Is Wrapping Hay Even Worth It?
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- Опубліковано 4 кві 2023
- Did you know that hay was once used as a form of currency in some parts of the world? In medieval Europe, hay was considered a valuable commodity because it was used to feed horses and other livestock. In fact, in some areas, hay was even used to pay rent or taxes, and it was not uncommon for farmers to exchange hay for other goods and services.
Now you know!
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How Farms Work by Ryan Kuster is a UA-cam channel based in rural Potosi, Wisconsin. Our mission is to teach those who didn't grow up on a farm what the farming life is like. These videos show the Kuster family working together raising cattle and crops. We believe everyone who wants to know more about farming should be able to share the farming experience with us and we look to educate the world on many essential agriculture topics.
How Farms Work takes place on ~1,100 acres with around 75-200 cattle at any given time. Four John Deere tractors are currently used on the farm, which are a 4020, 4640, 7600, and 8235R.
Hi Ryan. Had 30 years wrapping both tube and individual bales of silage. With the tubes we used to put an extra wrap on the joins too give it more strength often we get a little white mould here but it's really only on the surface so don't worry about it. When making grass silage the quality is important the less seed the better . The longer the grass is left from mowing to baling reduces the sugar content , this makes it harder too ensile and reduces quality. We used to wrap all our end bales by hand with a part roll of film, it's hard but effective. Hope this all helps. Gavin
From what I’ve seen in the past when I wrapped hey for beef cattle three main things, let it wilt. Make sure you get the air shut off to it and do not let it get warm or hot before you wrap it.
Around here, tube style wrapping is always capped at the ends with individually wrapped bales. The guys usually keep those end bales and reuse them cut after cut.
I always enjoy your videos. I particularly enjoyed this video, where you discussed the moisture content in your hay. At 74, I am retired, and have not done anything with my small 20 acres farm, for about 5 years. I am going to go back to making hay, for the pure enjoyment of being out, in the field, on my tractor, making hay, and giving the hay, to my neighbor, who brings me firewood, and cuts my grass. Your description of your hay business, tells me that, using my side-delivery rake, after cutting the hay, then running through it the second day, and letting it sit the second day, then, on the third day, picking the hay up, probably is the best for me. As I said, I only have a small 20 acres operation, but I appreciate all of the tips that you give, from the experiences of your Grandfather, your Father, and you & your Brother. Good health to you & your families.
Nice video Ryan. Glad to see you increased your videos, already looking for the next one!!
We had great success with inline wrapping our first year (year before last) and baled the day after cutting. Last year we baled the same day that hay was cut. Our cattle do not seem to like it as much. Definitely a learning curve to wrapped hay. I appreciate you doing the video. Thank you!
great video Ryan, no surprises with the high moisture lucerne balage! Orginal grass silage was made that way! the issue was handling the bulk and the weight in tower or pit storage! I would bet that your 4th cut high moisture silage would be the best silage you have every made! most likely to good for cows! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for showing the difference between wet and dry bales. Huge difference in leaf loss.
Great video Ryan very informative 👍
I have been wrapping round bales for 20 years. In my experience late fourth cutting or 3rd cutting of high moisture when it's cold out as in the fall will not ferment like round bales that are put up in warmer weather. When we open them up there just like they were when they went into the plastic. But we have kept them through the following summer and fed out in the fall to are feeder calves after weaning and for some reason being exposed to warmer weather over the summer started the ensilaling process again and they had fermented. That's just my observation over the years
Ryan , I have been wrapping hay for about 10 years started out with in-line and move to our own individual wrapper. We like the individual wrapper better as it is easy to store and if a bale gets a hole its only one not a row of them up until last year I wrapped at right around 23-26% moisture (Called sweet hay) my MF 1745 Baler would not bale over 27% Last year bought a Kubota 4160 silage baler and made the hay at around 45% last year botulism is a real concern in all wrapped hay if dirt (ash) or dead animals gets bailed up, along with too wet of hay if you get above 62% moisture and it does not drop PH below 4.5 you stand a greater chance for it to have botulism. wheel rakes are bad because they run on the ground and drag everything into the bale.
