Author Topic: Urgh ....the milk tastes of haylage (Read 2477 times)

Roxy · « **on:** July 07, 2011, 04:13:16 pm »

Not that I have ever tasted haylage you understand, but assume that is what is tainting the milk. Although Bramble and Alyce are outside during the day, they do have access to haylage too, and obvously at night. Due to the heavy rain, they have been running inside,and probably eating the haylage more than the grass!!

Yesterdays milk tasted awful - but the farm cats did not notice. A local farmer bottles his own milk, and he had tons of complaints one winter, because the milk tasted funny - that was the silage.

I would feed hay, but the only ones I can get are the very long bales - unable to move them. And they are £70!!

princesspiggy · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2011, 06:36:30 pm »

i can believe that cos i tend to stink of haylage all winter too! when i lived in england, i was sure the cows milk there tasted of cow s**t. but maybe it was haylage or something, but def not "pure milk" taste.

jaykay · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2011, 07:10:44 pm »

I reckon a large rectangular bale of hay is about 20 small bales, so 70/20= £3.50 a small bale which isn't outlandish. I had to buy my straw this way this year. We split the bale and re-tied it up 'one slice' at a time and moved it about like this. Worked ok. Just want to say that if that's the only hay you can get, it is possible to do it without too much machinery.

Haylage and silage certainly stink so i can believe it taints the milk.

little blue · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2011, 08:14:16 pm »

we've gone for small bales of hay this year, easier t o manage & we can turn them etc to keep them fresh. I found that we were wasting hay from big bales that was going "off"
And we had to leave them in the yard til J's uncle came round - he's in the TA & stronger than both of us put together!

Roxy, your goat's milk is too precious a commodity to spoil it with haylage flavouring!

Anke · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2011, 10:20:25 pm »

As I have run out of hay a long time ago my goats are fed on (horse)haylage, freshly cut grass and their usual mix and stuff, branches etc. Not noticed ANY taint. They got some all winter too to make sure if I run out earlier I can just switch quickly. Maybe your haylage was baled quite wet? Or did they get their noses into some unusual greenery?

Right now mine get the stuff that got left in the field on Monday this week after the big haylage bales got done for the sheep - there was at least as much as one bale left there, and as it was still dry (the rain came on Tuesday night) it feels almost like hay - they love it! And it saves me buying in the haylage...

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #5 on:** July 08, 2011, 01:20:03 am »

I was worried about feeding my Jersey house cow silage over the winter - but was pleasantly surprised that if anything it made the milk taste even sweeter.

Sally

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #6 on:** July 08, 2011, 01:34:07 am »

Quote from: jaykay on July 07, 2011, 07:10:44 pm

I reckon a large rectangular bale of hay is about 20 small bales, so 70/20= £3.50 a small bale which isn't outlandish.

We just made 960 small square bales. (Hurrah!

It's good to get a start.) I counted up the hours we spent mowing, strowing, wuffling, rowing, baling, stooking, leading and mewing - it was in the order of 60 'person-hours'. Admittedly one of the fields we cut was a long lead back to the farm - about a 15 minute round trip (with 17 or 21 on the back.)

This year we have so far been very blessed in the amount of help we've had from friends, neighbours, relatives - and people who will want to buy some of this hay come the back end. It would very quickly become impractical to make small-bale hay on any kind of a scale without such help.