# Getting hay dry faster



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

That GFC Air Barn got me to thinking (which is usually gets me in trouble).

Seems to me that the biggest problem in the hay process is getting the hay dry enough to store - down to the 16% range. Now, in many cases, if I cut today, it will be down to 30%-40% range tomorrow. (See Hay drying time reference below).

Related to this is my son was on a nuke sub and showed me the air drying systems when I visited him one time.

So my thinking goes:
1) Cut today.
2) Bale tomorrow.
3) Inject liquid nitrogen into bales as they are being stored in shipping containers to cool the bale and put a nitrogen environment into the bale.
4) Seal the container, flood it with nitrogen gas and keep a positive pressure of nitrogen in the container.
5) Circulate the nitrogen through an air dryer.

Over a "short" period of time, the moisture should evaporate into the nitrogen. This process would be similar to freeze drying in that the moisture should sublimate out of the bales. Key problem would be sufficient circulation in and around the bales.

My main question is: Is the bacteria that causes mold aerobic or anaerobic? If it's anaerobic, this probably wouldn't work because I'm thinking the main reason for using nitrogen is to inhibit bacterial growth.

Thoughts?

Ralph

Hay drying time: http://www.uwex.edu/...ying_forage.pdf


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Anaerobic I believe Ralph.....but I could be wrong, purty sure tho


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Sounds like it would be a pretty expensive system to operate to just have people complain about the price of the hay.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Teslan said:


> Sounds like it would be a pretty expensive system to operate to just have people complain about the price of the hay.


Well, I haven't gotten around to pricing.

But, on the other side, what is the cost of a lost cutting? What is the price for greener, better looking hay? What is the price of a lost customer or lost reputation in the hay business?

Just thinking.....

Ralph


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Mold and bacteria are separate things working away on your hay. There are both types of bacteria present in hay, silage/haylage works by excluding air so the anaerobic bacteria are the main characters working away. They produce acids until its too acidic for them and it preserves the hay.

I've not heard of mold issues in properly stored balage, but I'm not sure if the acids also prevent mold growth?

I've read about getting sour silage with too much nitrogen in the plants reacting with the oxygen or something, not sure if the nitrogen gas would do the same. CO2 might solve that and is cheaper than nitrogen.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> Well, I haven't gotten around to pricing.
> 
> But, on the other side, what is the cost of a lost cutting? What is the price for greener, better looking hay? What is the price of a lost customer or lost reputation in the hay business?
> 
> ...


That is true. It might be worth it in your area and other places where the humidity is much higher then my area. Just like a good hay storage building here can pay for itself in just a couple of years.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

If you are going to seal the container may as well pull a -30psig vacuum on it first. That would solve the circulation problem. Just like prepping a commercial freezer unit. Ran a couple numbers on what we pay for compressed nitrogen. Figuring a 48 ft container filled with 450 small squares leaves approximately 10% of the volume available. I am currently paying $30 to fill my 80 cube tanks. It would take $92.10 to fill the container after vacuum. Adding a touch over $.50 to each bale. One application is enough to evacuate moisture in a refrigeratiion system. I'm not sure how much it would drop the moisture in hay plus the added handling in and out of the chamber. Interesting concept though.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I like the idea of pulling a vacuum. That would cause more moisture to boil out, faster and at a lower temperature. Tell me more about pulling the vacuum on a commercial freezer unit.

Ralph


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

I put a 21 cfm vacuum pump onto the service lines and go get a coffee. Of course for a shipping container one would have to use a larger one possibly from a railyard or port. With my little pump it would take probably close to 8 hrs to prove sufficient vacuum on a container that size.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

A camlock on the door with an inflatable seal similar to what is used in cryogenics would help with controlling any leaks.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Very interesting Hill Side. Where are you located. And would you PM me you phone # so I can give you call about vacuum pump.

I'm thinking that a 43' container has about 3500 Cu. ft. and a 21 CFM pump would evacuate it, assuming 50% volume, in about 1.5 hours.

Now, I'm also thinking that maintaining a steady vacuum over some period of time, like several days, would draw all the moisture out of the bales. And that any heating that occurs in the bales during the sweat process would help that evaporation.

