# Moisture Tester Accuracy



## Tim/South

How accurate are moisture testers? A friend bought a new AgraTronix HT-Pro and wanted me to check it out since I was already baling.

I read the manual and the unit came calibrated. It is calibrated for alfalfa and said grass may show a false high.

Does not say how much higher. Is there a way to recalibrate for grass hay?

I had some very tight rolls and they read 24% right after baling. I decided not to put them in the barn with moisture that high.

The temps were only 85-89 degrees.

I was going to order one since they sponsor this forum. Not being calibrated for grass hay might be a deal breaker. If I knew exactly how much alfalfa and grass hay varied then I could do the math.

Are all moisture testers calibrated for alfalfa?

Are the baler mounted testers also calibrated for alfalfa?


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## Vol

Tim
I am not familiar with the Agra hand helds but i am familiar with the bht-2 which is the monitor model. You do not re calibrate for hay types with the monitor models.....it just reads the moisture content as the hay passes by the sensing pads. I would expect to get a accurate reading with probe types that you would have to probe each bale at least a half dozen times to get a accurate average. You will be happy with the monitor types.....and not having to re-calibrate for hay types. I don't recall anyone mentioning with a Delmhorst probe about re-calibrating for hay types. Delmhorst hand helds are good products. I think the agra bht-2 monitor is really good as far as in-cab monitor types.

Regards, Mike


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## Tim/South

Thanks Mike.

I have the recalibration device for the hand held unit. It only recalibrates for alfalfa. No option to readjust for grass hay.

The directions say that grass will read higher, just not how much higher.


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## Teslan

Tim/South said:


> Thanks Mike.
> I have the recalibration device for the hand held unit. It only recalibrates for alfalfa. No option to readjust for grass hay.
> The directions say that grass will read higher, just not how much higher.


Tim are you able to figure out optimal moisture to be baling your grass hay without the moisture tester? Like say just by feeling the grass? I'm not sure if you can do that in Alabama or not. I'm assuming you can because there had to be a time prior to moisture testers. Then once you find out that you can test with your moisture tester and just remember whatever reading it says and note for the future. Say during optimal moisture for baling grass hay your moisture tester says 24% (It might not really be 24% in reality) Just remember when it reads 24% that you can probably safely bale up to 28% on that particular moisture tester.

I have a hand moisture tester of some brand, Then I have an in baler moisture tester. I feel the hand tester is more accurate then the in baler tester. So if the hand tester says 14% moisture and that is a good time to bale, but my in baler one says 22% I can assume 22% or somewhat higher is just fine for for baling.

I also never trust moisture testers on alfalfa. It would be interesting to me how a calibration can work to accurately test alfalfa moisture. There's such a difference in my area between stem moisture readings and leaf moisture readings for alfalfa. Here they tell us to bale alfalfa at 12% moisture. I wouldn't ever bale alfalfa that dry. Because you would have nothing but stems. However if the stems are dry you want about 21% moisture as read from the leaves to bale good quality alfalfa. But that's here in dry Colorado.


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## Tim/South

I have always gone by feel. I do have a moisture tester for wood and have used that to get an idea.

I normally do not second guess myself on judging when hay is ready to bale. I have more experience with Bermuda than bunch grasses like fescue and Bahia. This hay that showed the high reading was fescue. I was wondering if the stems threw me off?

The land owner had checked the hay the evening before and said it would bale then. I waited until the next afternoon and had that high reading. I became concerned.

I have also since learned that if you keep the probe in the roll for a while before checking the moisture that it reads lower. Combine that with grass reading higher and I probably had the moisture content right on.

Live and learn.


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## cwright

Could you take readings with the probe then pull samples from the bales and do the microwave test to get and idea of how far it was off for grass?

CW


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## Grateful11

My wife won an AgraTronix HT-Pro that was rebranded with Agco at Hay Day. We had previously purchased 3 Hay Testers from John Deere, also rebranded AgraTronix, that didn't have the ability to be calibrated in the field and they all tested really high to the point that it scared all of us. We kept taking them back and always got a wildly different number than the one we borrowed from a friend, an AgraTronix that he said his had been calibrated for grass hay, not sure how he had it calibrated but I'll try to find out, and the hay tested fine at 15-18% and not the readings we were getting of around 24%.

