Hay and straw are roughage for cattle. They have been successfully packed into twine for many decades, but baling into round bales using a net bale wrap is much better and more reliable. Here we wrote why.
Most often, hay and straw are harvested by farms on their own. It is based on the number of livestock and consumption rates. This feed stuff is really important in the diet of animals.
For example, a cow, kept in a small farm, needs an average of 3 tons of hay for a stall period (215–230 days, from October to May), and a goat needs 300–400 kg. When calculating, the farmer should take into account the offspring: if the cow needs to calve, then this is + 40% to the mass of forage in the form of hay, and if there is already a calf, up to 1 year old, then + 70% to the calculated mass per animal.
When buying hay or straw, be sure to weigh the bales and not to pay per piece, because depending on the quality of the baling and the composition of the packed grasses, the weight can vary from 230 to 350 kg. Read more about weighing hay bales here.
Green feed stuff is the most nutritious and tasty for animals. They are best eaten, highly nutritious and easy to digest. Green feed stuff increases productivity and promotes better reproduction of the herd. They contain almost all the necessary vitamins and nutrients that animals need. This is especially good for dairy cattle. If the farm uses the grazing method in the summer, when the animals receive mainly such feed stuff, they give the highest annual milk yield.
For large farms, the grazing method is often not available and it is more convenient to harvest green feed in the form of haylage in special storage facilities or using net bale wrap with subsequent transportation to the farm. Then the bale of haylage is sealed with a special agricultural stretch film.
Haylage is a kind of “intermediate link” between hay and silage. First, the grasses are cut and then dried a little before packing. Drying usually takes 1-2 days.
The moisture content of the haylage is 50-60%, and the feed stuff is preserved due to the physiological dryness of the environment through the natural drying process.Feed value is almost equal to green fresh feed stuff, many useful nutrients are retained in the haylage, including sugar and protein. Animals love to eat it.
The value of succulent feed is determined by the composition of herbs. Legumes and cereal grasses are the most highly nutritious. They contain more protein, vitamins and minerals. At the same time, the quality will also strongly depend on the mowing time.
The nutritional value of succulent feed changes with the age of plants: as they age, their fiber content increases. The more fiber, the lower the digestibility of feed nutrients and the worse the grass is eaten by animals.
Therefore, the harvesting of green feed stuff should be carried out in the most optimal phases of plant life: seeded cereal perennial and annual grasses – no later than the beginning of the heading (earing) phase; sown legumes perennial and annual grasses (except for alfalfa) – no later than the beginning of perennial flowering, the beginning of the formation of beans in the lower 2-3 tiers of annuals; alfalfa – no later than budding; corn – no later than the beginning of the formation of cobs; sunflower and its mixtures with other crops – not later than the beginning of sunflower flowering.
Many farms prepare feed stuff from grain haylage for the winter. We wrote more about it in this article. For this type of forage, the net bale wrap is much better suited than twine, as it retains more grains due to the higher compaction of the grass and the greater frequency of threads.
In order to increase the productivity of animals, each farm should strive to provide the animals with the most complete quality and nutritious feed stuff. We would be happy to help farms in their harvesting using high-quality Polypak net bale wrapping. We have also prepared for you recommendations on the number of turns of the net around the bale for quality and reliable storage, depending on the feed stuff.
2020 All Rights Reserved.
2020 All Rights Reserved.