# Hay moisture testers ....... again!



## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

Last night I spent hours reading through all the past posts I could find on the moisture testers, even the stuff from 08. I am still confused somewhat. I am just starting out and trying to figure out the need.

I understand the microwave test as a fall back and that I want to bale at the 8% to 12% moisture and read the posts on relative humidity vers hay moisture. Problem here in SW Colorado is relative humidity is usually in the teens to low 20%. As for dew in the morning, not often. My hay is mixed grasses with a bit of clover and alfalfa.

As for hand testing I was told to grab a handful from inside the windrow and twist/rotate the hands in opposite rotating motions like a bicycle crank and it should break in 2 to 4 rotations to be ready. Is this correct? One person said the handful should be the thickness of a hose, the other said whatever is comfortable to hold. I have small hands - go figure. Are there any videos folks know of?

I have a Hesston 4550 under contract. It is in sweet condition. As for continuous meeter's I was reading that the contacts can be placed either on the cut side, which for this unit means bottom or top of the bale chamber on the rails, or non cut side on the chamber sides. In my looking at other used equipment I have found them mounted on both areas, but usually just one contact. Which is actually the better location based on real experience. That is one thing the past posts seemed to have a big difference on, reading stems ends, or leaf matter/stem sides.

Last question, what are the current good units for my needs, both hand held and mounted. After looking at the web sites there appears to be a whole lot of tester models to choose from. I saw one with a German name that could actually do both I believe. Another model is promoting two contacts, one for each side of the bale. I am leaning toward a hand held as a start with a 10 inch probe for standard small square bales, but it would be great to use it as a continuous too.

Any recommendations would be helpful. Especially specifically to my baler.

Thanks Keith


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

One thing to remember is that any moisture tester is a tool. It takes sometime to learn what you can get away with for moisture in your area with your meter. The moisture meter on my baler I think reads about 2% lower the what it is. As long as I know this Iam fine.

Also if you put one in the baler the numbers will jump around all over the place. What I watch for is to keep 75% or so of those numbers below where I want to bale. But than it also depends if the hay has fully cured or not.

If my meter says things are getting a bit wet I do get off the tractor and check the hay. Feel it, twist test. See if just a bit on bottom is wet or whole swath. Moisture meters are helpful but are a tool and like any tool have to be known how to use them and what the numbers mean.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Depending on where you are in SW Colorado we have similar weather and baling conditions. Here the dew will usually set sometime between 10 pm and 1 AM. When the dew gets too heavy, you can wait until later in the morning and bale as the dew comes off. I am not sure how to describe the feel of proper moisture in the windrow but when you feel the night change and cool off and the humidity pick up, that is the dew starting to set. You never want your windrow wet to the touch, only a bit damp feeling. That is when it "toughens up" as it is called.

Until you have learned to bale hay without a moisture tester, it won't do you much good to have one. Like Hog said above, it is only a tool, or a rough guide to what you already know the conditions are. It is a handy tool for knowing when to quit as well. If it reads over 16 for over 5 strokes in a row I will get off the tractor and check. Another old school trick is that if your tractors front tires are starting to look damp and slick it is time to shut down as well.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I use a Agratronix BHT-2 moiture meter on my inline baler. I have had mine for 2 years. When I bought my BHT-2 they did not have mounting instructions for a inline baler, so I mounted the two sensors to the top and bottom tension rail and as it turns out it worked very well. I am also going to buy a hand held Delmhorst to compare with and also use when I round bale. Good luck with your new baler purchase....I could not be more pleased with mine.

Regards, Mike


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## DSLinc1017 (Sep 27, 2009)

I too have a Agratronix BHT 2, it uses two sensors, one on the cut side and one on the oppeset. It then averages the two sensors. I also use a hand held probe as well as a hand held humidity measuring device. As stated above they are just tools. 
Humidity , is an important factor, in determining your baling conditions. You can have dry windrows and bale with 95% humidity and end up with bad hay!

If your strapped for cash, I would go with a Hand held probe first.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Do those who use either mounted or hand held moisture sensors mostly bale alfalfa?

Is a mounted moisture tester accurate on grass hay? The hand held unit I used last year said it was only accurate for legumes, i.e. alfalfa.


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

We use BHT-2 and JD handheld on grass hay with good results


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## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

Thanks folks. Can I ask a basic question first? Hand testing - is the procedure I mentioned correct, or are there others? One I ran across instead of the bicycle crank, used the twisting wrists - still 2 to 4 twists to break, but the amount of hay grasped was not mentioned

Second in the Delmhorst line there are a lot of models. Does one work better with Hay?

Thanks again for the help


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I'm a relative beginner. 3 yr making bales since I made hay back in late 80's.
Back then all we had was the twist test. I think that test works great. You can really feel tough hay compared to tender hay that way. 
The probe type hay tester can potentially drive you crazy. Take a RB and probe it 5 times and you'll get 4 readings under 15 and one at 24. So what do you do with that bale? That happened to me constantly. 
I have the most baffling fields that seem to create those kinds of inconsistent results. 
I'm now using an applicator which gives me a constant moisture reading and it applies preservative as needed automatically. Takes the guesswork out. 
If you don't have one, do the twist test, but realize that at the edge of the field, in the shadows or low spots, hay will take a lot longer to dry.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

And YODA, if I may add: if I could do it all over again, I would buy a automatic applicator with moisture readout FIRST. 
The most important thing about making hay> MAKE IT SAFE AND MAKE IT DRY!


