# Inconsistent moisture readings in round bales



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

So I cut a field today that had gotten a little overwhelmed with foxtail. Had 3 good days after a heavy rain on Tuesday. Cut tues night. Tedder on weds. Tedder again Thursday. Raked today at 2pm and started baling at 3:30. First 3-4 bales were done and I probed them. Most readings 14%. Went ahead and baled 25 round bales. Stopped at 5:30. Weather was partly sunny and about 80*
Gathered up all the bales and brought them into lines. Probed like 6 bales before I left. Typically I would probe a bale 4 times. I would get readings of 14,15,18 and 21. Ugh. Not what I call ideal results. 
Hay sounded dry when being raked. Baler was kickin up plenty of dust. Did not notice wrapping of hay around turns with baler. All indicators looked good. 
Any ideas what happened? Hay was spread thin and sat a long time in good sun. 
Would you put a round bale in a barn with 3 readings in the safe zone and 1 over 20%?
Intuition tells me no. I'm real unhappy with the results. Never saw so many hay bales with such a variance in moisture readings, either.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I personally would not have any problem putting those bales in the barn. If there is no rain predicted you might let them sweat a day or so. With those readings I would be more concerned with the bale temps. I doubt any will heat up, I would check once inside just to ease my mind.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Tim/South said:


> I personally would not have any problem putting those bales in the barn. If there is no rain predicted you might let them sweat a day or so. With those readings I would be more concerned with the bale temps. I doubt any will heat up, I would check once inside just to ease my mind.


Ok, I'm about to say something that some might think controversial:
I have made well over a thousand round bales in the last 2 years. Not a lot to some, but enough to get a general idea of what is going on. I have made some bales where some spots have read 35%. Scary high readings. I paid close attention to them for 4 weeks or more and have never seen a temp reading over 150*. I have even probed my competitors mulch hay bales, many of which are over 30*. His are stacked tightly outside. Never saw anything resembling a fire. 
Everything I have read pretty much says bales over 22% should not be stored inside. I have abided by that cutoff and taken all round bales with low 20's or higher readings and sold them off as mushroom hay-even if they were pristine, clean hay. 
I'm beginning to think either my moisture meter is inaccurate, OR the warnings given on websites are a little over cautious. Maybe it's something else, like external moisture (as opposed to stem moisture)
By no means am I suggesting to be wreckless or store bales with high moisture inside, but NOBODY can probe every square inch of every bale. I would bet many, many large bales contain at least one, two or more wet spots that could cause serious problems that I never knew existed and I stored them inside.
So what is one to do? Flood them with preservative, even when 90% of the bale is "safe"?
Maybe I'm over worrying the moisture, maybe it's external moisture, not stem moisture?


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## terraceridge (Jul 21, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> Ok, I'm about to say something that some might think controversial:
> I have made well over a thousand round bales in the last 2 years. Not a lot to some, but enough to get a general idea of what is going on. I have made some bales where some spots have read 35%. Scary high readings. I paid close attention to them for 4 weeks or more and have never seen a temp reading over 150*. I have even probed my competitors mulch hay bales, many of which are over 30*. His are stacked tightly outside. Never saw anything resembling a fire.
> Everything I have read pretty much says bales over 22% should not be stored inside. I have abided by that cutoff and taken all round bales with low 20's or higher readings and sold them off as mushroom hay-even if they were pristine, clean hay.
> I'm beginning to think either my moisture meter is inaccurate, OR the warnings given on websites are a little over cautious. Maybe it's something else, like external moisture (as opposed to stem moisture)
> ...


I would not worry about the bales you are talking about. I do not honestly believe that a serious fire risk exists until moisture reaches at least 25%-30% (maybe higher); however, mold will form above 18%-20%. These numbers are for square bales, though, and I would lower them all by 1%-2% for round bales. Theoretically, some moisture from the slugs should disperse throughout the bale, too, which should reduce the risk of mold and fire somewhat. Assuming your moisture readings are accurate, the bale will, at worst, have a slightly moldy spot. If I were you, I would check the hay in the microwave just to be sure.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Moisture reading are never 100%. When Iam baling and get the odd reading of 25% and there is dust coming off the top of baler there is not really a problem. If I get the same reading and there is no dust than its time to stop baling. I have never known any feild to dry evenly either. Moisture meters are only a tool and need to know how to read the results.

