# Testing hay moisture in the windrow



## fastline (Mar 2, 2013)

Lots of meters out there to test moisture in the bale but curious if feel and inspection is the primary way to test hay moisture before baling?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

fastline said:


> Lots of meters out there to test moisture in the bale but curious if feel and inspection is the primary way to test hay moisture before baling?


I expect there are alot more feelers and inspectors by a substantial margin than there are users of testing devices. To me, having a bale chamber moisture tester is of greater importance than a hand held windrow testing variety. If your unit will do both, then you have the best of both worlds or if you can afford separate units then that is even better.

Regards, Mike


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## dbergh (Jun 3, 2010)

In my experience trying to get an accurate moisture test in the windrow is difficult at best. Material needs to be tightly packed as if in a bale to get any kind of meaningful test. Feel and experience are the best ways to judge windrows. We always check our hay by feel in the windrow after the 3rd or 4th day in late afternoon or early evening before the dew comes on. This tells me the dryness stage of the hay without atmospheric moisture messing with things. Then I know if we are good to go with some dew that night or perhaps we want to turn or merge the hay that night and bale the next morning or the following evening so the bottom of the windrow has a chance to cure adaquately as well particulalry if it is a heavy cutting. We always make the most evenly cured hay by raking one night and baling 24 hours later. Wind is always the big fear at this stage though. Some times time is of the essence due to storm systems etc. approaching and we will rake, merge and bale in one night but we usually end up with a bit more stem moisture than I like from the hay that was on the bottom. Still goes up safely-just not as appealing to look at. Mind you this is when baling alfalfa and alf. grass blends. Straight grass is a whole different ball game.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

There are so many variables it is difficult to come up with a hard and fast methodology.

Judgement is what is needed most!
"The Most Accurate Moisture Tester" is one that uses a heat source to drive off the moisture from a measured weight of hay. The problem there is you can have bone dry leaves and damp stems and put up hay the shatters off all the leaves and results in a bale of moldy stems.

We can watch the pan evaporation, forecast or measured, and know when the hay Should be ready to bale.
This system uses pan evaporation, estimated yield, and windrow type.
If the hay is cured in a windrow it may require an accumulation of .98" pan evaporation. Each day has .32" or pan evaporation. Day one is two thirds of a day .20" day 2 has .32, day 3 has .32 for a total of .84" of accumulated pan evaporation. This means about a third of the day 4 the hay will be dried to 20% Moisture.
That means the hay might be ready to bale some time in the after noon on day 4. Problem is what will the humidity be at 1 PM? If it is 70% relative humidity you probably can start to bale then. But if the humidity at 1 PM is 55% you will loose a good percentage of you leaves. Loose both yield, and quality. This puts us into baling with the humidity on day 5.
As dbergh mentioned he you can check the hay after supper on day 4, the STEMS are dry so you can start baling that night with the dew or the next morning as the humidity is going down to 70% humidity.

Being in Central Kansas, say not far from I-35 you would do as I do.
Drop the hay behind the swather in a full width swath. The hay will be ready to bale after maybe .55" pan evaporation. You have 6 hours from ending mowing to sunset the hay will be cured down to 42 - 47% Moisture. At first light of day 2 you rake the hay into a windrow you want to bale. Then you can start baling about 11 AM and be done by 2 pm and have most of the hay that was there when you cut it, and have good quality.

Here I seldom have more than 2 or 3 hours from too damp to bale to too dry to bale.
If you need more time than that to bale, get another baler out there helping. There is at least one alfalfa grower in Idaho who bales every night with three large square baler. The pivots on all sides are running and adding a little extra humidity.
With my NH 315 sq baler I can bale 300 bales an hour, which means I can bale 8 acres of alfalfa each day, or 5.5 acres of bermudagrass each day.
I could double those acres, by baling at night, if I were not too old to work those longer hours. Those day in 2011 when I had less than one hour to bale hay, there was a round baler and my sq baler running side by side.

Regardless of how you manage, there is always a better system.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I bought a agratronix unit last year on eBay in December. They are fairly particular about how to test, I'm going to try it and see if it jives with my field testing, we will see......btw it's the same unit as the John Deere winrow tester, only it was 115.00 delivered to the door, I love eBay


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## fastline (Mar 2, 2013)

I appreciate the reponse! I am going to have to concede my ignorance on pan evap. I also am going to hav to learn by touch and feel.

It also sounds like I may have to take down this 40 acres in stages so I can get to all of it at the right stage. I am flying solo here. Per my data on the baler, I guess I will only be able to bale 8-10T/H which means a lot longer than 3-4hrs to bale it all. I was hoping I could take it down, and try to work some night time hours with the onset of dew to let me work BUT this might not be a good idea being as I am new to this area and probably should be able to see things better.


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## fastline (Mar 2, 2013)

somedevildawg said:


> I bought a agratronix unit last year on eBay in December. They are fairly particular about how to test, I'm going to try it and see if it jives with my field testing, we will see......btw it's the same unit as the John Deere winrow tester, only it was 115.00 delivered to the door, I love eBay


Don't you love it??! People quam at me because I might buy something from China but it is ALL from China. I hope no one actually thought Deere made that meter! lol I hate paying inflated prices for a name tag.


