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Hay Curing Question

B

Bobl1958

Well-known Member
For years I have baled without a moisture probe. About 4 years ago I got a probe to stick into the bale to check moisture. Seems to work fine.

My question is that I can round bale hay that I know is dry, and the meter shows 14.5% which is as low as it goes, and then check it the next day, or a couple of days later, and it might read 18 or up to 20%. This would be checking several bales. Is there such a thing as the hay gaining moisture when it is in the early stages of curing out? The hay has never been moldy when it gets fed or anything. This is something that puzzles me a little.

Any thoughts from you big hay guys? I usually bale about 50 - 100 large rounds, and 500 or so small bales of brome, and some grass hay. Thanks for your thoughts - Bob
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Yes hay that tests 14-15% moisture will have higher moisture reading the 1st few days after baling because it goes through a sweat which causes a increase in moisture%.
 

You won't have moisture coming out of the bale, but you sure can have it going in. In my part of the country humidity usually goes up into the nineties at night. That is why you have dew. So if you test it in the morning before the humidity has dropped it will be much higher than when baled.
 
Good looking bales . A wagon setup wouldn?t work very well here because we usually bale from ten pm until about 10 am nobody wants to work a 12 hour shift riding a wagon In the dark
 
(quoted from post at 12:48:55 07/09/19)
You won't have moisture coming out of the bale, but you sure can have it going in.
Click to expand...

I disagree after hay is baled for several days moisture leaves a bale especially faster if not tightly stacked.
 
With the sun shining hot on the hay when you are baling the hay, once that hay is rolled up into the bale, it takes a few days for the heat the hay had from the sunshine to cool down.. there is still some moisture within the stems of the hay that the tester will not comes into contact with the first day it?s baled, but being all rolled up into the bale all of the sun energy trapped in the hay will cause this moisture to release. Bacteria will also start some fermentation process causing moisture to rise., but this fermentation will run out of gas, as the hay lacks enough moisture to ferment or mould. I never like to stack big bales into the barn till they sat out and cooled down for a week.
 
(quoted from post at 11:34:32 07/09/19)
(quoted from post at 12:48:55 07/09/19)
You won't have moisture coming out of the bale, but you sure can have it going in.
Click to expand...

I disagree after hay is baled for several days moisture leaves a bale especially faster if not tightly stacked.
Click to expand...

Disagree all you want!!! You must have a weather site bookmarked. Mine shows me the humidity both projected and real time. There is no way that moisture is going to leave hay that is baled at 15% and somehow push its way into air that is 60%. Just ain't gonna happen. Sorry.
 
You selling any this year?

My idea on grass hay is bale it as soon as it won?t wrap on the rollers for big rounds and when the stems break clean with a snap for little squares. I bought a high dollar tester when I was custom haying. Only thing it did was cost money.
 
Sure it is, that?s what we make hay in most of the time, 60%
relative humidity in air just means the wind won?t dry it much,
needs direct sun aka tedding.

Us humid climate folks would be lost in a dry climate. This
stuff about cutting then raking to cure in a windrow... here
once it?s raked it?s only a few day in August it will dry much.
 
years ago when I ran a moisture tester I thought 20% was still good in a bale. above that start adding preservative
 
I borrowed a meter one summer. Had about the same results. Put it back in the truck and went back to doing it by feel.
 
The percentages mean different things. In hay, it means 14% of the volume of the material. The hay is 86% dry matter, 14% water. In air, it means 60% saturated. The air can take 40% more moisture before it starts raining.

If the air had to be at 14% relative humidity to get hay dried to 14%, it would NEVER happen. It doesn't even get that dry in the dead of winter.
 
(quoted from post at 18:19:22 07/09/19)
Disagree all you want!!! You must have a weather site bookmarked. Mine shows me the humidity both projected and real time. There is no way that moisture is going to leave hay that is baled at 15% and somehow push its way into air that is 60%. Just ain't gonna happen. Sorry.
Click to expand...

Maybe what you state is correct in NH but it doesn't happen how you state down here in Texas.

Hay baled at 15-18% will have moisture content rise the next few days after baling then moisture content will start slowly going down. Higher relative humidity will cause slower dissipation but moisture content of baled hay will lower.
Have a nice day,Jim
 
That is definitely what I thought Jim, I just wanted to hear someone else say it. I knew hay went through a couple of week curing period, this is in Central KS, but the moisture is what had me doubting the meter. Thanks to all for your input. It is likely a different situation in different parts of the country. I should have mentioned Central KS in the opening post. Thanks again - Bob
 
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