A few years ago I was at the auction. people were taking moisture reading of the hay. Not a bad idea but each person thinks there meter is the 100% truth. Anyways there was a woman with her meter. The hay read 0%. Wow she said that is good and dry. Now most meters will only measure down to a certain level. Plus no hay can be at 0% or it would be a pile of dust on the ground. To make matters worse this was a cool damp foggy day. Other people could not get a reading below 10% cause it was sooo damp out. But this woman and here meter were the truth. Now putting anything on wet hay here is not the norm. Try to tell someone who probes a bale and gets a high reading that maybe something was added to the hay and they look at me like Iam the most stupid person ever.

Anyways my point is that you have to know how to interpret the results of any moisture readings. If its stem moisture surface moisture and how big the wet spot is.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

First of all, foxtail is a b*tch to get to dry evenly.

No meter is a hundred percent accurate, you can probe the same bale a hundred times and still might get some high readings. All depends on what angle and where you shove the probe in at. Shape of the row can also effect how the hay packs in the bale, How heavy the row is can also effect how the hay packs even in a round baler.

Didn't you have a Harvest Tec unit installed? What did it say? For the most part unless you have all week it takes far more samples of the hay than you can with a hand probe.

When using acid from everything I've read and from experinece treated hay will read higher with acid on it than the actual moisture content, temp readings should be used with treated hay.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Wasn't able to use HT applicator because I didn't think I would need it for this little 10 AC field. Thought it was dry and I didn't get a tote of acid for it. Stupid, yes, but I'm still really surprised i was getting 20-22 readings. Really felt & looked dry and perfect for baling. Going back up this afternoon to do some sorting. Will put safe bales loosely in the barn and put the troublemakers on pallets and cover them outside.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

terraceridge said:


> I would not worry about the bales you are talking about. I do not honestly believe that a serious fire risk exists until moisture reaches at least 25%-30% (maybe higher); however, mold will form above 18%-20%. These numbers are for square bales, though, and I would lower them all by 1%-2% for round bales. Theoretically, some moisture from the slugs should disperse throughout the bale, too, which should reduce the risk of mold and fire somewhat. Assuming your moisture readings are accurate, the bale will, at worst, have a slightly moldy spot. If I were you, I would check the hay in the microwave just to be sure.


Even if I did microwave test, isn't this just a small sampling? 
More and more I'm beginning to believe that preservatives should always be at the ready and used unless its bone dry. Can't see how mass produced hay can all come out "safe" and some bales won't have damp spots.

One thing I've been doing and y'all might laugh: when I see a spot that's low or under shade trees, I will go around it. Then when baler chamber is reading 52-56, I'll go over and bale it on the last few inches of the round bale. My thinking was that maybe it'll let the damper hay breathe and possibly dry without problems. Flawed thinking? I don't know.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

I have a moisture tester right in my super M Vermeer. If I didn't bale until it never had a high reeding I would NEVER get any hay up. Hay that has been rained on after beeing raked is the worst. It gives me different readings all the time I am rolling up a bale. A moisture tester is just a tool and must be used with a great deal of comman sense. I live in a much drier climate than JD3430 and I store my round bales outside. I may well store them at a wetter moisture safely than I could in his humid environment. Still I rarely have a discolored bale.

Mel


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> One thing I've been doing and y'all might laugh: when I see a spot that's low or under shade trees, I will go around it. Then when baler chamber is reading 52-56, I'll go over and bale it on the last few inches of the round bale. My thinking was that maybe it'll let the damper hay breathe and possibly dry without problems. Flawed thinking? I don't know.


I do the same thing with tree lines. Put that hay on the outside of the bale rather than buried in the middle.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> Even if I did microwave test, isn't this just a small sampling?
> More and more I'm beginning to believe that preservatives should always be at the ready and used unless its bone dry. Can't see how mass produced hay can all come out "safe" and some bales won't have damp spots.
> 
> One thing I've been doing and y'all might laugh: when I see a spot that's low or under shade trees, I will go around it. Then when baler chamber is reading 52-56, I'll go over and bale it on the last few inches of the round bale. My thinking was that maybe it'll let the damper hay breathe and possibly dry without problems. Flawed thinking? I don't know.


