what do you think of farmex moisture testers

[BryanM]

I am not sure my farmex hand help moisture tester is being accurrate. I am wondering if its not consistent!

My hay seems to be wetter than everyone elses hay. They are cutting and baling way faster than I am and I am talking about more than one farmer. And a couple feilds I watched they did in 3 days all small squares and I dont see any tanks on their balers.

Back too me. My bales are touching in the 20%, not all bales some are 9-14% but I can twist the hay and and it breaks on 2to 4 twists.

We have been sticking every bale and every once in a while I will gett a 21% but the same bale might also have a 9%. I am thinking my tester is not being accurate. Is their a way to qualify the tester? It calibrates ok but its making me second guess the moisture levels. And I know I let my hay dry longer than others and it was a lot thinner! any Ideas I have grass alfalfa clover mix if that matters!

 

[D7E]

I bought a new farmex last year and thought the same as you as i could get readings from 14-24% in round bales so i borrowed a few neighbours testers and all were the same as mine , Seems normal !
Depends what part of the bale you hit like a tighter area will test wetter and i find alfalfa will generally be wetter than grass !

 

[BryanM]

So do you average the readings out? Do you test every bale?? do you stop baling if you get one part of a bale in the 20%?

It seems that one end of a wind row can be differant than another end. what is the general rule, stick the first few bales if their okay bale them up?

Say In one bale you stick 3 times 2 readings are 14.2 and one is 21% is this a concern? then the next bale is 14% all the way thru?

I think I may being too critical?

 

[dmay]

As a general statement, I find most bale when it is most convenient, as opposed to really waiting for the hay moisture content to be ready. Whenever I am looking to buy hay for horses I find more moldy hay out there then good quality hay.

I baled 80 acres. I used a handheld moisture tester. At first I was quite amazed at the readings. When I thought hay was ready to bale, the meter told me it was not. I would wait until meter read at least somewhere in the high teens (14 preferred but sometimes weather plays a part) and in the end get better bales that would not go mouldy or too dry during storage.

Alfalfa will hold moisture and take longer to dry then other grasses.

Weather and humidy play the big role. Where you store the hay plays a big role. One cut might be ready the very next day or two. Another cut might need to sit for a week. If you store in a covered open hay shed additional drying will occur. If you store indoors less drying will occur.

 

[JasG]

I am not sure my farmex hand help moisture tester is being accurrate. I am wondering if its not consistent!

My hay seems to be wetter than everyone elses hay. They are cutting and baling way faster than I am and I am talking about more than one farmer. And a couple feilds I watched they did in 3 days all small squares and I dont see any tanks on their balers.

Back too me. My bales are touching in the 20%, not all bales some are 9-14% but I can twist the hay and and it breaks on 2to 4 twists.

We have been sticking every bale and every once in a while I will gett a 21% but the same bale might also have a 9%. I am thinking my tester is not being accurate. Is their a way to qualify the tester? It calibrates ok but its making me second guess the moisture levels. And I know I let my hay dry longer than others and it was a lot thinner! any Ideas I have grass alfalfa clover mix if that matters!

Several variables here with getting dry hay. These are acombination of my own experience and what I have read about.

1) what is your stand vs theirs, are they doing grass? Do you have a thick stemed clover? these take a day or so longer than a thinner stemed.
2) Mower conditioner
a) are use mowing or using a MoCO/Haybine?
b) If you are using a MoCo what conditioner are you using? Roller, imperller etc.
c) Is your conditioner set correct for crop?
3) What height are you mowing too? Lower can sometimes mean longer cure times.
4) What soil type do you have vs them. A clay soil water has to evaporate where a loam or gravel will drain and the means faster the ground is dry, faster hay will dry.
5) What rake do you have vs them. Rotary rakes makea huge difference in drying hay.

As far as your tester getting 2 different reading in the same bale. Very possible, different density maybe. Or clumps that didn't dry fully. When we had a NH haybine it would every couple hundred feet leave a clump from build up on the cutter bar or sometimes the skid shoes. These were very hard to beak up even tedding 2 or 3 times. These spots would windup being wet. Since we went to a MoCo disk mower, no such problems.

 

[AKfish]

I have a JD hand-held (don't know the manufacturer). Last year I didn't trust it... The manual says that with grass hay the meter will register too high - as much as 5%.

Some of the bales I bought from the neighbor were reading in the low 20's... But, I figured that meant the hay was around 14-16%. Well, I ended up with a touch of dust mold - not bad enough to make the horses cough with every feeding - but, they'd cough if I fed that hay straight for a week or so.

I had some other hay that was very good quality. So, I fed it 1/2 good - 1/2 dusty and they did just fine all winter.

Lesson for me, though. That meter is closer than I figured.

AKfish

 

[ctlguy]

Current Deere handhelds are Farmex mfg. Also if there is something wrong Farmex will go through them and rebuild them if necc. There should be a flat fee they charge through a JD dealer to send them off and have them checked out if in doubt. For the most part they are pretty good testers.

 

[D7E]

A lot of people test their meters by squeezing the point in their hand and apparrently it should (if i remember ) read 33% skin moisture. I did try it and it was spot on , Probably nothing to go by but interesting i thought !

 

[AKfish]

A lot of people test their meters by squeezing the point in their hand and apparrently it should (if i remember ) read 33% skin moisture. I did try it and it was spot on , Probably nothing to go by but interesting i thought !

Didn't know that... Gonna look-see myself. Thanks.

AKfish

 

[tommcintire]

Read an interesting technique in my "small scale haymaking" book for measuring moisture content. Went something like this. Would be a good way to double check a meter you question:

Take 1 - 2 lb of hay, put it on a paper plate, weigh it accurately.

Microwave it for 30 sec
Weigh
Microwave 30 sec.
Weigh...
etc, until you get two weights that are the same.

At this point, subtract the end weight from the start weight, divide by the start weight, multiply by 100. This will give the the percentage moisture.

As a formula:
((StartWeight - End Weight)/(Start Weight))*100 = Percent Moisture Content.