The Best Hay Preserver
on the Market!
Bale Hay How You
Want,
When You Want!
With farm life being beyond busy all the time, putting up hay can feel like the last thing you need to do. Having to wait for it to dry down, baling at night or in the early morning, and then risking rot and mold are all factors that consume time and energy.
All of these
problems are eliminated by using AG-USA HayMax
to treat your hay. With Hay- Max hay
conditioner, you can put up hay when you want to
and no longer have to get up at night to bale;
it will let you bale in the daytime! It helps
work against rot and mold, and the drydown wait
time is greatly diminished.
Bail With
Moisture Up to 25%!
Directions for Use
Spray on windrowed hay or at mouth of baler.
Apply at a rate
of five (5) pints per ton of hay,
up to 25%
moisture.
For better
coverage, HayMax can be mixed 1-
to-1 with
water, then double the rate to ten (10)
pints
per ton of hay.
It is suggested
that at least two (2) nozzles be
used in
order to get as much coverage as possible.
|
With AG-USA HayMax, you’ll have It will provide faster removal, and it will allow you to water sooner for quicker recovery.
Getting hay off the field quicker And HayMax is the best for all grass hay. Whatever you’re baling, AGUSA will give you the best choice for the best results with HayMax!
¨ HayMax
helps reduce molds and rot while
improving the keepability of higher
moisture hay. |
Maximize the “Shelf-Life” and Nutrient Value of Your Hay Today!
HayMax Explained
Concerns with
Dry Hay and Fires
There is always
concern about dry hay and any potential fire
that can erupt because of dryness. This is the
reason hay is baled at a particular moisture
level.
HayMax
will allow baling hay at a much higher
moisture level, up to 25% moisture. This is the
beauty of HayMax!
Let’s take an
example: For instance, with the Alfalfa plant
most of the protein is in the leaves of the
plant. If Alfalfa is left to dry down to a
15-17% moisture level, the leaves will simply
break off and be left in the field. This loss
lowers the yields and total nutritional value
per ton by a lot!
So, if you have a
way to bale Alfalfa at a higher moisture level
and keep the leaves in your bales, you have
improved your crop! You will increase the
nutritional value along with yield and profit
increases!
What Does
HayMax Accomplish?
Yes, there are
those who can capture the leaves at higher
moisture levels by using propionic acid, but
HayMax is superior and more effective in
that it doesn’t use propionic acid, which is
corrosive.
HayMax, as a
conditioner, will stop any kind of
fermentation from continuing on in the bale
of hay by a proprietary method which allows
baling hay at a higher rate of moisture level,
reducing the threat of fire. You can then bale
the Alfalfa with leaves intact. The HayMax
formula will turn the oxygen inside the bale of
hay into a non-combustible gas so it can’t burn!
You may be one of
those who bales hay at night in hopes that the
little bit of dew on the hay will help retain
the leaves before the hay dries out too fast. It
is well-known that when we swath hay it breaks
the cells of the plant, making the hay dry down
quicker. That’s fine, but we don’t want the hay
to become too brittle like a pretzel! With a
HayMax application we can pick it up and
bale it at 25% moisture without having to wait
as long!
Baling hay at 25%
moisture is a time saver! Picking up your hay
and baling becomes a crucial factor especially
should it rain while the hay is on the ground.
After cutting hay, if it is rained on the rain
will cause it to lose nutrition. And we don’t
want that! Applying HayMax saves
nutrition and is a time saver as well!
Wilting Concern
- Loss of Moisture
The question can
arise, “Do we want to wilt the hay at all?” In
other words, as we let it dry out how long do we
let it dry before it gets too dry before baling?
First of all, we
know when we swath the hay, it’s alive so the
moisture in it is at a 70-80% level. It will
wilt down in the sun. But we want to catch it
around the 25% level, spray HayMax, and
bale.
How long does it
take to get from that 70-80% level of moisture
to 25% moisture ready to spray and bale? In
Arizona there is a lot of Alfalfa grown there.
California, Nevada, and Washington State have a
lot of Alfalfa grown there. Every place is
different because of the humidity level. The
drier the humidity, the drier the climate, so
the faster the hay is going to dry down. In
Arizona it’s likely that you could swath (cut)
Alfalfa in the morning and bale at night. In
Kansas there are places where 15 minutes is the
difference between two percentage points of
humidity. There are places in Kansas that are as
about as dry as New Mexico. In Pennsylvania you
may need to allow the hay to dry down for 2 or 3
days before baling. Pennsylvania farmers mostly
grow grass hay and not alfalfa, but the above
applies to grass hay as well.
