What is the difference between Hay, Haylage and Silage?
Hay, haylage and silage can all consist of the entire herbage of forage plants, sometimes including seeds of grasses and legumes, that is harvested for livestock feed. The difference between these stored feeds relates to the moisture content at harvest time and in storage, and the amount of fermentation that takes place in storage. Management for minimum storage and feeding losses varies with these products as well. Hay – is dry forage. Moisture content of hay at harvest should be 20% or less when harvested as 50 pound (22 kilogram) bales. Moisture content at harvest must be lower for larger size bales, otherwise deterioration (heating/mould growth) will occur within the bale. Final moisture content of quality hay in storage should be about 12% moisture. Haylage – is the product resulting from harvesting forage when it contains about 35 to 55% moisture. This forage is placed in an air tight storage structure, often wrapped in plastic, where it goes through a limited fermentation proces
