Bale silage: a growing role in horse fodder in France

By Catherine Trillaud-Geyl
Agricultural Engineer at the Directorate of the French National Studs (Haras Nationaux) in Arnac-Pompadour. She is the author of several publications on horse fodder and has been Director of the Haras Nationaux in Clermont Ferrand from 1993 to 2004. National Studs promote and develop equine breeding and all horse-related activities.

Bale-wrapped fodder, which is an intermediate fodder between hay and silage, is being used increasingly to feed horses: when this technique was first introduced, it was limited to farm animals, but now it is spreading to riding and racing horses.

Bale wrapping for horses may come from natural grasslands or artificial pasture (single or multi-species), with the choice of species being adapted to reflect the farming conditions. However, it is recommended not to exceed 50% of legumes in the fodder harvested. The best feed intake and growth rates are obtained with bale-wrapped fodder with a DM content of between 40 and 50%: these levels must be higher than 35% in any case.

The nutritional value of bale-wrapped fodder is higher than that of hay, as hay is generally harvested later and at a more advanced growth stage. The energy value is usually between 0.6 and 0.8 UFC/Kg of DM, the nitrogenous value is subject to greater variations: from 20 to 170 g of MADC/Kg of DM depending on the growth stage and the proportions of the different plant species wrapped (grasses/legumes).

For a single plant species, or a mixture combining the same species, the level of intake of the bale-wrapped fodder is always greater than that of hay. A transitional period of 15 days is necessary to move from a hay basal ration to a bale-wrapped fodder basal ration. In any case, an analysis of storage life and a chemical analysis must be carried out, with the latter enabling the quantity of mineral and nitrogenous supplements in the ration to be adapted.

For colts intended for sport or leisure riding, respective intakes of 12, 18 and 21 kg gross at the ages of 6, 18 and 30 months enable growth of 500, 390 and 50 g/d respectively to be achieved, and the use of fodder and pasture to be optimized.

The excellent nutritional value of this fodder, which enables the level of concentrate to be reduced to 15% of the Total Dry Matter Intake (TDMI) for this type of animal, thus reducing the cost of the ration.

For animals used earlier (flat racing and trotting), despite the very good nutritional value of the bale-wrapped feed, the level of concentrate during the first winter must be around 40% of the TDMI.

Apart from palatability and very good nutritional value, another of the advantages of bale-wrapped fodder lies in the fact that it does not contain any dust, and is therefore a very attractive feed for horses suffering from pulmonary problems.

In addition to its nutritional qualities, bale-wrapping allows greater security of harvest, ease of management of pasture, and does not require any storage buildings. However, once they are opened, the bales should not be used for longer than five days, which limits its use in the small units that represent a substantial proportion of horse owners.

If equipment came onto the market that would produce bales weighing less than 50 kg, this would enable use of this technique to expand still further, and spread the use of bale-wrapping to a sizeable number of riding centres or riders who do not possess the equipment necessary for handling round wrapped bales.

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