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Author Topic: A field for hay(lage?) production  (Read 4239 times)

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
A field for hay(lage?) production
« on: December 23, 2018, 02:29:35 pm »
Hi,

I've moved to a smallholding where they kept one field (the most level one) free from grazing so it could be used for feed. I have zero experience about everything farming related and am trying to gather as much info as possible so appreciate any help/advice.

I am looking to have sheep and pigs next year and these are the animals I want to grow the feed for. So what I need is haylage? This is where it's cut and not fully dried out, then baled into plastic wrap where it ferments? Is that right?

At the moment the field is empty (as is the rest of them!), and the grass is quite long (maybe a foot and a half) so because of this, and where it's wet and cold, it's lying flat not upright.

Is it literally a case of leaving this field alone for it to start growing again in the spring? We don't really have much choice at the moment, and everything seems quite sendentary here, so hoping it will be okay. The previous owners have kept the land up as they had sheep but there are a couple of areas where they didn't graze it back much.

Once it's grown when when would it need cutting and baling?

Sorry for what is probably straight-forward stuff to most of you!!




SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
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Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2018, 06:54:20 pm »
Herbivores such as cattle, sheep and horses can eat hay or haylage.  Pigs do not make very good use of grass or grass-derived products, but you can use some in their diet, especially the more traditional breeds, I believe. I think I’ve read that a maximum of a third of their diet could come from grass and or haylage.  (I’ve a lot less personal experience of farming pigs than I do of cattle, sheep and ponies.)

Haylage is made the same as hay, but may not be quite so dried when baled, and is wrapped immediately, like silage.  It ferments only slightly and is a moist, rather than wet, feed.

Silage is a simlar process but the grass is often considerably shorter, the drying time may be minimal and the crop may not be turned at all before baling.  Some producers add chemicals but these days I think most don’t.  You can ensile any crop, not just grass, and it ferments in the sealed bale, making a moist-to-wet feed.  Some silage is too strong to be fed alone and is mixed with straw, or it “goes straight through them” :o

Silage and to an extent haylage must be fed very quickly after opening the bale.  Maximum four days but many farmers get it fed within 24 hours.  And my cattle tell me, a freshly opened bale is significantly more appealing to them than one I opened (and re-closed) twelve hours earlier ::)

As the air gets to the silage / haylage, it reacts with the crop and sours it.  It can become poisonous, so uneaten silage should be removed frequently, and / or the feeding area moved so that the stock are not eating old silage.

Soil incorporated into the bale can cause listeriosis when the crop is eaten.  Contractors making silage often ‘scalp’ the ground - mow it extremely close - so if there are mounds or molehills, then soil can easily get into the crop.  Making silage often goes hand in hand with mole eradication therefore. 

Haylage, made as a hay crop that gets wrapped, is generally a longer stem and doesn’t need to be cropped so close.  Plus, a hay crop gets turned one or several times (depending on ground, weather and locale), which helps any soil in it drop out before the crop is baled.

A field which is not grazed and is repeatedly cropped will soon become very poor, as you are removing nutrients and not replacing them.  You can replace them by using artificial fertilisers, by spreading FYM (farmyard muck) or by grazing at the appropriate times, or by a combination of the above.

One regime is to shut the sheep out of the fields in maybe March, cut the hay in June or July, let the speaned (separated and weaned) lambs onto the aftermath, then rest the field over winter to grow an early and fuller crop for next year, or if you have the facilities, make two crops of haylage in the second year, then let the sheep graze lightly over the second winter if the ground can take it, or in early spring if not, then repeat the whole two-year cycle.

Another is to use FYM to feed the grass one spring, take a good hay crop or two haylage crops that year, FYM again the second spring, and let the lambs on after cropping in the second year.  That system has the added advantage that you’re putting weaned lambs onto ground which didn’t carry sheep in the previous year, so is part of a chemical-free approach to reducing worm burdens.

If the sward is healthy and diverse, you can graze it very lightly year round if you want, and still take a hay crop.  It’ll be slightly less thick as the sheep have had some, but the field will have been continually fertilised by the sheep grazing.  You’d still need to replace the nutrients taken out in the hay, which is easily accomplished if the hay is fed to winter-housed cattle, by spreading their winter muck back on the ground their hay came from!  But if the hay is feeding sheep in other fields, then you are creating a deficit in the hay meadow, and will need to redress it in one of the ways discussed above.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
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Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2018, 07:02:26 pm »
As to the long grass you have now, it’d be better to get it cut or grazed off before the spring growth.  I don’t know where you are or what the conditions are like, but if the ground isn’t too wet, you could put cattle on now to take the top off for you, and leave a lovely covering to protect the ground through winter.  Or cattle in early spring if you can’t have them on now.

