[JFW67]

Hi all,

Anyone tried successfully to do haylage by hand in small amounts?

We have a 2 acre field planted as a woodland (four years ago) with a 3m grass margin around it.  At times I have my (small flock) of sheep graze it with an electric fence protecting the young trees.

The grass margin is good and I feel, if possible, it would be worth cutting and baling up for haylage for the sheep to have in late winter.

Given it would be a fairly un mechanised process I would aim to do it in small amounts either using a scythe or pull behind mower with my quad.  Scythe seems wiser since I can better. O troll the amount cut at any one time.

Questions:
How long should the grass be?
Is it better cut in long lengths or chopped up?
How long should it lie before packing into bags?
I have heavy grade black bin bags to put it in -  I have read both it needs very firm compression to remove air and that a vacuum will suck out enough air to work.  Any comments?

Any input appreciated

[vetch]

First a caveat - I have not done this, but did do research into small scale silage making and there are several good PDFs online - though these are aimed at silage making in less economically developed countries. I used the term "small scale silage pdf". Black bags and using a vacuum to remove air should be sufficient for ensiling.

[JFW67]

Thanks you Vetch.
I’d seen a couple of these but it’s the difference between silage and haylage that is my stumbling block.  I’m not clear enough on the process difference between the two.
Thanks again.