Ralph


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

The other option would be to use a dehumidification kiln like what is used for lumber drying. Dehumidifiers run inside the sealed container and drop the moisture levels very low. I suppose if it was cooled too it would slow down the mold and bacteria while it worked.


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## Hayboy1 (Jul 19, 2008)

Check out Dunlea Farms in Canada, I believe they make a similar idea for a large 1600 bale batch in the barn. www.dunleafarms.com


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Hayboy1 said:


> Check out Dunlea Farms in Canada, I believe they make a similar idea for a large 1600 bale batch in the barn. www.dunleafarms.com


Thanks! Cool idea. From what it looks like, they use heat to dry the hay.

A vacuum would keep heat down by lowering the boiling point (vapor pressure). I talked with Aaron Brown, hillside hay, at length the other evening about a vacuum drying process. He's quiet knowledgeable in vacuum, etc. and is going to conduct an a little trial to see how long it takes to pull a partial vacuum on a large container.

Anxious to see his results.

Ralph


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> 4) Seal the container, flood it with nitrogen gas and keep a positive pressure of nitrogen in the container.


I believe they use a similar process for perishible food items such as bananas. Interesting idea for hay....


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I know they pick tomatoes, especially those used by McD's,, while they are still pretty green, then store them in a warehouse flooded with CO2. This causes the tomatoes to turn red, but not really ripen.

That's why those tomatoes are like rocks. The marketing guys realized that people didn't like getting tomato juice down their fronts, so they developed this process.

Ralph


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## Blue Duck (Jun 4, 2009)

What about using NH3? A few years ago a local guy tried to tightly tarp a stack of straw round bales and then inject NH3. He had a big increase in feed value from the added nitrogen. He said it worked but he would never do it again because of the time and aggrevation to make an air tight bag made of tarps. I think he did about 50 bales in the stack.


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## stefanwhite (Feb 24, 2013)

try this:






* More quality and yield through hay-drying*

Pasture milk products are extremely popular foodstuffs for many consumers. A large proportion of the pasture milk produced in Europe comes from more than 8,000 farmers in Austria. To ensure appropriate quality, more and more attention is being paid to the topic of hay drying. Just as in pasture milk production, a leading role in hay-drying has been played by Austria - or rather, one firm in particular, from Lochen am See - LASCO Heutechnik GmbH.
http://www.lasco.at/heutrocknung-heubelueftung-in-der-heubox/

While the necessity of hay-drying was once always associated with the safety aspects of potential spontaneous combustion, demand for pasture milk products has ensured increasingly more effective developments in perfect drying techniques for hay as a feed, thus improving the quality of pasture milk and pasture milk cheese.

LASCO Heutechnik GmbH has achieved great international renown through its innovations in developing hay-drying techniques. The best example of a pasture milk showcase operation we can mention is the farm run by Henning Lorenzen in Denmark. Henning Lorenzen farms an area of 200 ha and his pastures can be mown 4x annually. The hay is stored in a bespoke barn that is 50m in length by 24m in width, and here is where the hay-drying takes place; he has chosen the Austrian manufacturer LASCO Heutechnik GmbH for his hay-drying needs.

Henning Lorenzen has built two hay boxes with a total floor area of about 550m2 with a stacking height of about 7m. Use of two ventilators allows both hay boxes to be ventilated simultaneously and the ventilators used each have a power rating of 15 kW. Integrating an air injection jet and optimizing the grate height for the air speed, allows the drying air to be distributed extremely equally across the hay boxes. This mode of construction makes it possible to use ventilators that at first sight would appear insufficiently powerful.

During fine weather, a roof extraction unit provides the necessary drying air, and the farmer has some 1000 m2 of roof surface to provide this ventilation. To enable drying even in cold temperatures or at night, an air dehumidifier has also been integrated into the circulation system. This starts up automatically, depending on the weather. As a result of the proximity of the sea and the concomitant higher air humidity in comparison to our region, and especially because of the farm's low elevation, drying technology is particularly necessary. Henning Lorenzen has no doubts about the hay-growing business; for his additional outlay, Henning Lorenzen receives a pasture milk bonus of 4.5 cent per liter of milk, calculated over the year. He is considering the purchase of a warm air oven that runs on wood chips to increase the effectiveness of his system and to achieve better results for his hay business.