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## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

Thanks JD3430. If I may ask, what do you have as an automatic applicator, and what are the thoughts behind it. I don't think its common around here.

At the Agg show, someone was showing a dry ingredient applicator - for round bale balers, but I did not pay much attention.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

YODA said:


> Thanks JD3430. If I may ask, what do you have as an automatic applicator, and what are the thoughts behind it. I don't think its common around here.
> 
> At the Agg show, someone was showing a dry ingredient applicator - for round bale balers, but I did not pay much attention.


Yes, automatic. Sure helps lower the stress when baling. Let the applicator do the work. I'm sure others will disagree, but at my age, I like automatic things better than manual things. Very common here. 
The thought behind it is you pay attention to balers sounds, strokes, ejector, etc and the automatic applicator takes the stress of turning on/off the applicator pumps off your mind. 
I haven't met too many guys who bought them and disliked them.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I have a gandy For putting on gem dust on. Its a dry bacteria product. Run it about 90% of the time. Its simple cheap but not 100% fool proof. I wouldnt bale with out it. An automatic one would be nice but this is working for now and only costs just over $1 a bale


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Tim/South said:


> Do those who use either mounted or hand held moisture sensors mostly bale alfalfa?
> 
> Is a mounted moisture tester accurate on grass hay? The hand held unit I used last year said it was only accurate for legumes, i.e. alfalfa.


I bale alot more grass than alfalfa and the agratronix works very well. I think you get a truer reading with grass. If you get much above 18% in grass your asking for trouble. You can get a much higher reading in alfalfa if you have higher leaf moisture and low stem moisture and be ok.

Regards, Mike


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Tim/South said:


> Do those who use either mounted or hand held moisture sensors mostly bale alfalfa?
> Is a mounted moisture tester accurate on grass hay? The hand held unit I used last year said it was only accurate for legumes, i.e. alfalfa.


No clue yet. But when I got my first Vermeer quote it is a $300 add on. Sold.


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## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

Well with my first hay sale of 21 bales  - I know but I need to start somewhere, I rewarded myself by ordering a new tool. I have coming a Delmhorst F2000 Hay Moisture Meter Tester with 10 inch Probe and case. I know this is a tool, and will need to learn how to use correctly. For me it will be a double check.

On my last cutting I did the hand test and 90% of the windrows were good at breaking at 4 twists or less, with two spots at 5 or 6. However while baling a few green spots showed up. I suspect I was a little on the green side. The customer was informed, bus as they would use the hay this month they were fine, especially with my $7 bale price.

I asked the question elsewhere, but I thought I would mention here, is how do you use a pipe and probe to double check windrow moisture?

Thanks - Keith


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

YODA,
I remember my first sale....168 bales to a very picky horse farm owner. I made hay right off their own property. I tried so hard to make the bales dry, she said they were "too dry"!!! I probed every bale and they all read ~12-18%.
You just have to dive in and gain experience.
I just made some of the worst hay I ever made in my 3 years today......It's a learning experience that takes you through a lot of trials and tribulations. Just when you think you got it figured out, something throws you another curve ball, you pick yourself up, dust off and get back in the batters box, but if you enjoy it, it's a heck of an interesting thing to do.


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## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

Well meter arrived and I went to testing on the bales in my barn. 1 year old stuff baled by my custom baler was a constant 6% to 10%. My first cutting ran 12 to 16% with only a couple of hot spots over 20 (did about 50 checks). I tested 3 places per bale from two sides going across the flakes per the instructions. However I had one bale from my last cutting in the baler still and checked it - ouch 16 to 20%, so my gut was correct I was a bit on the high side. This bale might have seen a little bit of rain though, but I was at the center pretty much.

I think this tool will help. I also went over to my neighbors and checked a couple of his bales and it read within 2% of what his onboard was saying - I was reading higher. I also tried checking his windrow like he does with a big handful very tightly twisted and folder over against his leg and then just use the probe tip. I got very close to the same results - within 1%

Instructions are very good and it has instructions on adjustments for bale densities and grass types.. I cut this weekend again about 20 acres this time, so here I goes..


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## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

I am a bit bummed out. Shipped the meter off for repairs this morning. it was giving auto readings when pushed in the bale, and would turn on in the case and display random numbers. Not supposed to do that. Their service department is good, except for me having to pay to get it to them. Hopefully the turn around will be short. I will be cutting my second cutting next week if the weather forecast is good.


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## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

Bummer about getting a bad unit.

Keep in mind when checking a bale still in the baler chamber it is packed a lot tighter than after it comes out, I think that would cause it to read higher.


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## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

Well a silver lining to the bad meter. the folks fixed my F2000 and turned it around the same day it got their and are sending it back 2 Day express. No charge. was something to do with a bad switch and case alignment. these folks are great. My faith is resolved in them.

Ill be cutting again Thursday and all I hope is the weather forecast is good, and the 20% doesn't dump over my house.


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