Well they broke out the new tester this Thursday and what do you know it's giving readings of 23-24% so I took the tester and attached the calibration and it's within .1% of what it should be so the instructions were to not calibrate when it's that close. The hay that was baled this week was mowed Sat. and Mon. and tedded twice and felt and looked great, drying conditions were near perfect. My wife has been dealing with hay since a child I have not, I didn't grow up on a farm like she did and she pretty much knows when hay is ready and when it's not. I think it's best in these cases to use common sense and good ole know how or borrow my wife ;-). Three of these bales have already been opened up and fed and there's no heat or high moisture that we can detect by hand.

I will say this my wife checked some hay from last year, she only had like 1 or 2 bales left and it was dry as a fart. Guess what it checked 24% moisture, ain't no way that old hay could possibly 24% moisture, these were round bales that have been on a barn loft since last Spring.

Basically from what I understand these testers are just checking resistance which it seems to me is going to be a [email protected] shoot at best. It would probably vary wildly according to how, where and what angle it is inserted into the bale. You might actually be making contact with the same strand of hay and then again you might be making contact across 8-12 or more strands all dependent on how it's inserted.

What she did last year was order a Temperature Probe thermometer with a 20" probe from Gemplers.

http://www.gemplers.com/product/1275526/20-Dial-Probe-Thermometer

It's not the fastest reacting thermometer but I believe it gives a fairly accurate temperature.


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## FarmerCline

I was thinking of getting a hand held moister tester but if they are not very accurate in grass hay I might hold off on getting one. Do they make one that you can test both hay in the windrow before baling and baled hay? If so what would be a good one to purchase?


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## Vol

Delmhorst makes a very good and accurate handheld....for grass and alfalfa. I believe windrow testing is most accurate when placing hay out of the windrow in a 5 gallon bucket and then testing with the Delmhorst head designed for such.

Regards, Mike


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## hay wilson in TX

The one most accurate hay average moisture tester is the one with a scale and an electiic heater.

Next is using a microwave and a postal scale. They each provide a accurate measure of the average moisture in that sample. Good for a researcher but not practical for hay production in motion,

The probe or on the go electronic testers have some inaccuracies but provide an a swer when you need it.

I use a Delmhorst, and it does well for my needs. I probably have not used a probe for 25 years but use it in an *On The Go mode. *

It was advised to mount the pads to read the moisture on the side opposite the knife cut edges. This gives a reading that is weighted toward surface dew moisture. Mounting the pads to the knife edge side gives a reading that is weighted toward the stem moisture.

I bale the day after the stems are dried to a stem snapping dryness. At that time the leaves are as dry as popcorn and the hay is way too dry to bale.

Then using the over night dew to dampen the leaves enough to reduce leaf shattering I bale the hay. I start when the *HUMIDITY is at 70%*. Doing this, Delmhorst tells me the hay is 18 to 20% moisture. The hay does not heat when stacked in the barn.

From *FarmTek* I use their Jumbo Display Thermometer/Hygrometer $36.95 about $43 with shipping and handling.

Using this I really do not require a hay moisture tester to check for hay being dry enough. I still use my Delmhorst On The Go Moisture Tester to hint when the bale length and weight needs attending, as well as when the hay is close to being too dry to bale.

The rule is hay will be no drier than 40% moisture when the Humidity is 90%

The hay will be no drier than 18% moisture when the humidity is 70%

The hay will be no drier than 16% moisture when the humidity is 65%. This is the humidity down next to the windrow, not 5.5' above the ground. This is also the rule when the humidity is going down.

Baling at night with the humidity going up is different.

East of Dallas we want to have our hay spread out as wide as possible behind the mower / mower conditioner.

Haying where the humidity seldom goes above 50% they do *not* *need* a wide swath to cure the hay, as a matter of fact a wide swath lowers cost them leaf shatter.

