Feeding Baleage in a Slow Feed Net: A Customer's Real Experience
We recently had a question from one of our customers in New Zealand about feeding baleage in a GutzBusta net, and what hole size actually works best.
Baleage isn't something we deal with much here in Australia, so when Rhian left us a five star review saying her net was perfect for feeding baleage, we knew we had to pick her brain. She was kind enough to share her experience in detail, so we thought it was worth passing on to the rest of our slow feeding community.
What is Baleage?
If you're not familiar with it, baleage (also called haylage) is essentially a type of silage. It's grass that's wrapped in silage wrap before it's fully dry, often with an inoculant added to help the fermentation process along.
Compared to hay, baleage is:
- Highly palatable and higher in energy
- Completely dust free
- Able to be stored outside in all weather
- More expensive and messier than hay
It's popular in New Zealand, particularly through the colder, wetter months when good quality dry hay can be harder to come by.
The Problem With Feeding Baleage
Because baleage is slightly wet, it tends to come away in clumps rather than fine strands when a horse pulls at it. That's exactly why so much of it ends up trampled on the ground when it's fed loose or in a net with too large a hole size. It's not necessarily finer or stalkier than hay (that comes down to the farmer and the grasses used) but the moisture content changes how it behaves in a net.
What Worked for Rhian
"I guess baleage and haylage are essentially types of silage, grass wrapped in silage wrap before it is fully dry and often inoculated to aid the fermentation process. It is highly palatable, higher energy, completely dust free and has the benefit of being able to be stored outside in all weather. It is more expensive than hay and also messier, but you feed less, when eaten from a regular hay net half will end up on the floor. It is typically just fed on the ground in the paddock but I have seen people using double hay nets, one inside the other, to help contain it when travelling. It is not necessarily finer or stalkier than hay, that depends on the farmer and grasses, but as it is slightly wet it tends to come out in clumps when they grab a bit which is why so much ends up on the floor.
I purchased the 40mm small knotless as I didn't really want to slow our girls foraging down. We have a couple of your 60mm nets for hay (the best hay nets, I love them! I struggled with just the one for a couple of years but this year treated myself to a second which has made life a LOT easier!), but there was too much wastage when the 60mm are used for baleage. I think the 30mm would also work but I thought that might be too much of a leap for our mare. I haven’t seen any piles on the floor since we have been using it. Previously I had a 50mm cheaper net but half the baleage would be on the floor.
Hope that is some help! Baleage is very popular in NZ, particularly in the colder wetter weather so I am sure people would be keen on a better solution than the double netting!
Thanks so much for the nets, I am a proper tight wad 😂, well its more that every dollar has to be carefully considered, we don’t splurge on things just because they look nice, but these hay nets would have paid for themselves in preventing wastage so are worth the investment :)"
Rhian already had a couple of our 6cm/2½" nets that she uses for regular hay, and loves them. But when she tried using the same size for baleage, she found there was too much wastage.
After trying a few options, she landed on our 4cm/1¾" small knotless net for baleage, and hasn't seen any piles on the floor since switching. She'd previously used a cheaper 5cm/2" net from another supplier for baleage and lost about half of it to the ground, so the difference was significant.
She mentioned a 3cm/1¼" net would likely work too, but felt that might slow her mare's foraging down more than she wanted.
Our Take
If you're feeding baleage and finding a lot of it ends up wasted on the ground, it's worth sizing down from what you'd normally use for hay. As a starting point:
- For hay, our usual hole size guide applies
- For baleage, consider going a size or two smaller than you would for hay, given how it tends to clump and pull apart
Every horse and every bale is a little different, so it's worth watching how your horse goes and adjusting from there. If in doubt, our team is always happy to help you work out the right size for your setup.
A huge thank you to Rhian for taking the time to share her experience with us. Stories like this from our community help us support other horse owners facing the same challenges, and we love hearing how our nets are working out in real feeding situations.