If you can’t get cattle on, then sheep will graze long grass but will leave much.  Still better than leaving last year’s 18” growth into next year’s first crop, though.

Another option would be to flail the crop now or in early spring, leaving the mulched grass to feed the next year’s growth.  Or even make some haylage now if you have the weather and can travel on the ground.  It won’t have a huge feed value, but you could feed it next year to native ponies or store sheep, or to beef cattle at the beginning of winter, giving them better stuff later on.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
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Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2018, 07:03:32 pm »
Oh, and I’ve mentioned native ponies.  They will turn any messy areas into lovely grazing grass if turned out on it and removed before they completely scalp the ground :)

I should have mentioned on the other thread that they’re the world’s best thistle controllers, too.  They eat the flowers, and over a period of a few years will massively reduce a thistle infestation.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2018, 04:39:57 pm »
Hi Sally - just wanted to say a quick thank you for your posts.

I am in SW Wales and it is extremely wet at the moment! In fact I cannot imagine anything ever drying out, although I'm sure it will at some point  :fc:

I can't get anything on it at the moment. I don't have a CPH yet - the previous owner told me the registration transfers but someone else has said no, I need to get my own number. I keep trying to sit down and work out what I need to do as the info online confuses me every time I look at it as well (I need a CPH but I also need a customer reference and to get that I need to do something else etc etc) so I've put it off. This means I don't have my own animals but also can't put anyone else's on there either (not that I know anyone with animals that would want to either!)

So is hay better than haylage? Does it last longer? In an ideal world would you want hay? I think I read somewhere that haylage is more common as it is hard to dry it out long enough to get hay. I don't know if that's right or how it works...

I do have grazing fields (steep ones!) so there should be plenty of room to rotate the sheep etc when I get them, and then put them in the feed field if it needs grazing back. It's just getting sorted in the first place, and getting everything set up! And learning it all of course. I will be re-reading your post a few times I think!

When would you normally cut the fields for hay? Does it get to a certain height, or is it a certain time of year?

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
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Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2018, 07:47:28 pm »
Hi Tommy. 

Advantages of haylage are : you can cut it shorter, bale it less dry, store it outside.  And it’s rarely a fire risk, whereas hay got a little damp can set on fire if it’s not stored and managed very carefully.

Advantages of hay are it doesn’t deteriorate provided it’s stored correctly, whereas haylage does deteriorate even when the wrapping stays intact, and quickly once the air gets to it.  We’ve fed four year old hay to sheep, with no ill effects, and regularly feed two year old hay to sheep and cattle.  Haylage is best used in the first winter, although if it’s pretty dry and is looked after properly (so the wrapping isn’t damaged), it’s usually okay in the second winter.

For a smallholder, hay is generally easier to use.  It weighs less as it dries after baling.  I really struggle to lift and carry a small bale of haylage, whereas I can manage hay bales reasonably easily.  You can use hay at whatever pace suits you, just re-tie the bale as you remove some to keep it tidy, whereas haylage needs to be used quickly once the wrapping is breached.  Also, wasted haylage will damage the ground more than hay (although both will if left in the field where the livestock were fed.). Oh, and wrapping is the most expensive part of the operation, so making hay is a lot cheaper than making haylage.  And the used wrap has to be disposed of, which costs money too - we had two dumpy bags of plastic last year, and our local recylicng scheme charges £15/dumpy bag full (that’s with us delivering to them.)

So the first question is, do you have airy dry storage?  If not, you’ll have to make haylage anyway.  (It’s still better to store it under cover but it will probably survive one season outside.)

Second question is, do your local contractors have the equipment to make small bale haylage?  If not, you’ll have to make hay and will have to find somewhere to store it under cover.  A big bale of haylage will feed 15 adult cattle for one day, or 40-50 sheep for 4 days, and must be used up within a couple of days of opening for cattle, or 3-4 days for sheep. So for us small fry, they’re too big to be useful.  Having said which, there are people on here who manage to re-wrap bales and use them over a week or so, but it’s not something I’ve done or would recommend.