Bill Wilson [email protected]


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## Tim/South

FarmerCline said:


> I was thinking of getting a hand held moister tester but if they are not very accurate in grass hay I might hold off on getting one. Do they make one that you can test both hay in the windrow before baling and baled hay? If so what would be a good one to purchase?


The instructions on the AgraTronix HT Pro say it is not calibrated to test windrows. It did say to use the 5 gallon bucket technique to test hay before baling. Not clear if not being calibrated for a windrow meant in the actual windrow or bucket?

The instructions also said if the device needed recalibrating, the recalibration clip would set it for alfalfa. It did not mention a recalibration clip for grass hay.



Vol said:


> Delmhorst makes a very good and accurate handheld....for grass and alfalfa. I believe windrow testing is most accurate when placing hay out of the windrow in a 5 gallon bucket and then testing with the Delmhorst head designed for such.
> 
> Regards, Mike


The Delmhorst may the rout to go if it does both types of hay.

I checked a neighbors hay yesterday for comparison. He had some rolled this week and some rolled last year. Last years hay was 12%.

The hay rolled this week was at 17%. These were grass rolls. The numbers are about what I would expect the rolls to read and seemed fairly accurate from just guessing.


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## Mike120

Guys,

Before you get too hung up on accuracy, remember that a contact sensor reading of hay moisture is only accurate for the hay that the sensor is actually touching. If you probe a bale multiple times, you will likely get multiple readings. The bale moisture content COULD approximate the average of those readings, IF the hay content and density of the bale is relatively uniform. If you miss a wet slug....it won't be anywhere close.

Baler sensors on a square baler will read higher on one side (the cut side) that the other. If you have sensors on both sides, you'll likely be reading an average of the OUTSIDE of the bale. The same logic applies to a round baler, it measures the approximate moisture of the hay that the sensor(s) actually TOUCH.

The most accurate moisture test is by weighing a hay sample, microwaving (drying) the sample, and weighing it again to derive the moisture content. It's very accurate, but it only applies to THAT sample.

Technology is wonderful but it doesn't replace common sense. A uniform field of the same species of plants, cut/dried uniformly, and baled uniformly will still provide variable moisture readings to a moisture tester. The readings just MAY be closer to reality.

Contact moisture testers only give an INDICATION of the moisture content, and MAY give you an early warning of problems......but they have a long way to go before they can replace experience.


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## endrow

On our farm we own most of the testers discussed they are usefull tools. But here in the east you will not make it in the hay business if you stop and let hay get rained on cause a BHT-2 blinked 28 a couple of times when you got close to the trees. you have to go by the feel of the hay


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## endrow

Mike120 said:


> Guys,
> 
> Before you get too hung up on accuracy, remember that a contact sensor reading of hay moisture is only accurate for the hay that the sensor is actually touching. If you probe a bale multiple times, you will likely get multiple readings. The bale moisture content COULD approximate the average of those readings, IF the hay content and density of the bale is relatively uniform. If you miss a wet slug....it won't be anywhere close.
> 
> Baler sensors on a square baler will read higher on one side (the cut side) that the other. If you have sensors on both sides, you'll likely be reading an average of the OUTSIDE of the bale. The same logic applies to a round baler, it measures the approximate moisture of the hay that the sensor(s) actually TOUCH.
> 
> The most accurate moisture test is by weighing a hay sample, microwaving (drying) the sample, and weighing it again to derive the moisture content. It's very accurate, but it only applies to THAT sample.
> 
> Technology is wonderful but it doesn't replace common sense. A uniform field of the same species of plants, cut/dried uniformly, and baled uniformly will still provide variable moisture readings to a moisture tester. The readings just MAY be closer to reality.
> 
> Contact moisture testers only give an INDICATION of the moisture content, and MAY give you an early warning of problems......but they have a long way to go before they can replace experience.