This success shows that Henning Lorenzen and his dairy have made the right choice; as recently as February 2012, a cheese named »Hodde Kristian« won gold at the annual Biocaseus awards in the semi-hard cheese (4-8 months' maturing) category. Biocaseus is a European cheese competition based in Italy in which only cheese products from exclusively farming are allowed to take part.

Individual advice and evaluation of a perfect hay-drying system for your hay business is available for all enquiries to LASCO Heutechnik GmbH.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Blue Duck said:


> What about using NH3? ..... He had a big increase in feed value from the added nitrogen. ....... never do it again because of the time and aggrevation to make an air tight bag made of tarps.


Thanks. Ammonia might work as a preservative.

My thinking goes: There are two parameters to the drying process. First. Getting the moisture out. Second, inhibiting spoilage while getting the moisture out.

My guess is that anything, like ammonia or propionic acid, that upsets the PH balance will inhibit spoilage. Ammonia is readily available here, but is nasty stuff to handle.

If anybody really understands the spoilage details, like what type bacteria, mold, etc., please let me know.

Ralph


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

stefanwhite said:


> try this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks. If I understand their process correctly, they force hot air up through loose hay or into round bales through a stand.

I like the underfloor grating system they have. I'm not too crazy about having to have a heating system. This system seems like a high, high dollar approach; special buildings, duct work, heating system, big blower.

Food for thought.

Ralph


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

rjmoses said:


> That GFC Air Barn got me to thinking (which is usually gets me in trouble).
> 
> Seems to me that the biggest problem in the hay process is getting the hay dry enough to store - down to the 16% range. Now, in many cases, if I cut today, it will be down to 30%-40% range tomorrow. (See Hay drying time reference below).
> 
> ...


What kind of hay are thinking of doing this to?The ammonia would raise protien levels and could cause hay to be toxic if doing it with higher protien hay like alfalfa.A few guys here used to ammoniate straw when NH3 was chaep.Here is some info. http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2054/F-2243web.pdf


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

swmnhay said:


> What kind of hay are thinking of doing this to?


All -- orchardgrass, alfalfa, timothy if I grew some. I agree--ammonia might be a problem.

Ralph


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

This is a interesting subject. Wouldn't it be simpler and more practical to run the hay through a forage harvester and bag it as haylage? The research is done and the product is stored and ready to use.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Hard to resell bags of haylage. Hard enough to sell baleage.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Ralph....Containers are not typically designed to carry a vacuum or much pressure for that matter. I suspect you'll have enough leaks to keep it from collapsing unless you use a good sized pump. For what a container will cost you could probably build a smaller pressure vessel. You could pull a better vacuum and wouldn't have to hold it very long to take out the moisture. Just a big piece of pipe, a couple of domed heads, and a seal.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Waterway64 said:


> This is a interesting subject. Wouldn't it be simpler and more practical to run the hay through a forage harvester and bag it as haylage? The research is done and the product is stored and ready to use.


I see a guy has some bags for sale with some haylage and HM corn in the Green Sheet.(SD farm paper)


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## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

The vegetable industry uses a vacuum cooler similar to this. I'm not sure what hay would do, probably not good because as it heated back up condensation might give ya trouble. But it does mention they use it on grains. I'm thinking the expense would be real high, but it might give an idea to somebody as a place to start.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Given the amount of moisture in a 1200# bale at 20% I think it would be easier to take the bales down to 10% by putting an industrial dehumidifier on the intake side of the container and drawing the dry air through the container with an exhaust fan matched to the intake.I'd probably put in a false floor with slats to set the bales on and draw the moisture out the top. Personally, I'd only do it with small squares 'cause around here it's hard to get a premium on rounds.even if they are pretty.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

_Think air drying corn.ALOT of air.Maybe just a touch of heat to cut humidity._


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

swmnhay said:


> _Think air drying corn.ALOT of air.Maybe just a touch of heat to cut humidity._


And a LOT of time


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

There's been a lot of good thoughts posted here. Thanks.

Seems to me that there is a sweet spot somewhere in here. Product quality vs Moisture vs Cost vs Volume vs Time vs ....

