Drying heavy alfalfa / clover mix

[5030]

Mine is ALL cow hay FYI. I treat it just like I used to treat horse hay. Maybe I shouldn't say 'cow' hay, we don't milk. Just beef cattle and some bucking bulls. Bulls worth in the 20K range.

 

[CalG]

Geese folks give me a break. Its cow hay. If it gets a bit of mold so what. All the good horse hay is in the barn on pallets.

This cow hay pile is under a tarp on pallets with good ventilation and yes for the first week I check for temperature spike and had none. These are bales I would not put in the barn. The pile consists of older bales, odd size bales, bales left in baler from last run, etc. Good for cows, covering plants, bale gardens, and composting as I have done in the past etc.

BTW - if you want to compost bales, soak with water and put under a black plastic tarp. They will start cooking in a few days, then remove tarp and keep damp. This needs to be done far away from buildings as they will start smoking at some point (a good thing), but if kept damp will not combust To speed this up, throw on some nitrogen fertilizer. Turn after 3 months, then every month after. but keep the pile damp and ariated. Makes excellent compost. Before use in garden, cover again with blast plastic tarp under full sun for a week to kill any seeds that might still be in it. I had 50 bales that got rained on (soaked) a few years back and an old timer showed me how to do it. Worked great.

While those bales are cooking, throw a couple tomato plants in the center along with a hand full of soil. Enjoy the "hot house"

 

[5030]

After reading all this, I would suggest you next 'investment' is a moisture tester. I have a Delmhorst which is expensive but there are others out there that aren't. Ag Tronics makes a few.

 

[aczlan]

After reading all this, I would suggest you next 'investment' is a moisture tester. I have a Delmhorst which is expensive but there are others out there that aren't. Ag Tronics makes a few.

They are not cheap (we have a Agtronics one that was $250ish and a Case/IH branded Agtronics one), but they are MUCH cheaper than a new barn or a new horse if one is putting up hay for horses...

Aaron Z

 

[RickB]

Almost all handheld units are either Agtronics or Delmhorst. Very much worth having.

 

[5030]

I think when I bought my Delmhorst about 15 years ago, it was about 350 bucks but I have all the accessories, bulk tester, 3 different probes and the in baler shoes that you can monitor in process RM with. Even have the nice case. Never put in the shoes, still in the box.

Have to relate a little story about hay and ignorant horsey people...

Few years back, hay was real hard to get so my boss (at the time, I'm retired now) sent me to a local hay auction with a tractor trailer (I drove for a private carrier and retired from that). I get to the auction and there is a bunch of green bales (both round and square). I was wanting to buy a load of rounds to feed his steers (and mine), nit really interested in small squares at all but I parked the truck, get a bidders number, go back to the cab and get my Delmhorst. I set the threshold alarm at 20%. if you have a Delmhorst, you already know the alarm is loud.

So, I set off looking at the hay and probing and that alarm is going off pretty regular and I'm attracting a crowd of buyers as well. They all want to know what I have in my hand and why it keeps beeping. Needless to say, the auctioneer was watching me as well. Gave the horsey people an education however and I didn't buy a lick because it was all wet garbage.

I expect cured and sweated out, for sale bales to be below 20%. if they aren't, I know they are dusty inside and I'm not in the market for dusty hay at a premium price or any price for that matter. I can feed cornstalks or wheat straw before I'd feed dusty hay to anything, beef cattle included and certainly not to a horse but people buy that crap every day and pay top buck for heavy green bales that are cooking away inside and getting moldy / dusty.

Been in this business a long time, I know good from bad and in reality, I'm color blind with hay. On small squares, I can tell by picking a bale up and putting my finger in the flakes if it's good ot garbage but my Delmhorst just clarifies my assumptions.

 

[powerscol]

I have a Delmhorst hand held and Used it a lot. That's how I knew which bales to separate out for the cow pile. Next year I hope to get my Agtronics installed on my baler. To know when to start baling I use the twist method then hand check a few bales to get going. I can visually tell and hear of things changing as I bale and know when to check - usually when the power requirement goes up - a bit more grunt.

So folks know it is up and no issues with heat or mold at this point, including the cow stack under the tarp.