# Preservative setup



## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

Hello everyone, I am installing a crop care preservative applicator on my New Holland 282 small square baler. I am making it so the tank/pump assembly will come off for easy storage when I don't need it. My question is, do you think 3/8 inch hydraulic couplers would work to disconnect the preservative hose? I plan to only use crop saver or thirty plus preservative. What are your thoughts about corrosion or function of the fittings? Thanks in advance.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

After this year I am looking at putting one on my baler. Will like to know the answer to this one.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

I am going to put the tank/pump on the side platform on the tractor. Then run the hose back to the baler. After loosing about 300 bales of great looking orchard grass to mold last year. I decided I'm going to get this set up and working ASAP. It appears to be a great year to test it out.


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

I've never used or even seen a preservative applicator but... from what I have envisioned there would not be enough pressure to justify the hydraulic quick connectors. You could use some "banjo" type quick connects
http://www.banjovalves.com/female-coup-x-hose-shank.aspx
http://www.banjovalves.com/male-adap-x-hose-shank.aspx


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

The problem with banjos is they don't have built in shut-offs. I would stay away from a metal fitting, for sure steel anyway.


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

True. I assumed there is a shut off valve on the tank. Or you could add one to the line. The ones I were referring to are some sort of poly/ plastic


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

I was thinking about the Banjos connectors. However I would like it to have a valve on both sides to keep the line clean and primed. With the price of preservative rapidly climbing. I would hate to have waste while draining the line.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

How big are the lines you want to put a connect in? There are poly quick disconnects available with shutoffs for gasoline, but they look like they're for 1/4" line.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Wouldn't use steel quick couplers. Check amazon or ebay, you might find a poly or stainless zero loss coupler.

If crop care is acid based it can be stored outside year round without worry of freezing.

Products like Hayguard can't be allowed to freeze, I just drain mine end of the year, rinse out with water, drain that then dump a few gallons of RV antifreeze in and run thru the lines.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

Gearclash, the applicator came with 3/8 inch sprayer hose. I will look into the poly fuel shutoff couplings. Thanks

Mlappin, I am planning on using thirty plus preservative. It's the same exact product as new Hollands buffered acid called crop saver. I can get thirty plus in five gallon pails. I am hoping to just use the preservative on extreme last hope cases. ie; the times when the weather man changes the third day of drying to a third day soaker. I looked into hayguard and I just don't want the headache of having to clean and winterise the equipment. I already have to do it to the sprayer. The acid types seen much easier to store and use. Thanks


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

RP Farms 1850 said:


> Gearclash, the applicator came with 3/8 inch sprayer hose. I will look into the poly fuel shutoff couplings. Thanks
> 
> Mlappin, I am planning on using thirty plus preservative. It's the same exact product as new Hollands buffered acid called crop saver. I can get thirty plus in five gallon pails. I am hoping to just use the preservative on extreme last hope cases. ie; the times when the weather man changes the third day of drying to a third day soaker. I looked into hayguard and I just don't want the headache of having to clean and winterise the equipment. I already have to do it to the sprayer. The acid types seen much easier to store and use. Thanks


Been there and done it, read some of the precautions on acid based preservatives, the don't get it in your eye thing is real scary. It's also hard on paint.

Sprayers are easy to winterize, add 30-40 gallons of 28 and run it thru. 28 won't freeze and as long as everything is full with no air, no corrosion. Have never "drained" a sprayer.

One last thing, when I did still use acid, if you prepay and buy it in 2200lb totes it gets cheap enough to use it on all your hay. I used to treat everything no matter how dry to prevent any heating. Was cheap insurance if you can buy the acid cheap enough. Thru plenty of phone calls and prepay I rarely paid more than a buck a pound for it.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

Mlappin, wow!! I just looked at the label closer. Your right this preservative is more hazardous than I was led to believe. I am hoping to only use small quantities of preservative due to my customer base. I only sell to horse farms. As we all know the horse people are so picky and worried something in your hay is out to get there horse sick or worse. I had two customers see the applicator box in the barn next to the baler this winter. They both made comments about me using it on the hay they buy. One said "if your using that I'm buying somewhere else". The other said "my horses won't eat hay with preservative in it." I would love to find a preservative that works great, safe and easy to use. Something I can use on an as needed basis. Is hay guard better? Thanks


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Silly horse people....