Aww, our little JD is getting all growed up. 

You're not flawed in your thinking at all, tough hay stands a much better chance of breathing out if it's on the outside of the bale compared to being in the center or middle. Especially if you can keep it segregated and just set each one on a pallet to allow better air flow. Ones that I think are questionable if in the middle of the field I'll back up and dump em 90 degrees to the row so I can find em later, endrows I'll back up a little and dump em right in the tree line. Anything to make that one stand out so you can find it later.

When I used to be able to buy acid under a buck a pound I'd apply the 4lb rate to ALL my good hay regardless how dry it might be. Not so much on first cutting as I rarely have problems with heating, always on the later cuttings with the finer stems that pack much tighter.

For safety sakes instead of using the 18, 22 and 26 percent settings in the application settings, I have in the past set it to start applying at 17% and left the other two settings alone.


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## terraceridge (Jul 21, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> Even if I did microwave test, isn't this just a small sampling?


The biggest drawback with the microwave method is that it takes time. You could take 3-4 samples out of what you consider a normal bale and test them all, and that would give you accuracy, but it would also take about 20 minutes. You could also take a few samples, mix them together, and then test it once, which is what I normally do. I still think that would be more accurate than a moisture meter.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

We had the same trouble here. My dad cut on wednesday, and we baled 3 fields yesterday, and one today. I knew 2 of them would be 'junk' cause of the amount of foxtail and hemp dogbane. I big squared the 2 fields that I knew would be junk. The one said from 12 to 99.9 on the moisture tester. A lot of the time the tester was in the high 20's and 30's. I put acid on it so it would not completey spoil, but I know that it's going to get mow burn and dusty. But either way it would have been cattle hay. The other field had foxtail (and so did the one we baled today), and those stems were juicy yet on the inside. All of the other material was dry, it was just the foxtail that was not dry. We cut it young (like I said to do last week) so that horses could still eat it. Had we let the foxtail get mature and the seeds fall out, it would have dried very easily. However, to make a very long story short, your hay will discolor, and if there is enough moisture the bales will get dusty at least at a few spots if it does not have enough dry material in it. If you'd have asked the other day, I'd have said that a guy needs acid for this kind of stuff. The yield isn't all that great, it dries real slow, and never makes the nicest hay. But with any luck(!) we'll keep some of the foxtail from being there next year.

Rodney


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

I had a customer probe a bale one evening this spring after I told them it was way to wet to bale (we were fighting rain and they wanted it up) and his reader showed from 30% up to 119% I might be thinking dumb here but I didn't realize you can get over 100%. Anyway those probes tell a different story every time in my opinion.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

The probes we can buy around here say they are good to plus or minus 2-5 percent. So on the extreme end two probes could read a 10% difference!!


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I went and checked them again today and the readings were even higher. Must be a foxtail related problem. 
I'm disgusted. I thought it would be dry enough to store. I think I just made 24,000lbs of junk


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

that 12 ton of hay could be worth $3000 plus for horses or $1800 for cattle prob under $1000 mulch . And if I were to say Should have just dumped 16 # per ton acid many would disagree . That full rate of acid would have cost $200,


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> I went and checked them again today and the readings were even higher. Must be a foxtail related problem.
> I'm disgusted. I thought it would be dry enough to store. I think I just made 24,000lbs of junk


That is why foxtail is hated by many. As noted, the lengthy time to dry is such a pain....but you can look on the bright side....if you got the stuff up before maturity you have cut down on next years population immensely. Mow again next year and if you can ted a few times and let dry for 5 days then you may be OK. It takes a couple of years to really cut down on severe infestations.

