Using Baleage to Manage Your Hay Quality

By Jason Hartschuh

Baleage can be an excellent tool to manage challenging harvest weather windows or as a storage tool when barn space is not available. The ideal condition for Baleage is to bale the hay between 40 to 65% moisture and wrap it within 2 hours of baling. This process uses anaerobic conditions and the acids produced in fermentation to preserve hay. Baleage fermentation is slower than in haylage, often taking 6 weeks. When forage is baled between 25 to 40% moisture, it will not ferment properly, and Baleage at these moisture levels should be considered as temporary storage. During such situations, preservation is primarily a function of maintaining anaerobic, oxygen-limiting conditions. Mold is more likely at this moisture; higher bale densities and more wraps of plastic are required to better seal out oxygen. If using a tube wrapper, bale uniformity is critical so that there is not an oxygen pocket trapped between bales. Baleage at this moisture level will not maintain quality for long-term storage, and thus, it needs to be fed as soon as possible. Baleage can be utilized as a plan or as a backup, but the best baleage is a plan and not a rescue.

A recent study conducted at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center investigated the benefits of wrapping 25% moisture hay. This moisture has often been considered no man’s land as it is too wet to safely bale with preservatives as dry hay and too dry to bale as Baleage. This hay is sometimes known as sweet hay. The study investigated heating of the wrapped hay versus unwrapped with preservatives. Wrapping hay significantly reduced heating with no protein degradation compared to unwrapped hay. When Propionic acid was added at baling to the wrapped bales not only was heating reduced but after 84 days in wrapped storage the bales exhibited improved aerobic stability for the following 33 days, which it was monitored. This means that the hay would have improved bunk life.

While KEEPING OXYGEN OUT is the most important part of making high-quality baleage, it starts with mowing. When baleage is the planned storage method, your harvest capacity-limiting factor will be how many bales you can wrap an hour, with the ideal goal of wrapping the bales within 4 hours. Based on research done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we recommend laying swaths as wide as your mower will allow, helping preserve forage quality and speeding up drying to 65% moisture by 10.8 hours. When baling, your goal needs to be for the highest density bales that you can make. Increasing density from 6 lb/ft3 to 8lb/ft3, you gain an extra 12 hours of bunk life in the baleage due mostly to better bale fermentation. It is important to wrap bales as soon as possible after baling to avoid spoilage.

Most bale wraps are one mil low-density polyethylene, and bales need a minimum of 5 mils of plastic to seal out oxygen, requiring a minimum of 6 wraps. Types of plastic vary greatly in their stretchiness, which can reduce thickness by up to 25%. Some stretch is necessary so that the plastic stays sticky and seals well between the layers of plastic. Be cautious when wrapping in the rain as this will reduce the stickiness and allow more oxygen to penetrate, causing spoilage. Also, be cautious when wrapping forages that poke through the plastic, which will require more layers. When oxygen enters the bale, they start to heat and quality declines when temperatures are over 120ºF.  The amount of time until bales are wrapped and the number of mils of wrap significantly affect internal bale temperature.

After bales are wrapped, handle them carefully using a squeeze so that plastic is not torn. If plastic is torn in storage, the tears should be taped as soon as you notice them with a vinyl tape designed to stop oxygen penetration. For this reason, bales should be inspected weekly in storage. Never use bale spears to move wrapped haylage until the day you are going to feed it. It is recommended that bales be fed within a year of wrapping. Baleage that is too wet, over 60% moisture, should be fed within 3 months, and baleage that is below 40% will not ferment well and should be fed within 6 months. Most of the time, when we make baleage as a rescue, it falls in the range of needing to be fed within 6 months. When done right, baleage can last a year and make excellent feed. When done wrong, Baleage can spoil, mold, and grow organisms that will make your animals sick; use your eyes and nose to be sure that the forage you’re going to feed is of high quality. Don’t force animals to eat forage they don’t want.