Cut today/bale tomorrow. Ideally, this could be done by a 1-2 person operation. Working in 10 acre multiples, a small operator can effectively mow about 10 ac. in the morning, bale/store in the afternoon using 1-3 people (depending on bale type and other factors).

Maybe some combination of ideas would be more effective. Like (and this is only an example), vacuum cool down to 20%, inject with a preservative, then air drying.

Thoughts?

Ralph


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Have you thought of the fact you bales will shrink?Strings will become loose.Bottom bales could become flat.

We loaded some small sqrs on semi once.The guy had teaterd with proponic acid and stored in shed.The bales shrunk as they dried out.That could become issue when selling it to some.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

There are a number of factors here. First is handling. You need to be able to get the bales in and out of the contraption easily. You'll spend time and energy if you have to struggle with them. Once you've got them in, you're talking about energy vrs time. As was pointed out, air drying corn takes a lot of time and air volume. Corn is not compressed except by it's own weight....bales are compressed. It will take a lot of dry air, under a certain amount of pressure to migrate the gallons of moisture you're dealing with quickly. You're trading energy to save time. Right now we use the sun and wind cause they're free. The premium you get for the bales needs to cover your ongoing handling costs, energy costs and investment costs.....plus a profit.

Flash dryers have the shortest residence times and are the most economical because you can recycle your nitrogen and they don't take much energy. But, I've never seen them used for a bulk product like a bale or to remove moisture, only solvents. I'll have to dig out my old Perry's handbook and see what it says. You only need to take the moisture down to about 10% not 0% so it might be a better approach.

Another option would be microwave drying. I like it better because you don't have to deal with vacuum or pressure and you can do it in an assembly-line process. Irradiation could be an even better way as it's done in the food industry now (you'd just have a marketing issue with the horsey folk....radioactive bales?!?!?!) but you'd be using a different approach. Kill all the microorganisms and/or retard any enzymic action. Works on an assembly line, hell you might be able to mount either one on the baler itself.

Damn Ralph.....now you got me thinking.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

_Was a guy with prototype baler that used microwaves in Farm Show a few yrs back.Don't know what become of it?It tokk alot of electricity so had a on board generator._

_Found it._

_http://www.farmshow.com/view_articles.php?a_id=610_


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Steps to dry hay faster:

Install aftermarket conditioning rolls: check.

Buy a large tedder and don't be afraid to use it at the proper time: check.

Lose the roper rakes and get a good one: check.

Unless you're about guaranteed a good price always for your hay, I can't see additional methods of drying it penciling out when the sun is free.

If your in an area where it might be next to impossible to make quality alfalfa because of weather factors and you might get a premium for this hay, I can see somebody else trucking it in and undercutting you on price.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

swmnhay said:


> _Was a guy with prototype baler that used microwaves in Farm Show a few yrs back.Don't know what become of it?It tokk alot of electricity so had a on board generator._
> 
> _Found it._
> 
> _http://www.farmshow....es.php?a_id=610_


50' long.....I was thinking more along the lines of 4 magnetrons on the back of a bale chute extension. The more I've thought about it though, I kind of like the flash dryer approach because of the short residency time. Just off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure I could dry a 1200# bale down to less than 5% in 5 or so minutes including the cool down using nitrogen.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I think you guys are nuts if you think you can economically flood hay with N2. Maybe in a sileage tube wrap sealed tight where it can be pumped in from one end and recycled around?


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## askinner (Nov 15, 2010)

Just thinking out loud, what about a process the same as evacuating an air con system? Pull a full vacuum to boil off any moisture, and purge with dry air or CO2. Dried air would be easily done with a low pressure compressor and dryer plant.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Checked out microwave drying of sm sq bales a few years ago. I talked with and engineer at a N. Carolina based firm. From 40% moisture, it would take a 100KW plant, 480v drop and cost about $1.2 million.

But what about this: Using a platform similar to a windrow inverter, pick up the windrow and move it through a microwave tunnel to heat it up to about 180 degrees, the pasteurizing temperature and put it back down. Would this kill enough mold and bacteria prior to baling? Would the heat drive enough moisture out to drop the moisture content 10-20 points quickly. Maybe a 20KW unit driven by a PTO powered generator?