Third element is the weather and the ground.  I used to farm an upland farm, very wet ground, in north Cumbria, and some years we just couldn’t get hay at all, it all had to be silage or haylage.  On that farm, it took four days to make small bale hay except in very exceptional years, when we could get it in three days if the ground was bone dry to start with and it stayed sunny and dry throughout.  Many times we’d cut, hope for four days dry or pretty much, but end up wrapping it for large bale haylage.  Occasionally we’d cut, expecting to be making haylage, but the weather gods would smile, and come baling day it was dry enough to cancel the wrapper and make it into large bales of hay.  (You can make large bales a little more damp than small, and can let them air in the field for a week or two, so they’re not a fire risk when they come into the shed.)

Timing is variable depending on ground and conditions.  Sometimes it makes sense to cut the outside few rows of the field earlier in the season and wrap it.  The bare ground around the outside helps the ground to dry so you’ve a better chance of making hay of the rest of it.

We very rarely managed to make hay in June, always hoped to make it in July, and often ended up making it in August and sometimes September.  The problems with making it later in the year are a) the days are shorter and the sun (such as it is) less hot, so the drying time each day is less, and it’s a race to get it turned and rowed up on baling day, and baled and stacked (and often under cover too as it was nearly always going to rain later that day, or the next ::) ) before the evening dew starts to form; b) there’s less nutrients in the crop the later in the season - the best hay is made before the flower heads seed; c) the crop gets thicker and longer as the growing period goes on, and a thicker crop is harder to get dry enough to bale, and needs turning more often to let both the crop and the ground beneath it dry - and every turn damages the stems slightly, so the crop becomes more friable and can crumble in the bale - no use for hay, but still usable if wrapped.  (But you need to keep turning it to dry it if you’re in those sorts of conditions.  We’d turn it immediately after cutting, again the next day - sometimes twice, usually again on day 3, and again before rowing up on baling day.  On drier ground in parts of Yorkshire, they’d only need to turn it once :o )

If your local contractors are set up for small bale haylage, given your area sounds similar to ours - wet and inclined to be rushy! - you might do best to go for haylage the first year or two, and explore making hay once you’ve got the other aspects of your operation running and settled in. 
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Rupert the bear

  • Joined Jun 2015
Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #6 on: December 24, 2018, 09:13:44 pm »
Hi Tommy. 

Advantages of haylage are : you can cut it shorter, bale it less dry, store it outside.  And it’s rarely a fire risk, whereas hay got a little damp can set on fire if it’s not stored and managed very carefully.

Advantages of hay are it doesn’t deteriorate provided it’s stored correctly, whereas haylage does deteriorate even when the wrapping stays intact, and quickly once the air gets to it.  We’ve fed four year old hay to sheep, with no ill effects, and regularly feed two year old hay to sheep and cattle.  Haylage is best used in the first winter, although if it’s pretty dry and is looked after properly (so the wrapping isn’t damaged), it’s usually okay in the second winter.

For a smallholder, hay is generally easier to use.  It weighs less as it dries after baling.  I really struggle to lift and carry a small bale of haylage, whereas I can manage hay bales reasonably easily.  You can use hay at whatever pace suits you, just re-tie the bale as you remove some to keep it tidy, whereas haylage needs to be used quickly once the wrapping is breached.  Also, wasted haylage will damage the ground more than hay (although both will if left in the field where the livestock were fed.). Oh, and wrapping is the most expensive part of the operation, so making hay is a lot cheaper than making haylage.  And the used wrap has to be disposed of, which costs money too - we had two dumpy bags of plastic last year, and our local recylicng scheme charges £15/dumpy bag full (that’s with us delivering to them.)

So the first question is, do you have airy dry storage?  If not, you’ll have to make haylage anyway.  (It’s still better to store it under cover but it will probably survive one season outside.)

Second question is, do your local contractors have the equipment to make small bale haylage?  If not, you’ll have to make hay and will have to find somewhere to store it under cover.  A big bale of haylage will feed 15 adult cattle for one day, or 40-50 sheep for 4 days, and must be used up within a couple of days of opening for cattle, or 3-4 days for sheep. So for us small fry, they’re too big to be useful.  Having said which, there are people on here who manage to re-wrap bales and use them over a week or so, but it’s not something I’ve done or would recommend.