Funny how people do things differently, over here in New Zealand I would consider anything less than 50% too dry. I aim for 60-65% and have had bales test at over 70% before. The wetter and more grass like it looks, the higher quality it is. When you have bales around what you are aiming for the bales are a lot more spongey so when you wrap it you are actually trapping in the air which makes it produce the spores (mould) My advice is to turn the density as far up as the baler goes so it reduces the air inside the bale or look into getting an innoculant dispenser to help prevent the mould. Also individual bales will seal up a lot better. I always put 6 layers on wrap on and I have fed out out perfect silage around 60% that was 5 years old but have had stalky dryer oat silage at 40% that was baled late spring and fed out early winter that had mould in it. The more leaf you have the better it fills in the gaps in the stalk and locks out more air
Hooray. Somebody else that knows how to make quality silage. Well done. From semi retired Aussie contractor.
Hi from Australia Ryan. You’ve hit the jackpot. Take it from an old contractor that’s been doing it for 35 plus years. That silage was perfect and the cows told you so. That’s what you should be aiming for. First cut grass should be done earlier than you think. Should be cut as the first seed head pocks out. See if you can get a baler company to demo a combipak baler for you. But you will need soft hands squeeze to move bales. I’ve had 6 combipak balers over the years. Ps. They also bale hay.
Good one! Thanks.
Looks like you have some problems with mice. A tip: Take the rolls from the foil and cut them into three or four parts. Then fill the rolls with mouse poison and place the rolls at a distance of 2m at the edge of the bales. The mouse bait is thus protected from rain and the mice can always help themselves. Has worked wonders with our corn bales
Why not send some samples in for testing to give you a better idea of what is better and what to do differently to get better results.
We spear the bales in the side and come in from the back and wrap 2 bales sideways then use them as end caps. That's the best way we have found to do it. Also works to put one in the middle of a row so if you only want to feed half a row the rest won't spoil because they'll still be sealed. We shoot for 50 to 60% on alfalfa and use plenty of wrap
I met wrap on the baler
Very interesting thanks for the video.
Hand wrap your first and last bale by rolling it and wrapping it like a single wrapper would, you can also pull those bales out and stake the wrap plastic in and tape it over.
Good stuff Ryan, we wrap bales individually over here, probably less waste if not damaged by birds or animals, but may be use more wrap , which has gotten pretty dear in the last couple of years , but makes for good fodder, Happy Easter👌👍🙏🐣🐰🙂
And your not fighting with silo unloaders. You also add flexibility in making the hay vs letting it get rained on. Good luck with the end caps this hay season. It's great to see your good on feed while growing herds.
Pros and cons on both sides of the aisle. Having used silos and harvestores in the past I do think this way has less chance for mechanical failures and is less costly but it does take more space.
Yep, you can take inventory with a drone and again factor the JCB and wrapper return on investment with multi function. I hope you can reseed the pasture areas you reclaimed. That's going to be a great before and after results. The river is open. China and Brazil trade means Trump threatens tariffs so its cheaper to buy USA grain, beef, pork.. Trade for litithum. China is the king of rare earth minerals also where lawmakers open business. Hide proceeds in China without scrutiny. Solar farm is a waste of good farm land. At least do cooperate agriculture from shade crops to sheep. Ass hat green new deal crooks. When insurance carriers and developers stop building beachfront, screw the paid to play scientists. One CA wildfire and net carbon added vs all CARB efforts is a joke. It's a money grab disgued as saving the planet. Without China, Russia, India ect its equal to the CA bullet in the brain train. Proof they are incompetent and crooked.
Hello Ryan. Saw your video. Always interesting to hear from others. In the NL we work the other way around. We speak about DM%. Message is exactly the same. The dryer the feed it the more layers of film you need. Nice example of expansion are straw bales. When straw is really dry you can play "guitar" on the twines. I always use this example to explain. Another thing is the usage of knifes the less knifes you use the less better compression you gone experience. If I was you I just wrapped approx. 10 bales with more layers of film, when the crop is very dry and see the differences.
You sure have a good mind for business. I like seeing young people putting that degree to work 🚜
My brother always had great luck with wrapped hay, both dry and wet.
He had some of the old individual black bags for hay and used them for end caps, and as long as he duct taped any holes they kept for a few years
If you made the 4th crop hay in October I’m sure it froze off and had started drying down before you even cut it. Making hay late in the fall like that it usually looks wetter than it is but it is rocket fuel for the cows.
A lot of good information in that video!