Ralph


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Mike120 said:


> 50' long.....I was thinking more along the lines of 4 magnetrons on the back of a bale chute extension. The more I've thought about it though, I kind of like the flash dryer approach because of the short residency time. Just off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure I could dry a 1200# bale down to less than 5% in 5 or so minutes including the cool down using nitrogen.


Oops. I apologize--I missed this post. But this is along the lines of what I was thinking but smaller.

Ralph


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Just found out today that the air barn by gfc will be 250' long, enough to store 2k + bales.... Larger than I initially thought....


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Had to drive over to Austin yesterday so I had some time to think about this. One issue is the mass/density of the bale but this can be overcome with pressure and channeling (inflatable sides around a roll and hard sides around a square). Nitrogen can then be passed through the bale to displace any oxygen and create an inert environment. Next you'd hit it with hot nitrogen. As I recall, you can heat nitrogen up to around 400C but I'm assuming 400-500F would do it in a couple of minutes. This would be followed by ambient temperature nitrogen and then dry air to cool the bale down. The whole cycle would take less than 5 minutes. You'd have to tinker with the hot step to keep from drying it too much but I'm thinking that because of the density, stem/leaf shouldn't matter much and make the drying reasonably uniform. As the bale heats up moisture evaporates and is carried out by the nitrogen. It's a closed system so your subsystems only have to get rid of the moisture and air which can be done by a typical nitrogen separator/generator; pressurize the nitrogen by compression (typically part of the nitrogen plant); heat the nitrogen (electric) and a fairly simple logic controller. Naturally, the devil is in the details but the ongoing operating costs would be low, you're using existing technology and off-the shelf materials so it's really more of a material handling problem. Ideally, you could design it for baron/bandit packages and take care of a lot of the handling issues. Now you could probably offer your horse customers (almost) sterile bales that should retain the color as well.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

You shouldn't heat a bale to 400-500 F, it damages the proteins in the hay, even down around 200 F think this happens.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Here's a chart on pasteurization:

Temperature Time Pasteurization Type
63ºC (145ºF)1) 30 minutes Vat Pasteurization
72ºC (161ºF)1) 15 seconds High temperature short time Pasteurization (HTST)
89ºC (191ºF) 1.0 second Higher-Heat Shorter Time (HHST)
90ºC (194ºF) 0.5 seconds Higher-Heat Shorter Time (HHST)
94ºC (201ºF) 0.1 seconds Higher-Heat Shorter Time (HHST)
96ºC (204ºF) 0.05 seconds Higher-Heat Shorter Time (HHST)
100ºC (212ºF) 0.01 seconds Higher-Heat Shorter Time (HHST)
138ºC (280ºF) 2.0 seconds Ultra Pasteurization (UP)

Ralph


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

It is always nice and a lot of fun to think about things like this but it doesn't make economical sense to me. Guess I'm getting too old to learn new tricks.


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

Four years ago there was considerable interest in drying and then baling alfalfa.
If Memory serves they green chopped alfalfa and trucked to the plant, There they had a continious feed oven to dry the hay.
The hay would exit the oven with really dry leaves. Then they would rehydrate the leaves to prevent major leaf shatter.
From there they had a continous feed of kelly green hay into a string tie baler.

Really nice looking hay, and it should have tested well. Done right the dry matter losses should been less than 10% dry matter loss.

The price of natural gas has gone up and gone back down, but I expect they needed a nice premium to cover over head.

By comparison a forced air barn drier would be inexpensive.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

slowzuki said:


> By comparison a forced air barn drier would be inexpensive.


You're right.....Unfortunately Marty (mlappin) and Mike (NDVA Hayman) are probably right as well.

I once asked a Chemical Engineer that worked for me to recommend a simple water treatment solution for my fish tank. He came up with a reverse osmosis/treatment solution that produced perfect water, would probably cost $1MM, and take up my entire back yard. I'm afraid I may have become him.........


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

hay wilson in TX said:


> Four years ago there was considerable interest in drying and then baling alfalfa.
> If Memory serves they green chopped alfalfa and trucked to the plant, There they had a continious feed oven to dry the hay.
> The hay would exit the oven with really dry leaves. Then they would rehydrate the leaves to prevent major leaf shatter.
> From there they had a continous feed of kelly green hay into a string tie baler.
> ...