Third element is the weather and the ground.  I used to farm an upland farm, very wet ground, in north Cumbria, and some years we just couldn’t get hay at all, it all had to be silage or haylage.  On that farm, it took four days to make small bale hay except in very exceptional years, when we could get it in three days if the ground was bone dry to start with and it stayed sunny and dry throughout.  Many times we’d cut, hope for four days dry or pretty much, but end up wrapping it for large bale haylage.  Occasionally we’d cut, expecting to be making haylage, but the weather gods would smile, and come baling day it was dry enough to cancel the wrapper and make it into large bales of hay.  (You can make large bales a little more damp than small, and can let them air in the field for a week or two, so they’re not a fire risk when they come into the shed.)

Timing is variable depending on ground and conditions.  Sometimes it makes sense to cut the outside few rows of the field earlier in the season and wrap it.  The bare ground around the outside helps the ground to dry so you’ve a better chance of making hay of the rest of it.

We very rarely managed to make hay in June, always hoped to make it in July, and often ended up making it in August and sometimes September.  The problems with making it later in the year are a) the days are shorter and the sun (such as it is) less hot, so the drying time each day is less, and it’s a race to get it turned and rowed up on baling day, and baled and stacked (and often under cover too as it was nearly always going to rain later that day, or the next ::) ) before the evening dew starts to form; b) there’s less nutrients in the crop the later in the season - the best hay is made before the flower heads seed; c) the crop gets thicker and longer as the growing period goes on, and a thicker crop is harder to get dry enough to bale, and needs turning more often to let both the crop and the ground beneath it dry - and every turn damages the stems slightly, so the crop becomes more friable and can crumble in the bale - no use for hay, but still usable if wrapped.  (But you need to keep turning it to dry it if you’re in those sorts of conditions.  We’d turn it immediately after cutting, again the next day - sometimes twice, usually again on day 3, and again before rowing up on baling day.  On drier ground in parts of Yorkshire, they’d only need to turn it once :o )

If your local contractors are set up for small bale haylage, given your area sounds similar to ours - wet and inclined to be rushy! - you might do best to go for haylage the first year or two, and explore making hay once you’ve got the other aspects of your operation running and settled in.
wot she said

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2018, 12:49:38 pm »
Thanks again Sally. It all sounds pretty complicated but I guess it would to someone with no experience.

We have outbuildings that we could use for storing it, although I wouldn't call it dry and airy! Nothing seems to be that way around here, it's more wet and damp! We're next to a stream and on the wrong side of the valley for any sun in the winter. There's a lambing shed which is wooden which I could stack along one side of. We're not planning on having any lambs arrive this year. Also a block built shed with curved roof that currently has some straw stacked in at the front and an animal area at the back. Then there's a workshop with an area to the rear that I think would have been used for when they had cattle so could maybe stack it in there as well. Depends on what we get.

The previous occupant had a tractor to move large bale haylage around, they said this was for when they had cattle as the bigger bales was more practical. We aren't planning on a tractor, only a quad and trailer (which at a reasonable price are like gold dust), so really need the small bales. I have seen people advertising small bale so will look into who can do it. It's just knowing where to look! The previous owner left some contact numbers for us and one of them was to do with haylage, but you know when you move in somewhere and don't want too much of a connection maintained??! Maybe we'll think about it if we're stuck. I don't know. We are going to a local (ish) smallholders' association meeting in Jan so hoping to make some connections and meet some useful people there that may be willing to guide us a little.

So I would need to get someone to come and cut the field. Then I'd need to rake it into rows and turn it (is this just literally turning it over with a fork?) two or three times before it gets baled? Luckily although the atmosphere is quite damp the ground doesn't get too bad, so only a patch of rush here and there. I saw on the telly the other day about hay catching fire if you pack it away damp. Scary really considering your whole place could go up...


SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
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Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2018, 01:32:20 pm »
Sounds like you should be okay for making and storing small bale hay, then.  Your local contractor will guide you in terms of when to cut, turn and bale. 

Get some pallets for the floors of the storage spaces, so there’s air under the bales.  Stack the bales in piles no larger than two or at most four pallets underneath, with gaps between the piles and between the piles and the walls.

Lay the bottom rows with the bales long narrow side down, then the next row flat, then subsequent rows also flat but criss-crossing the previous row, so each row holds the previous in place.

If you’ve concerns about the hay heating, if it’s still slightly damp when baled, leave gaps between bales as well as between piles, for air flow.  After storing, push your arm deep in between bales every now and again - a few times a day at first, then less frequently if it’s not warming - to feel the heat.  A little warmth is fine, getting really hot to the touch could mean trouble brewing!   If you’re worried, restack your heaps to bring the warmer parts to the outside and more air contact.

