Chopped haylage

[An ancient git]

Been doing big square bales since 1994 , but have totally rejigged feeding arrangements for sheep and cattle . Seen chopped full and half-chop at a neighbour's and it works well .... Planning on some 'full chop' for housed ewes , and half-chop for cattle . Baler would be a major change to a Round bale Fusion ..... The ewes are prats with some of the longer forage currently .... Neighbour's eat all up clean on the full chop ...... Mine don't ......
Can see a lot of 'pros' ; are there going to be a load of 'cons' suggested ??

 

[M-J-G]

Can you cut it earlier for the sheep and not bother chopping it?
If they are leaving some it's obviously because it unpalatable, which chopping won't prevent.
Cattle will eat it just the same if it's chopped or not even if it is stemmy.

I have a chopper baler and rarely ever have the knives in it any more.
I used to chop it all see no difference in how cattle eat it.

 

[Al R]

A negative to chopping is they eat more.
A positive to chopping is they eat more.

depends what you want it to do to, they certainly waste far more and pull more out when chopped but mine have only seen a few bales of chopped - also a nightmare getting the net wrap off when the bale is in the ring feeder and it chopped as the bale instantly slump.

 

[An ancient git]

They can eat as much as they want .... that's hallelujah . And it's not ring-feeders , it's a bunker set-up so no probs (??) if bales slump . The B'stards are picky with some 2nd cut high-quality . The cutting interval was only 42 days . I guess at 30 , one would overcome it , but there's an element of economics with a contractor job ....

 

[M-J-G]

At 30 to 40 day cutting interval you have no need of a chopper baler.

 

[sticky]

I've had a round chopper baler since 08 and really like it. My sheep are only ever fed through racks, no other option, and by jimminy don't they waste some but my cattle are fed through barriers and I love it . I will put half a dozen bales out and just nudge them up with the loader with virtually no waste.
I only ever have half the knives in, a lot easier on the tractor and baler, and this gives a chop of about 5-6ins as the experts say the grass needs to be the width of the animals muzzle for better gut utilisation.
A few options for you might be to do one or two cuts with rounds to see how they work for you or there are plenty of square balers out there with choppers on which would give the same result as a round I think, although I have no experience of them, or a silage/straw chopper for the winter.

 

[Gator]

Mine are feed through barriers, used to just fork a round bail in front of um, are they did was just pull it in the pen and lay on it and waste it, fussy barstwards eat the soft stuff and leave the rest, bought teagle chopper now theres hardly any waste and nowt dragged in the pen

 

[neilo]

I sold my round baler several years ago and moved to a contractor with a Fusion baler. Intakes are higher, which means the sheep can make better use of your cheapest feed component. I find they waste less as they don’t pull it out as much, or as far. I feed in cradles and ring feeders, but I put 3 ring feeders round the bale initially, then close it up to two when they only have a bit left in the middle, so less gets pulled out underfoot. They pull a bit out of the cradles, but not so far as with unchopped, so most of it gets cleared up rather than stood on.

There’s also more forage in a bale as it’s denser, so lower wrapping cost and fewer bales to cart & handle. That density also means there’s less oxygen in the bale, so it should ferment better, with lower nutritional losses.

The only cons I can see are a higher cost per bale from the contractor, and you will struggle to move them safely with a loader on a MF35. I cart mine outside with a tipping bale trailer on a quad, and the weight has meant we’ve had to fit an extra weight on the drawbar to help with balance.

 

[An ancient git]

The extra density should outweigh the small extra bale cost ? Unfortunately my Guy , who has been great for 20odd years , doesn't have a chopper baler . A local guy does and he's only 3 miles away with the Fusion . In winter I move bales with a MF390 4wd .

 

[Pan mixer]

I tried chopped one year - more intake with cattle and sheep but mainly because they wasted it on the floor.

I won't be doing that again if I can help it.

