Baleage can be made from 40 65 moisture forage while traditional hay is dried to 16 percent before it is baled.
Wrapping hay bales in plastic.
These bales tend to have lower forage quality and greater mold throughout the bales.
Some of the inline systems require end caps or plastic hay bags to seal the ends of the lines.
To protect hay from the elements farmers may choose to cover it with a tarp wrap it in a plastic sheet or secure a cap on top of it.
In this method the forage crop is cut sooner immediately baled and wrapped in plastic to ferment like silage.
You get a smoother bale surface that contains the stems and reduces the chance of poking holes in the plastic film.
The finished bales look like giant white marshmallows.
Plastic wrap is most commonly used in high moisture baling.
Pre tension the film to stretch 55 to 75 percent.
Bales left unwrapped for more than 48 hours can reach internal temperatures over 130 degrees f.
Wrapping bales can be an economical answer when quality counts when haying on rented properties and when silos are not available.
For optimal preservation wrap bales within 24 hours of baling using 6 to 8 mil thick plastic.
If the hay is in string tied bales and to be stored outside then a couple turns of plastic may be an economic advantage as long as the gain due to reduced storage losses outweighs the loss in increased expense.
Select blown low density polyethylene film around 1 mil thick.