moisture in bales

[xcsp]

Hello I baled yesterday and I was getting a moisture reading of 14.5-14.8 is that a good range when checking bales???????

so I checked again today and most are still in the 14-15 range ,there was a few the last ones I baled that are showing 17 moisture right now in barn.

thanks for any info
Greg

 

[Hayguy]

Most of the "experts" say under 20% should be fine for storing small bales. Lately , I'd have to qualify that statement and say it depends on the moiture tester and the maturity of the hay. My neighbor has a monitor on his tractor with starwheel probes in the bale chamber. He put up some early alfalfa- grass hay which the monitor said was anywhere from 9 to 20% moisture and did not need any preservative. I looked at some bales in the barn and thought it felt tough and probed it with my handheld Demnhurst. I found bales from 30 to 35% moisture and cautioned him to keep a close eye on it. The strange thing was that the hay showed no sign of heating up even 3 or 4 days after baling. However at 7 to 10 days , he foubd hot bales and decided to sort through the whole stack. His dealer said these baler probes are pretty dependent on the bale density - most were developed for the large square balers where the density is 2 or 3 times that in small squares.

 

[mark.r]

I am sure there variables the need to be accounted for but I always thought you were shooting for a window 8 to 15% moisture or 85% dry matter?

 

[RickB]

I am sure there variables the need to be accounted for but I always thought you were shooting for a window 8 to 15% moisture or 85% dry matter?

Baling legumes at 8% will get you a bale of stems and no leaves. Makes poor hay by anyone's standards.

 

[mark.r]

Baling legumes at 8% will get you a bale of stems and no leaves. Makes poor hay by anyone's standards.

Ahhh, makes sense. What should your moisture be post baling?

 

[RickB]

That goes back to your comment about variables....... Moisture in untreated hay should be low enough not to heat and spoil, and high enough for leaf retention, even in grass hay. The optimum window is pretty narrow, often pushed open further on each end, and lies in the mid teens.