what makes good quality hay/haylage?

[Sam myers]

What quality of hay/haylage would make the feed more valuable? obviously supply and demand changes costs every year but what percentages of moisture, feed value, dry matter, proteins will make it more or less valuable?

 

[Doc]

First question is, what are you feeding it to? Makes a huge difference in the perception of ‘quality’.

 

[Spencer]

For what market?

 

[Sam myers]

apologies, horse

 

[Spencer]

Depends on the horse a great deal as well!

Its not a case of 80% DM, 12% protein = £50/bale.
So many variables. Location is key as is customer base.
More often than not its the Lady who has to like it not the horse!

 

[Will 1594]

What quality of hay/haylage would make the feed more valuable? obviously supply and demand changes costs every year but what percentages of moisture, feed value, dry matter, proteins will make it more or less valuable?

Younwill never win , they all want the best looking smelling greenest soft hay , or hayledge , is it low sugar , ? ,cannot make good hay with out a bit of power in it ,
then end up soaking it to take all goodness out of it , if you could bale straw green and make it look like hay and smell like june hay ,they would still find summat wrong with it ,

have you any , 2 nd quality hay to give some fat cobs , yes , Somshe comes and takes a bale , have you any thing nicer looking it looks dull and not much smell then she says they get a slab of hayledge and a feed also , Some not worth the bother ,

 

[Spencer]

Younwill never win , they all want the best looking smelling greenest soft hay , or hayledge , is it low sugar , ? ,cannot make good hay with out a bit of power in it ,
then end up soaking it to take all goodness out of it , if you could bale straw green and make it look like hay and smell like june hay ,they would still find summat wrong with it ,

have you any , 2 nd quality hay to give some fat cobs , yes , Somshe comes and takes a bale , have you any thing nicer looking it looks dull and not much smell then she says they get a slab of hayledge and a feed also , Some not worth the bother ,

Ahhh I see your seasoned

 

[Doc]

Use a meadow sward rather than PRG reseed. It will dry out quicker and be more aromatic. Get it as dry as you can but not ‘dusty’ obvs. Wrap it as much as you can afford 8-10. Avoid being tempted to bale any ‘wet bits’ which will come in the bale as mud.
Actually, forget the whole impossible quest.
Buy some good big hestons of meadow or Timothy hay from France (For £110/t) and wrap them once here, straight out of the container. Then sell, with delivery for £60/t. Be prepared to take 25% back.
It’s a gold mine...

 

[principal skinner]

We do horse hay. % customers as good as gold, pay on delivery and never complain.

The other 25%

Had a text this morning from a customer refusing to pay for a bale as it was from the bottom of the stack and had a little bit of waste on it (was sold to him at a discounted rate) He now knows that he is welcome to buy his hay elsewhere. I even collected the said bale and he had used well over half of it. Replaced it with a good one out of principle before suggesting he shopped elsewhere.

 

[Mark C]

We do horse hay. % customers as good as gold, pay on delivery and never complain.

The other 25%

Had a text this morning from a customer refusing to pay for a bale as it was from the bottom of the stack and had a little bit of waste on it (was sold to him at a discounted rate) He now knows that he is welcome to buy his hay elsewhere. I even collected the said bale and he had used well over half of it. Replaced it with a good one out of principle before suggesting he shopped elsewhere.

 

[Mark C]

Making good a quality product is only 1/2 the battle. Selling it and getting top dollar is another story

 

[7610 super q]

 

[steveR]

Younwill never win , they all want the best looking smelling greenest soft hay , or hayledge , is it low sugar , ? ,cannot make good hay with out a bit of power in it ,
then end up soaking it to take all goodness out of it , if you could bale straw green and make it look like hay and smell like june hay ,they would still find summat wrong with it ,

have you any , 2 nd quality hay to give some fat cobs , yes , Somshe comes and takes a bale , have you any thing nicer looking it looks dull and not much smell then she says they get a slab of hayledge and a feed also , Some not worth the bother ,

And 90% of the time, the fat cob goes no further that than the gate to the stable, and back again.