[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.

[SallyintNorth]

Broadly, if the grass is thoroughly dry, ie., hay or pretty nearly, when you bag it, then it's haylage.  If it's wetter, or it's not grass, then it's silage.  There are also chemicals you can add to help the fermentation, if you use these then it's silage not hayage.