That was the Godiva Hay.Was a article in Hay & Forage I think.A guy was on here promoting it.We may have been a little hard on him.







Haven't heard anything about it lately.Without goverment grants etc.I don't think it would of ever got to first base.
http://www.haytalk.com/forums/topic/11557-4-hour-hay-what-do-you-think/page__st__20__hl__godiva#entry39371


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

YES Thank you swmnhay. http://www.haytalk.c...diva#entry39371 that brings back memories. 
Obviously the consept died to market realities. 
At the time I believed that the Western Irrigated Statesm Where most of the baling is done at night, can produce modern Dairy Quality forages, put it in containers and ship to the Dairies in the Humid East with a cost advantage compared to the forced dry hay. 
Some good points, they could dry their hay to a 10% Stem Moisture, hydrate the leaves to 30% moisture (maybe even more) to bale with maybe a 2% leaf shatter. 
The idea that horses Require the very best, has some humor. The point that low quality feed is horse quality has a lot of merit. I try not to sell alfalfa to the casual horse owner, as their horses will become too fat to ride. Even 12% CP Coastal bermudagrass hay is a little rich. 

This has been a worthwhile revisit to the past. 

We have been Brain Storming, and crazy ideas are welcome. Crazy ideas lead to productive inovations.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

hay wilson in TX said:


> We have been Brain Storming, and crazy ideas are welcome. Crazy ideas lead to productive inovations.


I love the ideas that have come up in this thread. While they may not be economically or technically feasible, they can lead to some that are. And some that are not feasible in one area of the country, may be readily acceptable in another.

Keep 'em coming. After all, Thomas Edison found 10,000 ways that a light bulb wouldn't work before he found one that would.

Ralph


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Had some time to think while waiting for masons to build walls so I could set sleeves. I cameup with a modular system with constant moisture sensing and automated responses to temp and moisture conditions. Imagine a stacker on steroids connected to a vessel gantry. The stacker and vessel can be configured to whatever size or shape bale you put up. The gantry has rear wheel steer and hydraulic brakes to help control it. On the gantry is mounted a high static centrifugal fan condensing unit and evap coil. The air is circulated and recycled through the bottom out through the top even while gathering to keep heating down to minimum. Also might as well start drying immediately. Once full the gantry drops the vessel on the field edge to continue the process with a portable field unit capable of handling 4-8 vessels.

The vessels are constucted with zero-loss fittings and reinforced bladder seal arond clamshell door. They have integral ducted floors and cielings with adapter plates for rounds. They are specifically constructed to withstand vauum.

The portable field unit has vacuum pump tagalong vacuum trailer nitrogen truck another high sp fan ntrogen compressor to reclaim as much as possible. The PFU is controlled by an array of dip switch setting to allow for custom cycle times wet bulb values and auto shut down and maintainence cycles.

The gantry can the be used again to load the vessels onto drop deck trailers. They could be hauled directly to the customer or to the barn. There would also be an attachment to repack the bales. Basically a bale chamber with a modified plunger and knotter to take up the slack without having to add twine or banding.

Just a few thoughts that came along today. I'm sure the system would be very expensive but if it could extend the east coast window from 4 to 12 hrs. Might allow a couple guys to put up 3500 smalls a day with ease.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Man you guys have too much time to think about this dryer.....like the ideas


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## enos (Dec 6, 2009)

What about freeze drying them? We've gone this far.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

enos said:


> What about freeze drying them? We've gone this far.


Freeze drying is good because if done correctly you don't destroy the cell walls. However, it's typically pretty expensive. It has a couple of steps, takes a bit longer, involves vacuum and very low temps (-50 to -100). As far as I know, you have to seal the final product in an inert gas.

In Northern Norway, they "freeze dry" fish on an open air rack in the winter and it will keep for a number of years. I'm not sure what it does to the taste or consistency, but having sampled lutefisk on a number of occasions, I'm not sure anything would want to eat the bale.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Folks here once in a while will cut hay after its frozen, let it lay a day or two and bale it still very wet but frozen solid. Stacked tight it stays frozen all winter, as long as its fed out before spring thaw it works well. It actually seems to dry a bit too over the winter due to the super dry air.


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