Selling balage in Michigan

Nick m · May 30, 2016

Anyone do it with success? Really want to do some, but afraid of having a tube of hay that won't sell and my couple of steers can't eat up fast enough. I understand the process and getting it wrapped in a quick fashion is a must. Also have a silage baler. Just afraid of being stuck with it.

Also, when in a tube(only wrapper available in the area) what does the hay do if you take a couple bakes, then leave the rest for a while. Will you only get a couple inches of spoiled hay on the exposed bale?

Thanks for the input

RogerinIowa · May 30, 2016

IF doing just a few, use bags like BIG garbage bags. Don;t know who makes them, but I have done it.

Ken Macfarlane · May 30, 2016

Individually wrapped are the only way to sell here. There is no way to sell the tube, you let in too much air when breaking it apart.

If you open it up, you need to feed a bale every day. Helps to pull the plastic over the front and stack a junk bale against it. If you are leaving it for an extending time you need to tape it all back up airtight and there is still a good chance the end bale will have spoilage.

JD Seller · May 30, 2016

Selling balage is a tricky thing to do. I would NOT make any unless you have it presold to some one that can feed it up in a timely fashion. You can't really used it with just a few steers. You will knock them off their feed using it. They like the balage and will eat in an leave the grain alone. So you will have poorly finished beef steers. It works for heifer replacements and medium size calves. Watch feeding it too early on calves. It can cause digestive issues.

The balage works for cows the best. Mainly milk cows. Also inline wrapped bales need to be fed timely meaning every few days at the slowest. If your a smaller used than go with the individual wrapped bales.

Balage bales sell for about 1/3 to 1/2 of what the same dry hay sells for by the ton.

So while it makes missing the rains easier the lower price and limited sales market make balage a hard sell unless you can presell it.

Selling balage in Michigan

Nick m

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RogerinIowa

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Ken Macfarlane

Well-known Member

JD Seller

Well-known Member

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