Head over to Purdues Ag site, They had an article on how treated hay is better for horses as no mold will be found. The study also found when given a choice between treated and untreated hay horses prefer untreated, but if only treated hay is available dry matter intake didn't drop off at all.

Whether one product is "better" than another all depends on the operator I suppose. I went with Hayguard as I was tired of the smell of the acid and the nasty things it could do to paint. With Hayguard you literally use half or less than the amount used with acid so I could easily run all day after filling the 25 gallon tank on the baler. Not a big deal if you always have someone available to bring you more acid in the field, but nothing worse than not being able to finish a field because your outa acid.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

I am going to look into the hayguard. The MSDS sheet and the paint issue are really concerning me. If the hay smells bad from the preservative im not as interested in using it. Is it possible to get small quantities of hayguard? Like five gallons.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

Thanks everyone for your help and knowledge.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Just thought I would mention that today the Hayguard rep for my Southeast region came by my place. His name is John Ashworth and a very pleasant man. We had been talking for about 2 weeks about his product which is a very nice alternative to acid based preservative. One thing that struck me this afternoon was Johns forthrightness about the preservative industry.....as he stated that there is no "perfect" product out there. But Hayguard seems to work well without having to deal with the acid....very safe. John looked at my inline baler and made some good recommendations for setting up a spraying system of which I have chose Dohrmann enterprises to purchase my system workings from. He explained many facets of calibration and application and even had a spray tip assortment to show on managing the applications. ISF Hayguard pricing is reasonable and the spraying works(DE-7) from Dohrmann is reasonable. With the weather windows that many of us have been facing the last two years, there is really no reason not to have a preservative product and system on hand for insurance....especially considering how reasonable applicator systems like Dohrmann are now. Another interesting aspect of Hayguard is that is supposed to soften the hay....especially alfalfa.

I know several members on Haytalk use Hayguard and I will soon report my experiences.

Regards, Mike


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

VOL: Thanks Mike, I am setting up for using hay guard. I spoke with a rep. Today and I feel a lot better about how it works and the safety of it. You are certainly right about needing it this year. If I can get three sunny days I am going to get some hay cut. I know I will need to use the preservative as the ground underneath is so wet it just wicks moisture right into it. In three days it should be below 20% moisture so hayguard should work well. Thanks for your comments.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

While the upfront cost of Hayguard seems high, remember that your starting rate is half the rate of acid. Then it goes to 3lbs/ton and 5lbs/ton for round bales compared to 8 and 16lbs to the ton so at higher application rates you use much less Hayguard than acid.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

mlappin said:


> Silly horse people....
> 
> Head over to Purdues Ag site, They had an article on how treated hay is better for horses as no mold will be found. The study also found when given a choice between treated and untreated hay horses prefer untreated, but if only treated hay is available dry matter intake didn't drop off at all.
> 
> Whether one product is "better" than another all depends on the operator I suppose. I went with Hayguard as I was tired of the smell of the acid and the nasty things it could do to paint. With Hayguard you literally use half or less than the amount used with acid so I could easily run all day after filling the 25 gallon tank on the baler. Not a big deal if you always have someone available to bring you more acid in the field, but nothing worse than not being able to finish a field because your outa acid.


 Can you tell any difference in the hay or smell of the hay that has been treated with Hayguard and untreated hay? It seems acid is the most popular but I don't want to use acid due to the smell persisting in the hay....my customers would no go for that.

I have been thinking about a preservative applicator since last winter and have been unsure of which product is best to use and was putting it off but now after the weather we have had this year and the 700 bales of spoiled oat hay I now have to figure out what to do with I am ready to buy some kind of applicator now.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Hayguard has no offensive smell to speak of. I've taken the bung out of a 55 gluon drum of the stuff stuck my nose up to it and inhaled, smells like water actually.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

Mlappin: that's exactly what I wanted to hear. The sales rep. said that too. However he was trying to sell it. It's good to get your opinion of it. Thanks


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

mlappin said:


> While the upfront cost of Hayguard seems high, remember that your starting rate is half the rate of acid. Then it goes to 3lbs/ton and 5lbs/ton for round bales compared to 8 and 16lbs to the ton so at higher application rates you use much less Hayguard than acid.