WELL SAID


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## JD3430

On the topic of hay moisture, I honestly don't trust the probes too much. I think they're a guideline at best, but I do use mine. As said earlier, a bale could read 12% and have a 50% wet slug imbedded in it. 
If I primarily round bale, and use HayWilson's advice, I wouldn't have enough good days since its very humid up here in the summer. We typically have rain every 4-5 days up here in the first cutting. 
Seems like the only safe way would be to bale then put round bales on pallets or stone out in the field and tarp them for a few weeks. I would think they would fully sweat by then, but I'm not 100% sure.
When you have 500-1000 round bales, tarping becomes a little impractical. 
I am inexperienced and not afraid to admit it, so I go through a lot of trouble to try to bale when I think it's dry. 
Then I got a few customers say they thought my hay was on the dry side....oh brother.....
I hope I can learn how to "let go" of my fears a little and bale my hay a little softer and more moist.


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## Tim/South

General question.

If a moisture tester is only designed to provide a ball park figure then why do we need them? I can get an idea of whether the hay is ready to bale by picking up hay in the windrow.

Would anyone risk putting rolls in the barn that probed 35%? Bale temps were in the mid 80's which is no concern. This was after the rolls sitting over night.

The land owner says I need to throw the gizmo away, that there is no way that hay was too green to bale.


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## Vol

I never used a moisture monitor for grass until I bought a moisture monitor for alfalfa. I don't need one in first cut grass.....second cut grass can be a little trickier and I find one useful in it. You really will find the monitors/probes useful in alfalfa. But I prefer to do the monitoring while baling and not after the fact.

Regards,Mike


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## Mike120

I've got a Delmhorst and I've tried Mr. Wilson's trick with the sensor on the baler. It works just fine. I also use the probe. I bought a BHT-2 a few months ago and will probably install it this week if I have time. The point is that all of these things only give you an indication of a problem. If I suspect a problem, I'll stop and stick a survey flag in the 10 bale bundle the Hoelscher drops. When we're loading, I'll probe the bales in the bundles with the flags and we just make sure any suspect bales get put on the top of the stack when we put them in the shed. The old 3-twist method is still the best way to see when hay is ready for baling, sadly though, it's only accurate for the hay you actually twist.

Always strive for perfection, but at the end of the day, be happy with what you've got......it could always be worse.


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## JD3430

I get so freaked out about it. I go back to barn and probe all the bales I can. I saw a bad fire when I was a kid and I'm terrified of starting one.


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## askinner

JD3430 said:


> I get so freaked out about it. I go back to barn and probe all the bales I can. I saw a bad fire when I was a kid and I'm terrified of starting one.


Makes two of us! I generally think it's the guys who don't worry about it that get caught out. I have a neighbour that doesn't even walk the windrows before baling, he'll pay for it one day, just glad his sheds are well away from anything of mine!


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## somedevildawg

I hav a Deere probe and I don't like it very much....had some suspect hay last year, insert probe to get temp readings, leave it in the bale for 3 min...like 85, 5 min...86. 10 min....87. So forth and so on. Bales finally got up to about 98 before I gave up, it was hot that day and I left my truck running with a/c on, got through and stuck the probe in the truck, probe right in front of the a/c duct, 10 min later it still read 87.....I never used it for that again, if the damn temp reading is that slow....how can I expect the moisture reading to be spot on.....bottom line, it's only a guide, once you get to know how it looks and feels, it gets better, about the only thing it does is it reinforces your thought process, or causes you to do alot of head scratching......not sure which sometimes....


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## FarmerCline

Vol said:


> Delmhorst makes a very good and accurate handheld....for grass and alfalfa. I believe windrow testing is most accurate when placing hay out of the windrow in a 5 gallon bucket and then testing with the Delmhorst head designed for such.Regards, Mike


 If I am understanding this right I can get a Delmhorst that will test hay before baling by putting the hay in a bucket and will also test baled hay. What model of Delmhorst would you recommend? The reason I want to test the hay before I bale is I think last year I let the hay get too dry before baling as It was very crumbly once baled. I had a field on fist cutting last year that they changed the rain to a day sooner than predicted and since it was going to rain for the next week I decided to go ahead and roll it to get it off the field. I thought for sure it would mold really bad as it did heat up a bit. I unrolled the bales about a month ago and was shocked to see that the hay had not one bit of mold or dust and was actually some of the prettier hay I had. This got me to thinking maybe I am waiting to long to bale as that hay was way greener than what I thought was ready to bale.