Glad you think so!
hey ryan bin awhile glad to be back to catch up awsome video thumbs up and shared
The farm I worked at that wrapped a lot of wet hay we used star bales at the end. And when we had a row done we would take a loader tractor and have a bale on it and hit the ends pushing them bales alot more than you would think. That gets a lot of the air out at the ends and has a lot less spoilage
Trying to make silage late in the season always makes a so-so quality silage. Because the plants are going into dormancy and the cool weather slows down the fermentation process of the hay.
You’re going to be surprised. That wet hay will be by far your best. The other hay was way to dry. 60% at wrapping time works best. I’ve seen liquid running out of bottoms when wrap is cut and they were excellent hay. Cows loved it. 😊
As always enjoy your videos just out of curiosity on your silage bales why did you guys not use a silage preservative I know it's a little but do you think this would have helped in any way keep doing what you're doing and I'll keep
We wrap a dry bale first, then put an end cap on the second bale, which is the first wet bale. We tape down the flaps and wrap tape around the open end of the bale with the end cap on it. Sounds like a lot of trouble, but if you don't do it this way the breeze can take your end cap off before you can get the bale set on the wrapper. At the end of the row we put an end cap on the last bale which is also a dry bale.
Glad to see someone cares about quality. I've seen a lot of crap over the years and guys act like it's no big deal. It's huge especially feeding dairy/heifers
We use one old bale as an end cap and wrap the connection really good, never had a problem. Only time u have problems is if the hay is too wet, ull always have some mold and they will eat every bit of it
It might be interesting to take samples from a few bales as you are feeding them and get them tested for nutrient quality. Would give a good idea of how each moisture level is likely to work for you.
Id like to see this
I know a friend of mine by Richland center that’s what they do is cut the alfalfa in the morning the next afternoon they bail an wrap it makes great feed but hard on equipment
As long as you have it sealed with enough layers you will always be fine, and don't be worried to make your feed a bit dryer it will come out great.
Do not let it get a bit dryer. That 55 to 65 is PERFECT
My buddy here in pa used to do high moisture hay, cut first day bale and wrap the next day.had over 100 head of black Angus. He had a pull behind wrapper that wrapped each bale individually, and hay grabber on his skid steer so he could carry the bales without puncturing the wrap. I know some of the bales he would keep for himself were up to a year old before we would feed them out, and no sooner you cut the wrap that awesome smell would be coming from the bales.
I’m retired Aussie contractor. I used to do up to around 15000 bales a year.
Good content. 👍
Is it possible to use fodder bales from the previous season as your end caps? I wonder if that would work.
Good video Ryan, ready for field work as I’m sure y’all are too🇺🇸
We used to use old silage tarp and wrap the end bail with the tarp and binder twine.
I used to use builders plastic same way.
Would there be a significant difference between the cost of a hay shed (3 sided) to a wrapping machine.
You should see some of the bales our cows get. Never use wrap. Use a bale processor to feed the old bales that have shrunk down to half original size after 3rd year of sitting out they lick it up like candy carmelises or something go nuts over it.
Yes, and it will always be, if it’s done properly.
Dang that's a lot of waste but it's a great learning experience. In this situation what do you do with them? We'd always put them in the manure catch for the summer and spread it in the fall just curious. Thanks for taking us along. As always good luck and God bless and stay safe out there.
Great job 😊😊😊
Lower moisture baleage can still be very good quality if it was not to old and stemy however you need to feed it soon as it will not preserve like a perfect 55%. Not only can you have spoilage in the 35% but also the energy will gas off thru the plastic. In higher moisture 55% the energy will convert to lactic acid and preserve much better. We always feed out our lower moisture baleage first and the higher later
We feed wrapped silage usually mowed in the morning baled in the after noon baled out of the windrow!
I have found that if you cut the plastic in between each bale before lifting them out it keeps them tighter and doesn’t allow oxygen to form in between the bales still in the wrap.
Have you thought of getting/renting a GPS land plane to level the area you are going to put the wrapped bales? I know the guys in AZ do this before the put chopped silage into bags. I know they have the land planes already, that maybe why they do that.
Good stuff
Hi everyone. Could some1 break down cost of plastic per bale or how many bales a roll of plastic covers.