The Application
of HayMax
When do you apply
HayMax? When you are baling the hay. Some
balers have an applicator installed. The baler
itself may have an applicator on it that will
spray the HayMax on the windrow before it is
picked up into the baler. If you don’t have an
applicator on the baler, then you may need to
set up a tank with a sprayer with a boom with
2-3 nozzles to get good coverage across the
windrow right before it is picked up. HayMax
needs to be applied on the hay right before it
goes into the baler, or right before being
baled.
Put HayMax
into the applicator and set at five-eighths of a
gallon. And that’s around 5-pints per ton. It
then sprays it on for you. The baler picks it up
and rolls it up into a bale (or square bale) and
you’re fine. Then it is stacked in the barn and
no worries about fire. Also, HayMax has
an ingredient that mellows out the bale of hay
and produces a sweet smell which cattle love to
eat.
HayMax
makes the hay more attractive to livestock. For
example, it would be like the difference between
eating potato chips and eating mashed potatoes.
One is more palatable, and when eating mashed
potatoes, you do not have to drink a lot of
water. But with potato chips, you do have to
drink a lot of water. Likewise, cattle need to
go over to drink more water when eating dry hay,
which takes time. It’s the same with dry ration.
The cattle will need to go and drink water to
bring the moisture up in their rumen to where it
can start to digest. Once again, saving time is
a factor. If the hay remains on the ground too
long it will wilt, it will become dry.
Also, some farmers wrap the bale to help keep in
the moisture.
Again, we want
HayMax sprayed on the windrowed hay (a long row
of raked hay) just as it is being picked up to
be baled. That is the best application because
you do not want to make an extra trip across the
field.
For those of you
who have horse drawn equipment, you may
need to rig something up to condition your hay
with HayMax. What is needed is a tank and
a pump with two nozzles that spray on the
windrow right before or as you pick up the hay.
General
Application of HayMax
Normally you apply
5-pints of HayMax per ton of hay, but for
better coverage mix 1-part of HayMax to
1-part of water. So, are we talking about
5-pints of HayMax and 5-pints of water
mixed together, which gives you 10-pints of
liquid per ton of hay. That may be necessary to
give better coverage across the windrow.
A lot of
Manufacturers sell balers with an applicator
right behind the baler. They have better nozzles
which give superior distribution. With this
setup, we can apply the original 5-pints of
product per ton of hay. Instead of one
nozzle they may have two or three nozzles on the
applicator on balers they sell. So, 5-pints
seems to be more than adequate. But if your
hay is a little bit dry you can go ahead and do
the 10 pint mix per ton, mixing 1:1 ratio with
water.
Understanding
Moisture Content
HayMax
works in an aerobic atmosphere, meaning it needs
to have oxygen to work. We need to get the hay
lower in moisture, allowing air to surround it.
That’s why it needs to be left in the field to
drop from a high percentage of moisture to
around 25%, then you spray the HayMax on
it and bale. This helps reduce molds and rot
while improving the keepability of higher
moisture hay. HayMax hay conditioner will not
wick off or evaporate on hot days like other hay
conditioners can.
HayMax
will help to protect the hay from
bacteria and other organisms which are not good
for livestock. It works as a preservative for
hay. When you open up a bale of hay that has
been conditioned with HayMax it is nice
and green inside, even though it’s dried down.
It keeps the nutrition; it keeps the minerals
and everything in the plant. It gives the hay a
better flavor. This is the proprietary nature of
the product. It’s another way of preserving hay,
as opposed to using propionic acid (which tends
to corrode the equipment). Of course, the best
part is that we can apply HayMax at 25%
moisture.
Understanding
Propionic Acid
Propionic acid has
a pungent and unpleasant smell. It is a common
food preservative. But it is most commonly used
for animal feed preservation. Propionic acid is
corrosive and that’s the very reason cattle in
their rumens produce propionic acid. It is used
to break down the feed in their rumen. But when
it touches equipment, this corrosive effect is
not welcome. The cows stomach is able to manage
it, but the equipment does not. Farmers find
themselves replacing parts every 4-5 years.
The same is true
for our stomachs, they are built for acid. And
that’s why our bodies secrete acid - it breaks
down our food. Our stomach is made to manage it.
But the same acid will cause harm to the throat!
HayMax
works in a different vein of science
compared to other types of hay preservatives on
the market. HayMax works well but doesn’t
use propionic acid. HayMax is very pleasant and
healthy for cattle, not harmful for equipment
and easy to use.
