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- Today many producers are
bailing high-moisture forages.
We're going to be talking
with Tim Schnakenberg,
regional agronomy specialist,
for University of Missouri Extension.
Tim, what are some of the top reasons
a producer might elect to
harvest high-moisture hay?
- Well, a big reason is just
a shorter harvest window.
Instead of waiting for
weather to clear up,
we can get it harvested in 24 hours
versus waiting four or five days
to wait for the hay to dry.
Getting it wrapped and
put away within 24 hours
is a great benefit.
That just allows us to
get the crops started
and get the growing season
off to a a good start
so we can have multiple cutting later on.
That's a big benefit right there.
- How about quality?
Does making haylage improve the quality?
- Many times you will have increased
digestibility and intake
as a result of using haylage or bailage,
but it only preserves quality.
It does not enhance the quality.
Just getting it harvested
at maybe 50 percent moisture
versus 18 percent moisture,
buys you a lot of leaf preservation
that you wouldn't have otherwise.
- You mentioned moisture there.
What moistures are we looking for?
- Typically we want to shoot for
a 45 to 60 percent moisture.
You can stay on the upper end
of that more with the grasses;
the lower end of that with legumes.
Some people go even lower
than that with legumes.
I'm comfortable with
saying 45 to 60 percent
is a good range to target for.
- Thanks, Tim.
With the Makin' Hay
Minute, I'm Bryan Setzer.
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I hope you enjoyed this
episode of Makin' Hay Minute.
Please check out some
of these other videos
or find us a makinhay.com.
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