Regards, Mike


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Vol said:


> That is why foxtail is hated by many. As noted, the lengthy time to dry is such a pain....but you can look on the bright side....if you got the stuff up before maturity you have cut down on next years population immensely. Mow again next year and if you can ted a few times and let dry for 5 days then you may be OK. It takes a couple of years to really cut down on severe infestations.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Yeah that's what I cut it for in the first place. I was hoping to get a 3rd cut off it so I had to get rid of the FT.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

endrow said:


> that 12 ton of hay could be worth $3000 plus for horses or $1800 for cattle prob under $1000 mulch . And if I were to say Should have just dumped 16 # per ton acid many would disagree . That full rate of acid would have cost $200,


That's where I messed up. Should have used the HT unit. Would have been a great situation for learning how to use it. So much Monday morning quarterbacking when you get started in hay business.


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## Bob M (Feb 11, 2012)

We had the same problem, mowed 90 ac on Wednseday and anther 16 ac on Thursday. Only hay dry enough to bale was the 16 ac of 2nd cut timothy, it had no fall grass in it. The other 90 ac had was young 4th cut (24 days ) and it had all the fall grasses in it. Got it down to mid to upper 20s on moisture tester in baler but stems were still full of moisture. So we big squared put 8lb acid on and wrapped it. Just been that kind of year.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Beginning to wonder if saturated ground is keeping downed hay wet.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> Beginning to wonder if saturated ground is keeping downed hay wet.


It certainly doesn't help


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Got heavy rain Tuesday. Guess I shoulda let it dry a little longer, but a 4 day envelope of dry weather is about as rare as making money in the hay biz, so I had to cut it. 
BTW: raining here now. Surprise, surprise.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

bailed 30 acres 4th cutting alfalfa orchardgrass mix about 23 percent moisture We used a high rate of acid hoping to get it sound for horses have my doubtsI bet it will show a little dust But it started raining Sunday morning so I guess we did the right thing


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

48 hours passed. Tested bales again today since I was up at the barn to do some other chores. I would think temps would have risen some by now, yet all bales are same as ambient air temps. 
Most of the time when I bale "early" hay, it heats immediately. I remember baling up a field too early. Bales were pretty hot just a few hours later, but that definitely was stem moisture.

So let me ask this: if the hay has high moisture, say 25%, due to external moisture, as I believe i have in this case, and not stem moisture, will the hay heat the same way as stem moisture?
Will it mold the same as stem moisture?
Will it have the same fire danger as stem moisture?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Been 4 days since I baled on Friday. 
Bale temps have not gone over 85*.
Bale moisture test probe says some bales are 25% moisture!!!!!!

What the hale is going on? 
I ready to throw bale moisture probe in the trash. I've never seen 25% moisture hay not heat after 4-5 days!!


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I had the exact same thing happen to me on my first cutting back in May. I moved the rolls off the field to "cure". Should have probably moved them to the barn. Rains kicked in and the new grass came out fast. Then more rain before I could move them home and did not want to ride over new grass to haul 125 rolls. I have never left hay out all summer, and this summer is worse than most. Hay still looks good, nice tight rolls, net wrapped with a little dark color on the bottom of the bales.
You just do what you think is best at the time and hopefully learn. My problem is that I am still not certain if the bales were originally high moisture or not. I have no confidence that I made the right call or not by leaving them out.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

How could 25 bales bale with higher than desired moisture not heat up? Seems like to me the hand held moisture meter is not working. 
One other thing I noticed was the harvest Tec readout in the cab was reading 17-19% the few times I had it turned on. I had it turned off most of the time cause there wasn't any PA in the tank.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> How could 25 bales bale with higher than desired moisture not heat up? Seems like to me the hand held moisture meter is not working.
> One other thing I noticed was the harvest Tec readout in the cab was reading 17-19% the few times I had it turned on. I had it turned off most of the time cause there wasn't any PA in the tank.


I leave mine on all the time. If you don't have any preservative or if your baling junk hay and don't won't to waste any preservative then select "Manual" mode while baling.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> How could 25 bales bale with higher than desired moisture not heat up? Seems like to me the hand held moisture meter is not working.
> One other thing I noticed was the harvest Tec readout in the cab was reading 17-19% the few times I had it turned on. I had it turned off most of the time cause there wasn't any PA in the tank.


Have ya unrolled one yet JD.....


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

mlappin said:


> I leave mine on all the time. If you don't have any preservative or if your baling junk hay and don't won't to waste any preservative then select "Manual" mode while baling.