We have a few semis and I’d recommend a may west 5th wheel plate cover you put it in and you wipe all the grease off the plate and the trailers and you won’t ever have to put grease on the plate
Thanks for all the info. I bet that, just like us, they prefer that fresh food smell.
thank you
One thing I'd love to see Ryan do is rent an individual bale wrapper and see how that effect bales vs an inline wrapper
Yea, I as well. Also, I don’t recall what kind of Baler he’s using. If you do Haylage/silage you want a Baler made for it, preferably a hard core Baler with knives. I farm in western washing so we have high humidity being in the coast. I mow in windrows and bale 2-3 days later with a Baler/wrapper combo, I get excellent results and my milk cows love it.
@@guernseygoodnesswe always put 1st and 4th in a harvestore, but we usually baled 2nd in big squares for the heifers and left 3rd for dry hay. Dad would go rake early in the morning when the dew was on, and then hire someone to make big squares. Then dads cousin would come wrap as we brought them in. When we open them bales up, they’d look almost as good or better than what came from the silo.
A lot more expensive to wrap like that
I've run a single bale wrapper behind a NH baler with processor in late alfalfa. Silage was perfect, but handling was a hassle. Bales disintegrated as soon as wrap was cut. You had to cut the bottom when over the ring or mix wagon.
@@nalley6815 lost bales cost way more than that bit of extra plastic used. Stack them on the ends and they are way more resilient with less to no air entrapment. Stacking those on the round side will make it more likely to have water and air ingress than on the flat end
We feed wet hay to are cows and they love it. Most of the time we feed 1st cutting but we will feed some 2nd cutting bales to them and a lot of them is wet. They love them when they are wet and they put on some weight to. Hope all is good
I don't like hay wraps.
They to me seem to go bad quicker than just string wrap rolls.
But I am in fl. And the high humidity might be the problem and when I got the wraps its was mostly peanut hay.
I guess never mind I was thinking hay not silage.
Look to be worth wrapping again. Sure you might get some iffy bales. I was also quite impressed.
Cracking results for you... looks like your getting closer to UK and Ireland silage bales there... iv seen the water running out the baler when baling... cows love it . Wrapped silage bales has worked for our farm for 30 ish years also some haylage in there to. Stay safe 🏴
Blows my mind it can be baled that wet, and that the baler can even handle it!
Looks like you guys have a lot of bales leftover. Maybe you can join Travis at the sales barn
Tester is worth the money. Wrap thick, and it will pay you back. Worst part about wrapping to "beat the rain" is hay is often a bit too dry to ensile.
Looking at those rot bales, could it be that your baler is making to hard a core? If you make dense core bales with softer densities around it, I’ve seen rot like that wrapped. It’s however your baler is set up. I got out of individual wrapping when I stopped making high moisture bales. I now wrap only in-line and I’ve had zero issues. A tear in the wrap sucks for sure. Since the topic is wrapping bales, If wrapping isn’t an option and you have a Deere baler, I really like the B-wrap system with over edge.
But a wrili good tip aswell is using acid true the baler when ur making silage bales(wrapped)😊 better preservd🤩
More expensive probably, but you could try to wrap every bale individually. Very common in my area to do that with grass silage and half dried hay.
The biggest thing keeping us from doing that is the time required to do so, in line wrappers are much faster than individual, and we were up until 4 AM after first crop
@@HowFarmsWork these days everyone in our area is using combi balers that bale and wrap. So much faster. You just need a set of soft grip forks to gather them in
I bought the first combipak baler to come into Australia in mid to late 90’s to replace tube wrapper and DOUBLED daily output per man
Nice video
If you had a bale shredder, could you shred the garbage bales for bedding?
What do you do with the bad hay? Do you leave it to compost or chop it up?
The three bales that were so bad the cows wouldn’t eat them I just moved the feeder and let the cows use it for bedding. Getting use out of them regardless!
That 4th cut didn't ferment because when you make late season hay the air temp is too low for fermentation. It's like putting something in the freezer it will come out just like you put it in. It will actually ferment or spoil if too wet once things start getting warm in the spring. Them moisture testers are designed to be used before the hay sweats or heats, them 4th cut bales were more then likely 65-70% when baled and more then likely if left wrapped over the summer would get sour.
You haven’t done much then. Legumes ferment different time grasses. That moisture was perfect
Dry hay has lots of air not good end caps my dad wraped individualy since 2002 1500 to 2000 bales per year. I have been doing inline for 3 years now if you bale wet in october and wrap it wont ferment much because its to cold pushing bales tight togather helps ends not to spoil
remember cold air will take moisture faster than warm air thats why your washing dries quicker with a northerly wind rather thann a south wind
Take a sample, run it through a blender. Weigh out 100 grams dry it down until the weight stops decreasing to verify your moisture reading. If it weighs 45 grams dry your tester is accurate @ 55%.
