Baleage vs. Haylage: selecting the right feed for your livestock

What’s the difference and what equipment do I need to feed it out?

Baleage and haylage are both methods for harvesting and preserving forage, and play a crucial role in ensuring high-quality livestock feed. These techniques rely on the fermentation process for successful preservation.

Baleage, often termed “silage bale” or “wrapped bale” in some parts of the world, mirrors traditional dry hay bales but is enveloped in plastic to preserve its higher moisture content. On the other hand, haylage, also known as “grass silage” or “bulk silage”, involves cutting, chopping, and fermenting forage in a bunk, silo or bag.

Both baleage and haylage begin with cutting crops in the field, employing a tedder to spread cut grass for quicker drying and rakes to windrow the drying hay.

For haylage production, forage is chopped using a silage chopper and packed in a bunk or silo for storage. If you’re already using this method of preservation, we have published an article including 6 tips on how to efficiently cover your haylage/silage.

Tractor front-end loader attachments like the Hustler ShearPlus or DuraShear defacers are invaluable for loosening and breaking up packed forage to be fed out, minimizing spillage, and ensuring a clean cut in the storage unit. A Hustler GrabMax silage grab can also efficiently load haylage into a feedout wagon.

Hustler GrabMax is a versatile front-end loader attachment to load haylage or to handle various materials

TMR wagons remain a popular choice among dairy farmers for haylage feeding.

While TMR mixer wagons have their place in operations demanding a perfectly mixed, high-performance diet daily, simpler solutions exist for farmers relying solely on silage. Hustler’s EzFeed silage wagon, available in five models, provides a straightforward and reliable solution for various feeding scenarios, including trough feeding, feeding under a wire, and along a fence line, and general pasture feeding. 

Hustler Combi multi-feeder wagon range can handle haylage as well as unroll baleage or dry hay bales

For those using a combination of haylage and baleage, alternatives to TMR mixers, like the multi-feeder combination wagons such as the Hustler Combi range, offer versatility in feeding various livestock feeds. These 100% hydraulic wagons boast a unique design, providing trouble-free operation with a low center of gravity, high flotation tires for safe operation on rolling terrain, and approximately 30% less weight than similarly-sized TMR mixers, with more than twice the load capacity.

Baleage, partially dried, baled, and wrapped in plastic, requires efficient feeding equipment.

Hustler BaleSlice bale cuts the bale and removes plastic wrap simultaneously

The Hustler BaleSlice bale cutter, capable of cutting and removing plastic wrap simultaneously, is the ideal choice for loading a wagon. For smaller volumes, mounted or trailed versions of the Hustler bale unrollers, such as the Unrolla LX104/LX105 or the Unrolla TX205, are perfect for unrolling baleage quickly.

The Hustler Chainless bale feeder/processor, available in mounted (Chainless LX104 and LX105) and trailed (Chainless TX205 and TH205) versions, excels in distributing square baleage as square balers gain popularity. The benefits of rounds versus square baleage are explored in a detailed article here.

Hustler Chainless TX205 bale feeder/processor feeds out round and square hay bales and baleage

Baleage and haylage, when harvested and stored correctly, yield high-quality livestock feed.

The choice between them should consider the nutritional needs of your livestock. While baleage takes longer to ferment than silage and usually has a drier composition, haylage involves smaller particle sizes due to cutting plant stems.

Compared to dry hay, baleage results in less loss during storage, fewer possible weather delays during harvest, and faster regrowth of subsequent cuts. It requires the same equipment as making dry hay, except for a bale wrapper. The cost of plastic wrap is however to take into account in your decision. In contrast, haylage demands an additional specialized silage chopper.

Regardless of your chosen method, Hustler Equipment provides innovative solutions, ensuring efficient feeding for your animals!

Think ahead of the herd with Hustler, contact us today for a quote or to book an on-farm demo!

You may also like to take a look at some of these great resources: 

• The Art of Sustainable Hay Feeding in a Tough Economy
• Benefits of feeding long-stem hay, especially when weaning calves
• Does it really make sense to ground-feed onto mud?
• How to deal with hay shortage in drought conditions
• Improve your pasture for free with your bale feeding routine

Here at Hustler, farming sustainably is at the heart of everything we do.

Our belief in sustainable farming practices underpins our range of world-leading livestock feeding solutions. If you are looking for farming equipment near you or buying livestock feeding equipment, contact our friendly team today!