Since the pumps aren't pumping any fluid, will it damage them if they're sensing high moisture and running without acid through them?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

somedevildawg said:


> Have ya unrolled one yet JD.....


That's what my salesman suggested doing. 
As much as I don't want to, maybe I will. 
This has really got me intrigued. 
Maybe some hay takes >5 days to heat, but everything else I baled started to heat immediately.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> Since the pumps aren't pumping any fluid, will it damage them if they're sensing high moisture and running without acid through them?


Okay Dad, read the manual. 

If it's on manual it's exactly that, it will still give you a moisture reading but the pumps won't run unless you turn them on "manually" with the touchscreen.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Ahhh, ok. I had just flipped iron for the first time.
Didn't want to leave it on too long juuuuuust in case the were running.

OK decision time: 
If bales are still "cool" today, after a full 5 day sweat and they didnt heat and rain is coming tomorrow, should they go in barn? Or can they still heat to dangerous temps?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I'd wait, read an article once that said it can take 10 weeks or longer for spontaneous combustion to occur.

Not that I would wish it on anyone, but I'm surprised with the horrible weather for getting hay dry we haven't had a barn fire in the area.


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## terraceridge (Jul 21, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> That's what my salesman suggested doing.
> As much as I don't want to, maybe I will.
> This has really got me intrigued.
> Maybe some hay takes >5 days to heat, but everything else I baled started to heat immediately.


I cut a field of hay once in which a large clump of hay got piled up by the mower, unbeknownst to me. When I came back that evening with the tedder, the hay in the middle of the pile was extremely hot. Obviously, this hay was a lot wetter than what you are talking about, but I still think it shows how fast hay can heat up under perfect conditions. I think that I would give your hay another 2-3 days to heat up, but I think that if it has not heated up by then, it will be fine.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

JD, can you smell that smell that wet/hot hay makes? If not I think I would gather it up if it were mine.

Regards, Mike


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

When hay is externally wet (dew, rain) is it still under the same risk for mold/fire as internal (stem) moisture?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Vol said:


> JD, can you smell that smell that wet/hot hay makes? If not I think I would gather it up if it were mine.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I'm not sure if I've ever smelled that smell before. I know what it smells like when I make a pile of grass clippings from my lawn-like a rotted smell......
I was sticking my hand into the bales where I could and pulling out hay, looks green and pretty dry. Not feeling any heat. 
Moisture meter still has readings in mid 20's. hay I baled up earlier this summer would have been 120+ by now. This hay is ~85.....even after 5 days.
Does 2nd cutting hay with foxtail usually stay real cool like this?


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Have you tried your moisture tester in a bale that was baled months ago and you KNOW is dry?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

8350HiTech said:


> Have you tried your moisture tester in a bale that was baled months ago and you KNOW is dry?


YES. I have some trustworthy bales in the barn. Moisture readings in the 14-18 range. 
That's what's driving me crazy....the tester has sensible readings in the first cutting bales, but crazy high in the 25 bales I have outside. I put the 25 bales in the barn today cause its going to rain next 2 days. 
I think I will bring them back outside since they are not trustworthy yet. Sucks. I want them gone.


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## richard m (Jul 10, 2013)

I would unroll one like the other guy said. and you will know for sure what you have. good luck and be carefull


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Does it need differently calibrated for different hay the same way a grain moisture tester needs for different grains?


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## JMT (Aug 10, 2013)

Moisture probe we have said it was calibrated for pure alfalfa hay. Said if used with different types of hay readings would be inaccurate. Ours always had a lot of variance if there was much moisture in the bale. In good dry hay the readings were consistent. We hardly ever use our probe any more except to take temperatures. Do not know it the temp would need to be calibrated to specific hay but would not thank so.

Hay put up too wet and heating usually smells like tobacco. If you smell that as you pass by the barn you should be careful.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Ok. So let's say somehow the moisture readings ARE CORRECT and temps never rise.

1: Is it actually possible to bale hay with higher than desirable moisture that NEVER heats? 
2: would it ever get moldy if it never heats?

