# Weight of round bales varying greatly



## beltielady (Jul 9, 2014)

This is my first year selling hay. The buyers are all very intent on what the round bales weigh, so I weighed a load of bales on my truck and they weighed 897 lbs each. This was hay that was baled at 12-14% moisture and I weighed it about a week or so after baling. I turned the pressure up on my baler a little after this to attempt for bales around 925-950. Baled a whole lot more hay and then sold a few truckloads.

The buyers are telling me the hay weighed 800# a bale. I loaded another load on my truck and weighed it and found they weighed 820# each. These were bales that were done at 10-12% moisture and had been sitting almost a month before weighing. I loaded another truck for a buyer and they indicated they were 762# each now. So, again I loaded some on my truck and weighed them and they averaged 775# each. Also baled at 10-12% and sitting for over a month in the field.

Is it possible to lose this much weight from sitting in the field in the sun? Has anyone else experienced this? We haven't had rain in over three weeks and it has been pretty hot for the last 10 days.

I just find it hard to believe that I went from almost 900# bales to less than 800# in a month. I haven't changed anything else on the baler since turning up the pressure. I know that weight will vary with the type of hay, but most of this hay is the same mix of clover, trefoil and timothy. Does hay gain weight during the sweating process, then lose that much as it sits? What about if it were put inside right away?

I'm very discouraged with trying to sell this when the buyers only want to pay for weight and don't really seem to care about the quality of the hay. I am seriously thinking about just buying more cattle and saying the heck with trying to sell any of it. I have about 700 extra bales right now and they all want it but what they are offering won't even cover costs.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

What brand & age baler? If baler has hyd bale tension it's possible a tension cyl or valve is leaking internally allowing bales to be looser. I think hay bales will not gain weight after baling & should not lose more than % of moisture dropped after sitting for a little while. Selling hay is a challenging endeavor.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

First off, good for your customers actually wanting to pay for weight. I'd rather deal with an educated customer base.

For weight variance, it's much easier to tightly pack hay when it's younger, softer, and more moist. Did you bale some of this hay enough later than the first of your hay that the difference in maturity and moisture is accounting for your ability to pack them tightly?


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

If your going to sell hay by weight best of selling it right of the baler. One guy was telling me when he did it. They weighed off the field and than sold in the new year. Weighed again and the bales lost 15%. As also mentioned the young hay packs tighter than mature hay. Moisture contents plays a role. Also how fast thr tractor is going makes a difference.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

It is common for hay to shrink sitting at the stack. I like to have it sold right behind the balers if possible then I get payed for every pound . I sell by the ton so every bale or every semi gets weighed . The only guys who sell by the bale here are those who bale up trash hay or junk type hay. I find it more fair for both parties to sell by the weight .....................


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Selling by weight is great if you have a scale available, if you have to drive 15 or 20 miles out of you're way for each load not so much.

1: A little known fact, you can run the same load of hay across the same scale three different times and get three different weights. No scale is 100% accurate, you can weigh on one scale twice, run a half mile down the road, weigh on that one twice and have four different weights.

2: 12-14% moisture is too dry, if no rain is in the forecast I wait till the next morning and try to bale it all at 17-18%

3: Wait till snow is on the ground, any hay becomes more valuable when the alternative is snowflakes, nothing, or the hay you're trying to move now.

4: Generally it takes more than a few months for hay to dry to the point the discrepancies in weight are as great as you mentioned. Most of the time a larger change in weight is noticed on hay that was baled at 20-24% using preservative that dried down to under 14% by winter.

5: I added a scale on my round baler, it will accurately weigh a 5 pound hammer or a 14 pound bowling ball, I know it will as I was curious and tried. However it's only that accurate when it's zeroed out in one spot and those things are weighed. One bale when I dump it the scale may read 0 when empty, the next bale it may read + or - 20-30 pounds as the baler is no longer in the same spot it was zeroed at. I notice more weight variance from different mixes of hay in the field than from moisture content. A hill top that only alfalfa grows on will weigh different than a low spot that has a nice mixture of alfalfa/orchard grass. Spots that have clover weigh different than spots that have no clover.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

It makes a difference how quickly you stop when the chamber is full. The time of day you are baling can can effect actual bale moisture vs tester moisture. Fineness of stems and softness can effect density thus weight. Mel


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## Chessiedog (Jul 24, 2009)

I can't say I have ever seen my shrink a lot from spring to fall when selling by weight . What few I have hauled to town and weighed were 1000 . Took a trailer load to auction in the fall weighed the same . These are net wrapped and outside .


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

beltielady said:


> This is my first year selling hay. The buyers are all very intent on what the round bales weigh, so I weighed a load of bales on my truck and they weighed 897 lbs each. This was hay that was baled at 12-14% moisture and I weighed it about a week or so after baling. I turned the pressure up on my baler a little after this to attempt for bales around 925-950. Baled a whole lot more hay and then sold a few truckloads.
> 
> The buyers are telling me the hay weighed 800# a bale. I loaded another load on my truck and weighed it and found they weighed 820# each. These were bales that were done at 10-12% moisture and had been sitting almost a month before weighing. I loaded another truck for a buyer and they indicated they were 762# each now. So, again I loaded some on my truck and weighed them and they averaged 775# each. Also baled at 10-12% and sitting for over a month in the field.
> 
> ...


Stockpile it and sell it later.


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