Wetting Silage

badgerhowlin

Hi,

I just gave my yearling 2 fresh bale of silage the morning and they are absolutely hopping off one of the bales. The only difference is that the one that they are going mad for seems to be wetter than the other one.

Is it a good idea to maybe wet the silage after I sprong it in front of therm, in the future?

Thanks

invicta

Sometimes the only thing you can do, is burst out laughing!!

Say my name

badgerhowlin wrote: »

Hi,

I just gave my yearling 2 fresh bale of silage the morning and they are absolutely hopping off one of the bales. The only difference is that the one that they are going mad for seems to be wetter than the other one.

Is it a good idea to maybe wet the silage after I sprong it in front of therm, in the future?

Thanks

No don't wet it now.

They're going for the wetter bale as ...well first of all I'm assuming the two bales are from different fields or were made at different times, ..the wetter bale is higher in lactic acid which makes the bale easier to digest/eat and is probably higher in sugar.
Wetting the drier bale now will only wash whatever lactic acid bacteria is on that bale off and remove some of the sugar. All you should do is be thankful that your dry bale lasts longer than your wet bale and leave be.

And in case you ask, rain on silage before it's baled is not a good thing either.
The aim is usually to bale as quick as you can and as dry as you can (within reason with some sap still in it) after cutting.

Zimmerframe

Anyone wanting to exchange dry bales for wet ones, please contact me immediately.

badgerhowlin

Say my name wrote:

They're going for the wetter bale as ...well first of all I'm assuming the two bales are from different fields or were made at different times,

No that's the thing. Bales done same day, same field and wilted fo day and half. Probable baled and rapped within mins of each other.

Wont wet them too.

Maybe it is good all my bales are not like this one, if they went through all the bales like this one wouldnt have enough for the winter

badgerhowlin

invicta wrote:

Sometimes the only thing you can do, is burst out laughing!!

It sure is.

🀣🀣🀣

Markcheese

Could be clover content , or just more lush grass ,
A friend who used to be on a high clover system used to have squashed soggy looking bales ,cattle loved them ,

amacca

On a related note, lad I know makes haylage and always makes sure he bales it "moist" will bale it after a light shower or at least when the dew is on it in the morning....says it needs it.

I haven't made it myself but I buy bales of it off him from time to time and the cattle love it...some eating on it, unchopped so I presume lots of fibre and digesting on it

theaceofspies

If they are hungry enough they wont be long eating it and coming back for more

Markcheese

amacca wrote: »

On a related note, lad I know makes haylage and always makes sure he bales it "moist" will bale it after a light shower or at least when the dew is on it in the morning....says it needs it.

I haven't made it myself but I buy bales of it off him from time to time and the cattle love it...some eating on it, unchopped so I presume lots of fibre and digesting on it

What's be the point of getting it extra dry to haylage, and then wetting it down before baling..
I know you need a certain level of moisture to ensile but....

Water John

I'm finding bales seem to be variable this year. Some being a slightly different colour and preferred by stock.
Started giving them wholecrop bales also. They're mad for them. Handy bit of clover in them. Keeping an eye for any mould to watch for mycotoxins.

Welding Rod

I wouldn’t fall into the “better farmer” class and so I’m relatively happy to cut day 1 of crop is dry, row up day 2 and bale right away. Never have dry bales as such, but preserve ok.
Sold a blast of these kind of bales to a lad, who was well disappointed when he called to collect the first load. Said bales look “softish” and much much wetter than his own.
I said grand no harm done. No need to take any more if they weren’t suitable.
He called me a few days later, and said his cows seemed to prefer my stuff to his own, even though bin his opinion his were better quality and better feeding. He ended up buying 60 off me.

eorna

Welding Rod wrote: »

I wouldn’t fall into the “better farmer” class and so I’m relatively happy to cut day 1 of crop is dry, row up day 2 and bale right away. Never have dry bales as such, but preserve ok.
Sold a blast of these kind of bales to a lad, who was well disappointed when he called to collect the first load. Said bales look “softish” and much much wetter than his own.
I said grand no harm done. No need to take any more if they weren’t suitable.
He called me a few days later, and said his cows seemed to prefer my stuff to his own, even though bin his opinion his were better quality and better feeding. He ended up buying 60 off me.

Stock will always be the best judges on silage. Last year we made some late bales ( oct) quite wet, to look at them you would not think much of them, but they were flooring bales like i never seen before...whatever was in them i dont know.