needed to be applied at a higher application rate to do the equivalent job to BC and the ingredients in the other products were often less stable and evaporated from the bale faster.
Balers Choice is more expensive per litre but was cheaper per tonne of crop treated.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
What do people use now

I have a balers choice kit on a 80*90 new Holland

Have used eco bale DA on haylage very successfully

Balers choice is £650 for 200 litres

I'm looking for other alternatives
At that sort of money it won't be viable . Far Too expensive.

Not only does Covering with plastic allow higher moisture crop to be baled thus higher feed value pro rata , it also allows outside storage, which saves on the cost of a shed.
Also lasts longer than that preservative plus no firerisk in the bale that doesn't get enough for some reason.... in practice.
 

cows sh#t me to tears

Member
Livestock Farmer
Preservative doesn't have to last indefinitely. Only needs to do its job for first few weeks to stop the bacteria eating the sugars. And if you use the proper factory recommended applicator that adjusts automatically, you WONT have a problem.
If on the other hand you want to be cheap and have a home made setup...That's fine. But dont blame the product when it doesn't work.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Moisture is the reason its used, moisture moisture ,moisture, the bacteria only get going because they have the moisture, its the moisture why the product is used , but the product wont dry the bale out and when the product runs out of steam :sneaky:the bale will still be moist ,just remember that boys and girls ..(y)


and yeaah, guess it must be so good :unsure::sneaky:thats why i dont know anyone around that uses it,everyone wraps.

Happy days.
 
Last edited:

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top