Note:
It has been asked whether HayMax works
the same as propionic acid, where they put more
preservative on at a higher moisture than 25%
and can put on less at moisture below 25%. We
don’t recommend going above 25% moisture. If you
go higher, you will be responsible for problems
it creates. As for going lower, you can play
with it yourself to see what might be possible.
Humidity plays a part in the preservation of
hay. Of course, propionic acid is corrosive and
the cows don’t like eating it, and it shouldn’t
be fed to horses. HayMax is safe to feed to
horses! In the many years my dad’s customers
used it, we didn’t hear of one having a problem
feeding their HayMax hay to their horses.
Understanding
Haylage
For haylage,
which is like silage, wrap the grass/alfalfa
mix in plastic to seal the air out instead of
piling it on top of the ground. Haylage is a
good feed! When you put hay up at a higher
moisture level in large bales and wrap it to
seal the air out, you must use Sila-Tec,
not HayMax.
When you put up
haylage, you will need to increase the amount of
Sila-Tec by 50%. The haylage should be at
a minimum of 50% moisture. However, it is much
better to put it up with at least 60% moisture.
You can go up to 75% moisture but the higher we
go in moisture, the more the bales tend to sag
and not keep their shape. We can preserve at 75%
but at 60% we get less sagging of the bale, and
less possibility of moisture collecting in the
bottom of the bale and molding.
Remember: Use
Sila-Tec for high moisture haylage and HayMax
for low moisture hay. Why? In a
high moisture environment, we want to ferment
the haylage in an anaerobic state (no air) and
control that fermentation. In a low moisture
state, HayMax needs an aerobic atmosphere (air
is needed), so we let it wilt down, exposed to
the air.
NO.
Although they are natural, neither HayMax
nor Sila-Tec are certified organic, since they
contain a preservative to keep them from rotting
during storage. These preservatives are
chemicals that cannot be certified organic.
However, they are both clean products. They are
natural, and if we don’t put in something to
give them some shelf life to preserve it, they
would rot and spoil. They work well for farmers
who are not certified organic but are trying to
farm as naturally as possible, using best
practices.
HayMax Quick Reference Guide
A. What is it?
1. A Premium Hay Conditoner
2. Derived from Water, Zinc sulfate, lacic acid, copper sulfate, and molasses.
3. Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Fiber-0/01%, total Ash-5%, Phosphorus-7.0%
B. Why use it?
1. To eliminate wait time when it comes to baling hay.
2. Put up hay when you want to and not at night to bale.
3. It will let you bale in the daytime!
4. The dry down time is greatly diminished.
5. Provides faster removal and allows you to water sooner for quicker recovery.
6. Gettng hay off the field quicker means no more hay growing on both sides of windrows.
7. No more slowing the growth or killing Alfalfa.
8. Best for all grass and alfalfa hay.
9. Our conditioner will not wick off or evaporate on hot days like others do.
10. Unlike other competitors on the market, our HayMax does not contain corrosive propionic acid.
11. HayMax is made with high-quality grade non-corrosive acid to protect your equipment against corrosion.
12. HayMax exclusive formula uses a different chemical process than other hay conditioners allowing you to bale with moisture as high as 25% and have no problems or regrets.
13. Preserved hay will give better nutrition to the cattle, which in turn gives better beef and milk quality.
14. Elimination of field losses means more hay to sell or feed.
15. Increased profits!
C. Application
1. Apply hay conditioner at rate of 5-pints per ton of hay up to 25% moisture. A 275-gallon tote of HayMax treats 440 tons of hay at the recommended rate and a 5-gallon bucket treats 6.6 tons of hay. Spray on windrowed hay before baling. Or spray right before it goes into the baler.
2. For better coverage, HayMax can be mixed 1-to-1 with water, then double the rate to ten (10) pints per ton of hay.
3. It is suggested that at least two (2) nozzles be used in order to get as much coverage as possible.
D. Cost
1. Retail - $90 for a 5-gallon bucket ($18 per gal.) (04/2024 price subject to change)
2. Retail - $15 per gallon when purchased by the tote. (04/2024 price subject to change)
E. HayMax Is Not Certified for Organic Use
1. HayMax is not certified organic. But it is all natural, except for a preservative that keeps it from spoiling. If you are certified organic, please do not use HayMax, as it could jeopardize your certification.
2. For growers that are not certified organic but farming as natural as possible, in other words, using ‘best practices’ then of course they can use it.
Click here to buy HayMax or Sila-Tec
