Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Haylage?  (Read 6133 times)

Dragon

  • Joined Aug 2019
Haylage?
« on: December 02, 2019, 01:43:48 pm »
Despite having adlib access to good hay my kids (6 months old) are ripping holes in the horses' haylage bales to get to the innards.

So the question is, can goats eat haylage safely? And if so, in what quantities?

 :fc: :goat:

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2019, 03:32:52 pm »
Haylage carries a greater risk wrt listeriosis in particular, caused by bacteria in the damp haylage. Young stock is at greater risk, as with replacing teeth there is an easy route for the bacteria to enter the bloodstream and the brain. Listeriosis is very difficult to treat in goats.

Mould can be another issue.

But in years of no good hay to be had I have fed haylage to my older goats without any issues. They do tend to like it more than hay that may not be too great...
However I would make sure that they don't have access to self-serve, not only could they eat some of the plastic, but also spoil the haylage quite quickly?

bj_cardiff

  • Joined Feb 2017
  • Carmarthenshire
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2019, 04:53:09 pm »
Yes, I've fed haylage to my goats for years with no issue. I suppose the only slight issue I had was that they have a tendancy to pull the nicest bits out and waste a lot, the waste quickly heats up on the floor and goes mouldy, so needs to be cleared away regularly. Be carefull of topping up the mangers as you can leave really mouldy horrible (toxic) bits in the bottom of the feeder without realising.

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2019, 04:59:04 pm »
Since moving to Scotland I have had to feed my girls haylage because I can't get small bales of hay. They do seem to like it , but thanks for the tip on clearing out the manger

Mummyhen

  • Joined May 2020
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2020, 11:28:36 am »
Need to some advice, Iam a new goat mummy, got two 6month Pygmy goats, one doe who is bit fat and one thin wether, both been warned etc, was on Timothy last years hay, but they leave a lot of the stalky bits, just bought small bale of medium cut ray grass and Timothy haylage, would that be ok for them to gradually mix in with hay

bj_cardiff

  • Joined Feb 2017
  • Carmarthenshire
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2020, 12:20:45 pm »
Need to some advice, Iam a new goat mummy, got two 6month Pygmy goats, one doe who is bit fat and one thin wether, both been warned etc, was on Timothy last years hay, but they leave a lot of the stalky bits, just bought small bale of medium cut ray grass and Timothy haylage, would that be ok for them to gradually mix in with hay

Yes, I didn't worry about mixing it when changing from hay to haylage - I just fed it and never had any issue. Of course mixing it would be the best practice thing to do though. I think you'll find they just pick out the hay and eat the haylage

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2020, 03:02:57 pm »
Need to some advice, Iam a new goat mummy, got two 6month Pygmy goats, one doe who is bit fat and one thin wether, both been warned etc, was on Timothy last years hay, but they leave a lot of the stalky bits, just bought small bale of medium cut ray grass and Timothy haylage, would that be ok for them to gradually mix in with hay


I assume you know about having to feed the haylage really quickly so it doesn't go off. How big is your bale and are you feeding it to other livestock as well as the two pygmies?

Mummyhen

  • Joined May 2020
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2020, 07:58:39 pm »
Hi thank you for your reply, I have only bought a small bag, very heavy though, and only got two kid goats to feed it too.
I have given small amount tonight, will gradually increase amount, then can I give approx 75%haylage maybe 25% hay , thank you

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2020, 08:44:21 pm »
If it is in a plastic bag and you can only open a small hole, then that is best and shut the bag tightly straight afterwards. It needs eating within a week ideally - if it gets air inside the initial fermentation will go over and you get mould - and mould is bad.


I would also restrict myself to shop-bought small bales, as large bales produced on the "farm down the road" may be much more likely to have soil inside the bale, which easily leads to listeriosis. Goats react very badly to listerioris, and it is very idfficult to treat successfully. I am not wanting to scare you, but feeding haylage requires caution. (but lots of goatkeepers do very successfully).

steve_pr

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • Carmarthenshire/Pembrokeshire Borders
Re: Haylage?
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2021, 10:06:31 pm »
We keep angoras and sheep. After a bad experience a couple of years ago when we lost one goat and almost a second (took 3 weeks on antibiotics!) to listeriosis we NEVER feed haylage to the goats only hay. This is despite the fact that we cut and bale our own hay and bale and wrap our own haylage.  The sheep get both, the goats are strictly on hay only, whether they like it or not! Simply not worth the risk.

 

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