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## hay wilson in TX

Rather than pursuing a moisture tester that will provide a safe and sane moisture level consider this.

There are two parts of hay, Roughly half is stem and half is leaf. The leaves dry quickly while the stems are slow to dry.

A truth is drying hay requires drying weather conditions, and paramount is the need for direct sunshine on the hay.
If you are using a mower with some form of conditioning AND drop the hay in a nice convenient windrow curing will be difficult. You would be better off using a simple mower, take the swath board off and leave the result lay out flat for two days.
The direct sunshine on the down hay will heat the moisture in the plant, build a positive vapor pressure and force the moisture out. 
If you feel it is really best to drop a conditioned hay in a nice windrow, then do all your hay production in Southern Arizona. Somewhere the humidity is down close to 5% and a brisk 20 knot breeze,

Regardless, the fastest drying will be from the leaves. On a good day in NC with conditioned hay, spread out to cover close to 100% of the area the hay can cure down into the 40% moisture range. The leaves may be dried down into the 50% range while the leaves will be dried down in the 30% range by sunset that first day.
The next morning the leaves will have rehydrated with the overnight dew, but not the stems.

One morning when the hay is damp with the dew you rake the hay, and the following day maybe you will bale.
See something? If you rake right ahead of the baler the leaves will have dried down to where they probably are brittle enough to shatter.
Ideally the day you are baling the stems are dried to 10% moisture and the leaves are dried to 30% moisture, and you will be baling nice leafy hay. The leaf moisture in this case is all surface dew moisture.

Reverse this and bale with stems at 30% moisture (Stem Moisture) and the leaves are a brittle 10% moisture, your "hay" will be a bundle of moldy stems. It's done some of the time around here. What started out as 12% protein grass hay ends up as 6% protein grass straw. Rather than 4 bales per acre there are 2 bales per acre.

I like to bale hay that is stem snapping dry with enough humidity to hold the leaves.

If you are in New Mexico or Arizona consider this, http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=390578&posts=16#M3106494 , if you want enough dew to hold the leaves and bale during the day time.


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## FarmerCline

I mow with a NH 1465 haybine with the swath gate adjusted to where it lays it wide as possible which I think is about 7 feet. Up until last year I mowed with a regular disk mower and I had a horrible time getting hay dry as the disk mower would leave a mat of hay laying directly on the ground since it mowed so low and if the ground was damp it seemed to just soak up ground moisture. Since I switched over to a haybine I would say I am cutting 1 day off drying time. Besides the fact that it crimps the hay what really seems to help is that the hay is left kind of "fluffed" and resting on top of the stubble. I realize it would be best to have the hay laying 100 percent of the width of the mower but I think a haybine spreading as wide as possible is better than a disk mower, now if I were putting the hay in a narrow windrow behind the haybine I doubt that it would ever dry as most of the hay would not see the sun as you said. I also Ted the morning after mowing.

I know this has been asked before but when is the best time of day to mow? I have read that the later in the day the more sugar is in the hay but if I would do that I would lose a whole day of drying. This past Monday I started mowing hay about 11 in the morning and finished about 4 in the afternoon. When I started baling on Thursday all of the hay I had mowed before about 2 was plenty dry but the hay that was mowed after 2 had to wait until the next day as it was still a bit too damp.

I see what you are saying about raking the morning before baling to preserve more leaves but with our high humidity I am afraid the hay would not finish drying in the windrow and would take an extra day of drying. Why could I not rake the morning of baling as the dew is coming off and then start baling a couple hours later? When I fist started out I was raking right before baling as that is what everyone here does but I found that if I wait until the hay next to the ground is completely dry that it is mid afternoon and the hay that is on top is too dry and the leaves shatter during raking. I have found that I like to rake earlier in the day and give the hay a few hours to dry in the windrows before baling.

This may be a stupid question but how do I determine if the stems are about 10 percent moisture and the leaves are about 30 percent? Also the cool season grass hay I make is heavy on first cutting, about 100 to 130 square bales per acre. Second cut is probably a completely different story as it is just about all leaf and no stem. I am just concerned I may be letting my hay get overly dry even the stems before I bale. I appreciate the help as I am still trying to get a feel when the hay is ready to bale.


