One alternative is to make bale silage (also called baleage). Baleage is forage that is baled at 35 to 50 percent dry matter and then stored in plastic so that it ensiles.
This system allows for producing ensiled forage with relatively small amounts of additional equipment.
Also, since baleage needs less drying time, there are generally less dry matter losses and less chance of damage from rain. This results in more opportunities to put up high-quality forage. This article will discuss some advantages and disadvantages of baleage.
However, before the article, a clarification of the differences between haylage and baleage. Through wilting, baleage and haylage production is the same.
For baleage, instead of chopping and storing after wilting, the forage is baled and individual bales are wrapped in plastic or stored in a long plastic tube (bag).
Wrapping individual bales makes each bale a mini-silo. Storing bales in plastic tubes makes one “silo” for many bales.
Advantages and disadvantages of baleage
Reduced drying time, less storage losses, and higher-quality forage are all advantages for baleage. The reduced drying and baling losses when making baleage compared to making hay is the result of baling at higher moisture.
Drying lush alfalfa for hay can require up to four days, depending on the weather. In most instances baleage will be ready to bale within 24 to 48 hours. In addition to less drying and baling losses, baleage tends to have low storage loss.
Bale silage storage losses rarely exceed 5 percent if stored at the proper moisture and plastic remains sealed. These storage losses are similar to barn stored hay. Forage losses from hay stored outside can reach 20 percent or more.
Another advantage of baleage is that generally only one additional piece of equipment needs to be purchased to get into baleage production, something to wrap individual bales or insert the bales into a tube.
This enables producers to store an excellent quality feed without the purchase of choppers, wagons, or silos.
All forage systems have some disadvantages. For bale silage, there is cost of purchasing and disposing of the plastic needed to seal the baleage.
Recycling options are available, but currently most plastic ends up in landfills. Another inconvenience of baleage is that bales must be tied with plastic or untreated sisal twine. Standard hay twine is often treated with a rodenticide or insecticide.
This can lead to deterioration of the plastic film. Finally, not all balers can handle the wet forage. However, there are balers designed specifically for wet hay and many of the newer balers that make a high density bale should work.
If forage wrapping around rollers becomes a problem, “bale silage kits” are available for many round balers.
Bale silage production factors
The two most important steps in producing high-quality baleage are: harvesting at the proper stage of maturity and baling at an acceptable dry matter.
Making baleage will not improve the quality of your forage. If you have cut poor quality forage, it will make poor quality baleage. For high-quality baleage, forage must be harvested at the proper stage of maturity.
For most of our baleage crops, the general rule is that immature forage is higher quality than mature forage. For alfalfa, a good compromise between acceptable tonnage and high quality is to cut between late bud and 1/10th bloom.
For grass crops, forage quality declines rapidly after seedheads mature. Therefore cutting grasses in a vegetative or boot stage is a good rule.
Once the forage is cut at the proper stage of maturity, the next step in successful baleage production is proper dry matter content at baling.
Drying time will vary with weather conditions (humidity, temperature and wind), forage type, forage maturity and forage yield.
Forage baled too wet can result in poor fermentation. This leads to greater storage losses and poor consumption by cattle. Forage baled too dry can increase the incidence of mold and heating.
For baleage, dry matters between 35 and 50 percent are desirable. It is also important to wrap forage or put the bales into a tube within two hours of baling to facilitate high-quality baleage production.
In addition to alfalfa, grass, and grass/legume mixtures, there are annual crops that can work well as baleage. Pearl millet, sorghums and sorghum/sudangrass crosses, soybeans, and small grains can all produce excellent baleage if harvested at the proper stage of maturity and baled and wrapped at the proper moisture.
One question that often comes about baleage is: Should an inoculant be used? Both research results and reports from producers are mixed.
Some research indicates that enzyme type products can improve the fermentation of forage crops with low sugar content.
Another question to consider is; how do the costs of making baleage compare to chopping forage and ensiling it in a pit or bunker.
To make an informed decision, a producer needs to understand the cost of custom chopped haylage including cutting, hauling, and packing in a bunker silo in their area and compare that to the cost of making bale silage.
Generally, if you already own the equipment to produce chopped haylage now, it is probably not economical to switch to baleage.
However, if you are looking to get into silage production, or it is time to replace a lot of equipment, you may want to put a pencil to baleage and see if it has a place in your operation.
Bale silage is not for everyone, but it may afford small and moderate sized cattle operations an economical means of storing high-quality forage.
—Excerpts from University of Minnesota Extension website
Greg Cuomo
Associate Dean for Extension and Outreach
University of Minnesota