I wrap all of our hay 25 to 30% and when you feed the hay the and put it in a bale ring or mixer oxygen get rid of the vatualism. We usually wrap wheat and rye so it could be different
I'd like to see how it goes once you get it dialed in
in Finland we have wrap hay last decades,its basically only way to do that
That tester is gonna pay for itself.
Wrapped bales are better then non wrapped bales cuz I don’t wrap my bales and they get bad very quick
...call me over observant but sitting in the tractor you had a cut on your nose and later, at the end of the video ...gone....a miracle!!!...
Did you get a frost before you made your last crop? Maybe the frost took some of the moisture out.
It did, and perhaps that’s why it didn’t dry much at all overnight, all the stomata were already closed from the frost. Lots of variables going into account!
Only thing I'll say is watch out for silage scours with calves.
I would think wrapping would be worth doing just protecting from the weather. If you can try making some wet grass .
What about lab tests? Protein, moisture,NDF RFV? Maybe consider a core sampler.
I want to get my hay sampled as well as get samples done on the manure. Let me know of any places that do it!
Wrapping hay is great👍😉 I'm sure that your cows will eat that stuff with joy😁👍
Absolute awesome Vid! Being an old dairy -beef farm boy ( will stress the word old). Plus my father had the equipment do a custom silage or haylage operation. I can't remember how many silo we filled with hay or corn over the years. I am a licensed agtech and was there when the plastic or net wrap evolved was not a fan at that time. So Just a simple old fellows two bits, put up a silo or build a bunker (pit silo, old term) because I think the easiest labour way is not usually the best productive way. Just saying. BTW I use my cell for talking to people more than all the other stuff
Interesting
Hey Ryan, I am for 60 to 65% moisture with our beef and slaw better protein especially for what you’re running for. Hey you get a better product we would mow at the morning babe what’s the next day at noon?
What about an individual bale wrapper that wraps all sides?
Would be great to keep spoilage to one bale, but it would use more wrap and take more time, I think I’ll still keep the in-line for speed!
How many bales do you give your cows per week?
I was feeding 11 per week in peak winter. Once the snow melted it slowed to 7-8. Their consumption varies heavily on the weather. Now that I’ve tossed in my heifers we’re back to 11 bales a week but I’m stringing their feed out to two days since the JCB is getting some hydraulic leaks fixed and I have to drive the Deere over every other day.
A 4 foot wide baler I believe is better for silage bales. You can lift heavier bales or a skidloader is more stable cause the weight is closer to the machine, the extra foot longer bale has a lot of leverage on your machine for lift capacity and stability.
Grind it...
can cows eat moldy hay?
I've never understood why you would wrap tubes vs single bales. It's faster, sure, but if you want to know that your feed actually makes it, single bale, or bunks, are the only way to go. Either way, wrapping wize, you cannot cheap out on plastic. you probably see the results here as a part of it.
Tubes use half the plastic. I know. I’ve had both. Combo balers double the output of tube systems.
Hey Ryan and Hannah, I hope the hay comes out good for yall. Take Care, Take it Easy and Trust JESUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im still trying to figure out why you folks didnt wrap the entire end bales before you wrapped en in the sausages... that one bale would have saved much feed... when you make hay after it freezes you dont have the living bacteria to ferment the hay thats why it remains green
I wrapped dry hay last year for the first time and honestly I don’t think I’ll ever not wrap dry hay again. Except for maybe 3rd cut because winter feeding isn’t that far away by that time
Your in line wrapper is your problem and also making it to dry if you want hay make a hay if you want silage make silage your trying to make silage out of hay, feed value is far higher in silage to hay less meal, look into Ireland for silage making should help you understand lot more Mchale wrapper !!!
Go Krone combipak
You guys seem to have quite a bit of hay left. Considering that in the next month or so you will be letting them out into the pasture, are you going to sell a bunch of hay?
I probably won’t. Anything left over we’ll keep through the summer. I still think I’ll run out before we let them go. We sorted the heifers in with the cows and their usage has 📈
More you can sell to one lonely farmer for mushroom hay😮😮😮
🎉