I think the temp probe part of the tester is pretty accurate. 
When I probe a bale that's hot and you pull the rod out, it feels very hot as you would expect.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> Ok. So let's say somehow the moisture readings ARE CORRECT and temps never rise.
> 1: Is it actually possible to bale hay with higher than desirable moisture that NEVER heats?
> 2: would it ever get moldy if it never heats?
> I think the temp probe part of the tester is pretty accurate.
> When I probe a bale that's hot and you pull the rod out, it feels very hot as you would expect.


Do an experiment jd, take it out of the bale and put it in front of an AC vent and see how long it takes to change....or just set it out in the ambient air and see how long.....my experience is, the first reading you get is likely to be your most accurate....

Have you unrolled one of those bales yet?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Haven't unrolled one yet. Don't want to clean up the mess. Lol


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

JD I havefound that if you remove the battery for a few minutes before calibration helps and new battery every yr. Was getting crazy reading and some zero as well. Hope this helps


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

JD3430 said:


> Ok. So let's say somehow the moisture readings ARE CORRECT and temps never rise.
> 1: Is it actually possible to bale hay with higher than desirable moisture that NEVER heats?
> 2: would it ever get moldy if it never heats?
> I think the temp probe part of the tester is pretty accurate.
> When I probe a bale that's hot and you pull the rod out, it feels very hot as you would expect.


Just my experience but yes on both. I believe the micros that thrive in a damp environment will give different symptoms dependent on what type is dominant, what the makeup of hay (say 1st cut mature grass vs 3rd cut immature alfalfa) and ambient temperature( like a late cutting after frost). Anyway none of the outcomes of moist, untreated hay have been good for me. However i've never had any hay close to combustion that I know of.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

JD: I checked back and didn't see what brand or model moisture probe you were using. (I might have missed it.)

My Delmhorst FX2000 handheld unit was giving me crazy readings early this summer. Turns out the battery had gone marginal. Put a new battery in, re-calibrated, and every thing was OK.

My Harvestec unit on my round baler consistently read 2-3 points higher that the probe. I tend to trust the probe more than the Harvestec unit. One of these days, I'll take the time to do a microwave test to get a better comparison, but not today.

Ralph


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

My moisture probe is the Deere unit with the arrow like probe. sells for about $235. new Holland sells same unit with different badging. My HT unit was reading 17-20. Probe reads 25-35. I seriously doubt this hay was 25-35 hay.
Picture of unit:


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> Haven't unrolled one yet. Don't want to clean up the mess. Lol


We assisted in research of a different type of a hay preservative product . we have a br7060 we unrolled bales and inspected the hay and baled it back up very easy especially with grass hay


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

endrow said:


> We assisted in research of a different type of a hay preservative product . we have a br7060 we unrolled bales and inspected the hay and baled it back up very easy especially with grass hay


Went up today and checked readings again. 9 days after baling, temps are around 75-80*. 
Dug into bale, pulled out inner contents. Smells like fresh cut hay.
I'm really confused. I have 18% bales heat to 110-120 always within 2 days. These bales are 25% and haven't gone over 90* after 9 days.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Moisture testers, wether probe or baler mounted are not accurate enough to be used as the "gospel truth". These gadgets all work off of conductivity of the hay. A lot of variables affect these readings, leaf moisture, stem moisture, dew moisture, density of bale, humidity, angle that probe is inserted, the way you hold your mouth and so on. The only accurate moisture test are lab analysts, Koster testers, and microwaves. Probes and chamber testers are useful tools once you have completed the learning curve and understand what they are telling you. My big square baler has the harvest tech star wheel moisture tester, most accurate of all that measure conductivity. Finally after 6 seasons and hundreds of lab samples to compare it with, we know what it is telling us. This season, we have not baled any hay under 18% on the monitor, but our highest lab sample has been 15%. Reason, high humidity and stem moisture. We know with stem moisture and high humidity we can safely run to 25% moisture and can push to 30 in an emergency with 4lbs Silo King per ton. This hay will be under 18% on lab analysis. On the contrary, last year in the drought with very low RH and completely cured stems, the monitor was almost spot on and we had to stop baling when hay hit 20%. Leaf shatter was minimal at 15% and above. I had a hand held probe but junked it because it never gave the same answer twice. I usually core each field of each cutting and have lab checked ASAP and then watch temps on anything suspect.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Am I the only person who's thinking "just put the damned hay in the barn already"?


