Before the beginning of the intensive development of agriculture, pasture and hay production were the main feeds in ruminant breeding. With the technological development of agriculture and the feeding of large and small ruminants indoors, silages, first grass and then corn, came to the forefront of rations for ruminants. Silages were believed to have better nutritional value than dry grass feed. Nowadays, thanks to modern drying methods, we can also produce dry fodder of higher quality and energy value, so silage and dry fodder from the same raw material are equivalent feeds in the diet of ruminants. Slovenia is one of the few European countries where the cut fodder is also dried, previously on the ground and now in hay dryers, mainly due to natural conditions. However, the quality of this dried fodder in Slovenia is lower than abroad, as only 1/3 of the farms have drying facilities. When harvesting hay, we are strongly dependent on weather conditions, and the quality of hay is also strongly influenced by the composition of the sward, the mowing time and the mowing machines, fertilization, grassland maintenance and the settings of the harvesting machines themselves. Therefore, producing quality hay is somewhat more difficult than producing silage. Due to the higher cost of forage preparation, the purchase prices for hay products are higher, so this method of cultivation can be competitive.
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