# Chopped hay vs bales



## tami (Aug 28, 2003)

In my never ending quest to stop waste and keep fleece clean I am considering chopping hay. It seems to me that someone on this post said that they used chopped hay and I am wondering if you could give me some more information. 
Does it seem to stop waste? Do they eat the courser stuff that they would not otherwise eat? Any other pointers would be helpful?
Thanks!


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

We have chopped hay and yes they eat the coarser stemmy bits. (Great if you're lacking hay!) That said its of low feed value so you have to adjust the suppliment protein up! As for keeping fleece clean alot would depend how you chop and how you feed it. Chopping hay is dusty business, feeding from racks allows the finer stuff to float down into the fleece. Chopped away from the sheep and fed on the ground or in bunk feeders would work well and you will save hay. Which is good because you feed more suppliment. All in all I'd say the sheep did better on chopped hay and suppliment rather than wasting long stem hay and still getting some suppliment. They wasted good hay and stems not chopping.


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## tami (Aug 28, 2003)

Thank you Ross, that was the answer that I was hoping for. I had some pretty nice hay this year, and they still pick through and waste so much that I thought by chopping it we could minimize that. You know sheep, no matter how good the hay is they have to make a mess of it. I think about it more this time of the year when it comes down to- will I squeek by with what I have left or will I have to buy a little to get through. Then I look at that nice pack of hay they are laying on and think, hmm that would have probably about done it...


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## Shazza (Nov 20, 2004)

LOL....are y'll talking about Chaff....we feed oaten chaff to the goats but straight Oaten hay to the sheep.


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