What is the price of Hay Gaurd


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

endrow said:


> What is the price of Hay Gaurd


Gonna make me dig out my paperwork after tax season is over eh?

I'm wanting to say I paid around $1200 for a 55 gallon drum of Hayguard compared to over a little more than a dollar a pound last time I bought a 2200lb tote of acid. Sounds expensive I know, but I had just a little less than half a barrel left over last year. Rarely did I have much if any acid left over from that 2200lb tote, if I did it was just enough so I didn't need any right away the next spring.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Just pulled up the 2012 spreadsheet as it was handiest, paid $1163.67 for 55 gallons of Hayguard. Is available in 5 gallon buckets as well. But remember, Hayguard will go at least twice as far as the same amount of acid, I use a 1/3rd as much at the highest rate compared to acid.

Lastly, another reason I went to Hayguard, if I was in really good hay that was heavier on the alfalfa than grass I could make a bale every thirty seconds, my Harvestec unit couldn't apply enough acid if I needed the 8lb/ton rate unless I slowed down, if I'm using acid it's because the weather is unfavorable and the last thing I want to do is slow down. Unit has zero problems keeping up now with the max rate applied only being 5lbs/ton.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

A five gallon pail is $124.00. One pail is 50 lb of product. I would assume the more you get the less it costs per pound. I was only looking for five gallons for a test/trial before taking the leap into larger quantities.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

RP Farms 1850 said:


> A five gallon pail is $124.00. One pail is 50 lb of product. I would assume the more you get the less it costs per pound. I was only looking for five gallons for a test/trial before taking the leap into larger quantities.


Is your price from a farm supply store?

Regards, Mike


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

VOL; yes it is from a farm store in New Holland Lancaster county Pennsylvania.


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## jdhayday (May 12, 2014)

How do you find a rep that sells hay guard?? I'm in Nebraska.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

I looked it up on this link. http://www.isfglobal.com/distributors.php


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

RP Farms 1850 said:


> A five gallon pail is $124.00. One pail is 50 lb of product. I would assume the more you get the less it costs per pound. I was only looking for five gallons for a test/trial before taking the leap into larger quantities.


That's roughly a hundred bucks more for a 55 gallon drum. Could be a bulk discount, easier to ship barrels than buckets. Or the price I quoted was two years old. Can also just be the difference between distributors.


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## RP Farms 1850 (Mar 3, 2014)

I did contact a few vendors on prices. There is a huge price gap between venders. The best price I found was $124.00. The same exact pail at another place was $186.50 for five gallons. So calling around is probably a good idea. The bulk pricing is better. I have called nine suppliers in the last four days looking for pricing. Lol...


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I handle Chemorse products and they have Gaurdian which would be similar to haygaurd but with some more enzymes added,price is $2.15 per lb in barrels or totes.I'm checking if any pails are available.

Use rate 2-4 lbs per ton.

Use on 16-26% hay.

An oxygen scavenger basically,that gets the oxygen out so mold can't grow.


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## [email protected] (Jun 5, 2013)

Guardian's main ingredient is potassium sorbate while Hay Guard's main ingredients are sodium bisulfite, sodium sulfite and potassium bisulfite.

Hay Guard goes on at a constant 2 LBS/ton up to 25% moisture .

Guardian's label states to apply 2 LBS/ton at 16 %, 3 LBS/ton at 18%, 4 LBS/ton at 20%, 6 LBS/ton at 22% and 8 LBS/ton at 24%.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I was referring to Guardian-L

Sodium Sulfite and Sodium Metabisulfite are main ingriendients.

Using on dry hay is not on the label and I got it from my Rep.


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## [email protected] (Jun 5, 2013)

Who makes Guardian-L? I can't find any info on it.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> Who makes Guardian-L? I can't find any info on it.


Ag Science


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