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

No, if it is going to get hot, it will be getting there in less than 24 hours. Back when we baled idiot bricks and handled by hand, you could pick out problem bales when unloading the next day real quick. Wires were loose and bales were warm.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

8350HiTech said:


> Am I the only person who's thinking "just put the damned hay in the barn already"?


It is in the barn. Been in there since wednesday.

*"8350HiTech,* *on 21 Aug 2013 - 6:34 PM, said:
Have you tried your moisture tester in a bale that was baled months ago and you KNOW is dry?*

YES. I have some trustworthy bales in the barn. Moisture readings in the 14-18 range.
That's what's driving me crazy....the tester has sensible readings in the first cutting bales, but crazy high in the 25 bales I have outside.* I put the 25 bales in the barn today* cause its going to rain next 2 days.
I think I will bring them back outside since they are not trustworthy yet. Sucks. I want them gone. "

Never took em out, 8350 Hitech.

One thing you might not know about me is I am new to hay. I dont have the years of experience you do. You may think of me as overly cautious and I can't blame you. The barn I store the hay in is 200+ yrs old, historic and does not belong to me. Not really into taking a chance of burning this one down, so I'm sorry if I come across as overly cautious.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

It's a little disingenuous to go back and highlight the sentence where you said you were going to put them in the barn and then expect me to psychically know to disregard the sentence where you said you were going to take them out of the barn.

I guess my frustration with this topic is similar to the stories of people doing things like getting lost in Death Valley when their gps told them that the goat path is actually a miracle shortcut. It's not. Turn off your gps. If your common sense tells you you're going to die in Death Valley (or that your hay is dry), trust it.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> No, if it is going to get hot, it will be getting there in less than 24 hours. Back when we baled idiot bricks and handled by hand, you could pick out problem bales when unloading the next day real quick. Wires were loose and bales were warm.


That is what I am thinking


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

endrow said:


> That is what I am thinking


That was my thought too. Now I'm reading hay can heat up to 10 weeks later......

8350, sorry I offended you. It seemed like to me you were being a little impatient with me. 
As I said
1. I have a whopping 2 years of experience. Inexperienced people ask more questions than someone such as yourself. 
2. Few of us have probably ever seen 25% + hay not heat up. If you ask 100 people on these forums if that were possible, I bet 99 would say "no, it would have to heat up, at least some". That's why I was reluctant to store it, but I did, 4 days before you made the remark "put it in the barn already", disingenuous or not. Anyways, sorry if you were offended. I was a little offended, too. Lets put it behind us.


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## terraceridge (Jul 21, 2011)

It is much more likely that your moisture readings were inaccurate than that your hay really was 25% moisture and did not heat up.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

terraceridge said:


> It is much more likely that your moisture readings were inaccurate than that your hay really was 25% moisture and did not heat up.


I hope you're right. And my HT read outs being more like 17-20% (the few times I turned it on) seems to back up what you say, too.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

It's behind me if it's behind you.

I think we all agree with terraceridge which was the basis of my less than eloquently worded reply.

At least four things say it's dry (ht sensor, your touch, sense of smell, lack of heat) and only one says it's 25% (probed readings). If four out of five dentists agree that it's dry, who listens to the wacky fifth one?


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I had 30% grass hay not heat up this past Spring. Not one roll made it to 100 degrees. Now I doubt the hay was actually 30%.

I have been in the hay business since 1974, working on the farm with hay since '68. It is not just a "newbe" question or concern. I fully expected the moisture reading to be in the mid teens. That hay was feather light, twist test worked, felt perfect. Yet the magic wand said other wise. I am more relaxed knowing others have some of the same concers as I.

These discussions and personal experiences along with outside opinions are educational to me.

I want to know that there are other people making hay who also experience a voo-doo reading that makes you scratch your head. I have wondered several times who we would turn to if we had these same issues and no place to ask and compare.

We would most likely be talking to a factory rep on the phone and getting the gospel from one who had never spent and entire day in a hay field.


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

Perfectly put Tim


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