Yes, at its simplest, turning the hay is lifting it and floofing it, then letting it land the other way up so the damper side comes to the top.  If you’re cutting more than about half an acre (which I’m guessing you are), you won’t be doing this by hand, you’ll be getting the contractor to do it, with a hay bob on his tractor.  (Called “woofling”.). The same implement “rows up” the hay, into rows ready for the baler, on the last day.  And if rain comes after you’ve cut, you might want to row up to help the cut hay shed the water better, then woofle again once the rain has stopped and the worst of the water has burnt off in the sun.

If your contractor has a mower with conditioner, it will cut and “strow out” in one operation, otherwise you’ll need (the contractor) to get on and woofle it to spread it out after its mown.  Sometimes it’s best not to do this straight away, if the ground would benefit from getting some air to it to help it dry. 

Don’t get too stressed about it - you can always buy hay if you didn’t get enough of your own made!  By the time you’ve paid for cutting, two three or four woofles, rowing up, baling and maybe for help bringing it in and stacking it too, you’ll find it’s costing you something like £2 a bale to make, and you can probably buy in for around £4 a bale.  You’ll probably need something in the region of one bale of hay per thirty sheep/days for December through February, so if you have fifteen sheep they’ll eat half a bale a day for 90 days - so 45 bales. 
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Backinwellies

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Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2018, 02:53:40 pm »
Tommytink ….. whereabouts in SW Wales are you?
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tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2019, 04:20:03 pm »
Tommytink ….. whereabouts in SW Wales are you?

Hi - I've moved to a place called Login, which is just up from Whitland in Carmarthenshire  :)

Sally - thanks again for all the info. It's really helpful. So the hay could go up at any time if it gets too damp? I only ask as at the moment we have found the area we are in is pretty damp! So to ensure against this, if I get it stacked, just check it regularly by feeling into the bales to see if it feels warm.

It's funny (or maybe not!) but there was some old leftover hay in a feeder in the lambing shed, and when I was pulling that out it seemed like smoke coming off it. That was damp as it was pressed against the outside wall which is wood (and also rotten). No flames though!
« Last Edit: January 01, 2019, 04:26:26 pm by tommytink »

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #11 on: January 02, 2019, 07:39:09 am »
It was probably dust/fungal spores in the old hay that you were shaking up.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
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Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #12 on: January 02, 2019, 04:17:12 pm »
Oh, I think I’ve not explained myself well! 

It’s hay “got” - made - a little damp, so with damp in the stems and throughout the bales, that can heat and be a fire risk. Once it’s settled and dried out, it shouldn’t spontaneously combust.  (A stray spark is a different cause of fire, then, though, of course.). The checking for warmth is something you do for a month or two when the crop is brought in; once it’s fully dried out it should be stable.

There is a risk of fungus growing if the hay is “got a little sharp” (not as dry as it might have been), and the spores can cause lung issues - in your stock especially if fed indoors, and in yourself.  It’s the origin of the condition “farmers’ lung”.  I too would think the “smoke” you saw might be spores, so take care - wear a mask - when you’re clearing it out.  It might also be pollen, if the grass was cut at the time the grass was producing it.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #13 on: January 07, 2019, 07:37:25 pm »
Ah well- bit late now  :o But I’ll know for next time! There is another lot of leftover hay in a feeder. I didn’t know whether I could use this for anything? I don’t know how old it is. Wondered if it would be ok to put in nest boxes in the chicken coop? There’s also some baled straw. This would still be okay for bedding for livestock? I don’t know how old it is.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
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Re: A field for hay(lage?) production
« Reply #14 on: January 07, 2019, 09:03:44 pm »
Old straw should be fine for bedding chickens.  And won’t hurt being used for other livestock, although we generally want other livestock to eat some of the straw we bed them on, and they probably won’t eat old stuff.  But as long as it isn’t dusty or fusty, it’ll do no harm, especially if you use it as the bottom layer with fresher on top.

Hay isn’t as good a bedding material as straw, being less absorbent and can be prone to getting wrapped around feet - of chickens and sheep.  But so long as it’s not mouldy, you may as well use it up as chicken bedding - maybe mixed with some straw, or a bit of old hay under some straw.

Fresh hay is good in the nest box, but I don’t think I’d use fusty old hay there.  Older hay often has passengers, and that would put the chickens off, so not what you want in the nest box. ;)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

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