 

[An ancient git]

Was going to half chop for cattle . New shed has 'angled' feed barriers . The sheep have a bespoke made bunker . They don't pull stuff out , just leave some longer stuff . Chuck it into pen every few days ..... and the gits then seem to eat half of it !!

 

[Sharpy]

Could you not try a bale chopper/feed wagon/ shredder/bedding machine on your squares? Save rejigging your whole system?

 

[An ancient git]

Good suggestion , but system rejigged already and not economic for me . Lot less cost than alternatives .
Was waiting for a profound response from Neilo , got one ! Maybe I'm not off the wall re a Fusion job then !
Without sounding patronising , he's switched on .... ; shame he doesn't reply to a mob tel call / message last year when interested in a Charley ram !! I know exactly where he is , but I am buried away 50 miles away !! Hey-ho , EasyRams got the order !!!!!

 

[neilo]

Good suggestion , but system rejigged already and not economic for me . Lot less cost than alternatives .
Was waiting for a profound response from Neilo , got one ! Maybe I'm not off the wall re a Fusion job then !
Without sounding patronising , he's switched on .... ; shame he doesn't reply to a mob tel call / message last year when interested in a Charley ram !! I know exactly where he is , but I am buried away 50 miles away !! Hey-ho , EasyRams got the order !!!!!

Bugger, I slipped up there then.? My apologies, I don’t recall any messages missed, on here or my phone.

Photo taken this afternoon, in the ram paddock on turnips, showing the massive wasteage after a chopped bale was put in my (only) ‘slidey inny’ Feeder:

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Can't understand people saying more waste with chopped bales for cattle. I find since chopping bales, waste (at a single horizontal bar feed barrier) has been virtually eliminated.

 

[FIL46]

Chopped is the way, for a start less cost as you get more in a bale, better fermentation as the bale will be tighter less air in the bale , better for the animal to digest, if you are finding a lot of waste fodder it may be the grass type or conditions when made Neilo must have good stuff if sheep leave nothing

 

[muleman]

Been doing big square bales since 1994 , but have totally rejigged feeding arrangements for sheep and cattle . Seen chopped full and half-chop at a neighbour's and it works well .... Planning on some 'full chop' for housed ewes , and half-chop for cattle . Baler would be a major change to a Round bale Fusion ..... The ewes are prats with some of the longer forage currently .... Neighbour's eat all up clean on the full chop ...... Mine don't ......
Can see a lot of 'pros' ; are there going to be a load of 'cons' suggested ??

Threads like this do my head in....just decide which bale you want and put it in the feeder and be done with it!....... Sorry couldnt resist!

 

[An ancient git]

I just thought it was (maybe) an improvement on many years . Think that photo from Neilo summed up answer !! ..... Reckon it's also the right feed barrier / bunker / whatever that helps . Decision is to do some full chop for ewes , half chop for cows (chop length will fit their mouths) . I was basically interested to find out if anyone had any MAJOR negatives , after they'd given it a go ...... I've been Big Square baling for 27 years now and love system , but one can always keep looking to improve things ! Techno moves on ...... Muleman is as irreverent as me , sounds a 'good' guy !!!

 

[Monty]

Negatives-
Slows down the baler and makes it work very hard (had to stop baling a couple of times last year as smoke was coming from the gears/bearing on the feed rotor)
Chopped bales don't have as much structure/hold thier shape and rely heavily on the net to hold them together when feeding (not great if the baler likes to shred some of the nets like ours this time)

Positives-
Better quality forage due to better fermentation.
Higher intakes thus higher growth rates/more milk
Less waste. Mouthfuls pull apart so they can't pull big clumps out to the floor and any waste is easier to deal with in the muck as it's shorter
More DM in each bale so less wrap and less bales to stack/feed

We chop ours with a full set of knives (14) and find it very beneficial for our milkers especially with long stemmy grass. With short leafy stuff the benefits of chopping are minimal

Just ask your contractor to chop half a field and see the difference for yourself. You'd be amazed by the difference in smell of chopped grass from identical unchopped grass when it's fed out