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## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

You didn't say what your were bailing. I don't mess with alfalfa as I run a few cows now and just bale for them.....when we get adequate moisture to make a crop.

My crops are stemmy and leafy. I crimp the stems to break them open and significantly increase the avenues where water can exit, significantly reducing the drying time, since the stems are the determining factor in moisture analysis.

My method was taught to me 35 years ago when I moved from urbania to ruralia. Depending on the weather I go out no sooner than 3 days nor more than 5 days after cutting (and teddering when necessary....Spring) around 9-10 am and grab a hand full of material in both hands with the hands butted together, fingers down and wrapped around the material.

If it doesn't break completely in half by the 3rd revolution....doing your two hands together like a crank on the front of a Model T Ford, it's too wet. If it passes the test I flip the rows to help the bottom cure out a tad more and to setup for the baler with nice upright rows....have a lot of wind here that messes them up if they sit too long.

I bale after 10 am and usually try to be done by 4 as the afternoon dryness starts to leave and moisture sets in. My hay usually isn't too dry and delicate like Alfalfa as I keep an eye on it so I don't need to take measures to add a little moisture back so that it will bale.

HTH,
Mark


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Texasmark said:


> My method was taught to me 35 years ago when I moved from urbania to ruralia. Depending on the weather I go out no sooner than 3 days nor more than 5 days after cutting (and teddering when necessary....Spring) around 9-10 am and grab a hand full of material in both hands with the hands butted together, fingers down and wrapped around the material.
> 
> If it doesn't break completely in half by the 3rd revolution....doing your two hands together like a crank on the front of a Model T Ford, it's too wet.


I use this method as well. And I use a Delmhorst moisture tester to double check me.

Ralph


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## fastline (Mar 2, 2013)

I want to learn these field techniques but curious if you guys are actually using meters in the windrows or, when you say "double checking", you are referring to testing a finished bale to verify you are on target?

Regarding meters. There is no doubt I am going to buy one, if nothing else, to show customers I care. I also would like to have some additional features on a meter and curious what is out there? Maybe just a bale moisture specific meter is cheaper and smarter. I would really like to test soil moisture and PH but I know some say save my money and send it in. I know some of my frustration with soil testing is time. I need to data now...


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## askinner (Nov 15, 2010)

I personally have found the scratch test on the stems to be the most reliable in alfalfa. Just scrape the stem with your fingernail, if you can scrape anything off the stem, it needs longer to cure.This is a good article on curing hay: http://www.bcg.org.au/resources/Curing_hay_Factsheets.pdf


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I take pitchfork and 5 gallon bucket out into the field with the moisture meter. I fill the bucket about 1/2 full and really press down hard with the meter probe. I will put the probe in the same bucket full 2-3 times to get an average reading. I then twist test because I want to feel as well know the moisture.

The reason being stem versus leaf moisture. I feel the twist test gives me a better sense of stem moisture while the meter gives me a better sense of leaf moisture.

BTW: I am talking primarily about alfalfa although I often do the same for grass.

I've never heard of the scratch test hereabouts.

Ralph


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## fastline (Mar 2, 2013)

I appreciate the replies and I think familiar with a few of those tests. However, I have never been around in baler testers to monitor dew content. I think manually monitoring windrow moisture could be pretty accurate but dew content on hay changes so fast that I would think it would get frustrating without constant monitoring.

Remember what my dad used to do was check leaves to make sure they are pliable, but when you can touch the hay and it transfers moisture to your hand, it is too wet. That might be on the conservative side and I need to learn fast when things are too wet. I am a little apprehensive since I will have to get familiar with a new baler, probably in the dark, and get more familiar with monitoring moisture in changing dew conditions.

Anyone have a nice write up on dew formation, RH%, temp, etc to better prepare to make a plan on the fly? I assume it could work well if I start at night, run until dew it too much, wait until morning and let a little burn off and go until hopefully done. They probably follow with more mowing and repeat.


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## dbergh (Jun 3, 2010)

fastline said:


> I appreciate the replies and I think familiar with a few of those tests. However, I have never been around in baler testers to monitor dew content. I think manually monitoring windrow moisture could be pretty accurate but dew content on hay changes so fast that I would think it would get frustrating without constant monitoring.
> 
> Welcome to my world and the world of trying to put up quality alfalfa! Being there at the right time is key and watching predicted humidity levels and wind forecasts by the hour is a pretty good way to estimate when you can start. We are very dry during the summer months and so our challenge is to get enough dew to work with especially if there is a light breeze. Also depends on how much soil moisture you have at baling time. All these variables combine to make for almost unique baling conditions on every cutting. Get a good moisture probe (Delmhorst) and use it often (every 5 to 10 minutes at least) as the due starts to come on. Probe bales in several places and probe bales from several different areas of the field and average everything. If you are seeing things in the upper teens consistently you are very close to being done for the night. An occasional high reading if it is surrounded by lower levels in a bale is ok but tells you that you are getting close.
> 
> ...


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

fastline said:


> Anyone have a nice write up on dew formation, RH%, temp, etc to better prepare to make a plan on the fly? I assume it could work well if I start at night, run until dew it too much, wait until morning and let a little burn off and go until hopefully done. They probably follow with more mowing and repeat.


Haywilson in TX has posted this many a time. Maybe someone else remembers a thread to search off hand?


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