diff --git a/src/logs_syslog_unix.ml b/src/logs_syslog_unix.ml
index a605914..e39c68e 100644
--- a/src/logs_syslog_unix.ml
+++ b/src/logs_syslog_unix.ml
@@ -134,5 +134,21 @@ let unix_reporter
     | None -> (fun msg -> msg), Unix.SOCK_DGRAM
   in
   let sa = Unix.ADDR_UNIX socket in
-  let encode = Syslog_message.encode_local in
+  let encode ?(len=1024) (msg : Syslog_message.t) =
+    let open Syslog_message in
+    let open Astring in
+    let f v g =
+      if v = g then failwith "Invalid value" else (Obj.magic v : int)
+    in
+    let facse =
+      f msg.facility Invalid_Facility * 8 + f msg.severity Invalid_Severity
+    and ts = Rfc3164_Timestamp.encode msg.timestamp
+    in
+    let msgstr = Printf.sprintf "<%d>%s %s" facse ts msg.message
+    in
+    if len > 0 && String.length msgstr > len then
+      String.with_range ~first:0 ~len:len msgstr
+    else
+      msgstr
+  in
   conn_reporter Unix.PF_UNIX socket_type sa truncate frame encode "localhost"