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## JD3430

I have to say, I'm thoroughly confused, but in my first full year last year, I still did OK with just the help I got from everyone here.

If I took everyone's suggestions here, I would never get anything done. Not that the advice is bad, but everyone's seems to differ, mostly based on different climates and grass types. 
I generally cut late in day, allowing windrows to spread wide as possible. I do this because the consensus is that it's better for the sugars. 
Next day, if its sunny, I Ted the wide windrows to get the hay flipped over and dried more.
The following day if its sunny and the hay seems dry, I rake in morning because there's dew on the leaves, but the grass has dried on the inside. 
I then walk some windrows and grab tight handfuls of hay and probe them for moisture. If the readings are dry and the hay "feels" ready, I'll bale until it feels like the dew may be upon the late afternoon or early evening.

All that said, I've never seen a bigger crap shoot outside of me jumping in my truck and driving and hour to Atlantic City to the black jack tables.


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## Teslan

JD3430 said:


> I have to say, I'm thoroughly confused, but in my first full year last year, I still did OK with just the help I got from everyone here.
> 
> If I took everyone's suggestions here, I would never get anything done. Not that the advice is bad, but everyone's seems to differ, mostly based on different climates and grass types.
> I generally cut late in day, allowing windrows to spread wide as possible. I do this because the consensus is that it's better for the sugars.
> Next day, if its sunny, I Ted the wide windrows to get the hay flipped over and dried more.
> The following day if its sunny and the hay seems dry, I rake in morning because there's dew on the leaves, but the grass has dried on the inside.
> I then walk some windrows and grab tight handfuls of hay and probe them for moisture. If the readings are dry and the hay "feels" ready, I'll bale until it feels like the dew may be upon the late afternoon or early evening.
> 
> All that said, I've never seen a bigger crap shoot outside of me jumping in my truck and driving and hour to Atlantic City to the black jack tables.


I'm sure you will get more confident in yourself so maybe by the end of this year you could grab a handful of hay and just know it's ready to go or it's not.


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## JD3430

Oh I already can. I think my faith in technology makes me think that digital readout will help me sleep better. Probably fools gold.....


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## Grateful11

Here's the hay that we questioned last week as to whether to go ahead and stack it or let it go through it's sweating cycle and then stack it. Now it's been rained on everyday since it was round baled last Wed. and Thurs. My wife said the roll she unrolled for the cows today was cooler than the air temperature, had no moisture radiating from the roll inside and it was about 83 degrees here today. It's suppose to be Oat hay but has some Annual Ryegrass mixed in. The tester was reading 23-24% and 80 degrees. My wife said she was just going to have to start going from the gut from her past experience. This is her 4th year of doing round bales and every year there's always some amount of doubt, she's dealt with squares for over 40 years. Just wish they had went ahead and stacked everything they could have gotten into the sheds but there wasn't enough time before the rain came regardless. The best I can figure it made about 3 1/2 tons per acre.

The cows are camera shy


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## JD3430

So was that hay rained on for days after it was baled? Or while laying on ground?
Was it net wrapped?


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## Grateful11

Near perfect drying weather, 68-85 degrees for highs during the day, sunny, very low humidity and a stiff breeze. Mowed on Monday(a small area was mowed Sat. to get the disc mower conditioner running right), tedded within hours, tedded again on Tues. raked and baled a couple hours later on Thursday. Rain came Friday while they were trying to bring it in. No rain on it before it was round baled into 4'x4' bales. It's been rained on everyday since and there's still at least 200 bales in the fields, another 0.15" on it this afternoon.


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## deadmoose

So it was put up dry. Stored outside. Looks good.


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## JD3430

Net wrap?


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## Grateful11

Twine, no netwrap yet, she wishes she had got netwrap now.


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## Grateful11

deadmoose said:


> So it was put up dry. Stored outside. Looks good.


Thanks.

That particular bale been outside since last Thur. and has had nearly an 1" of rain on it since Friday. It was wet about 2" in but completely dry beyond that. Cows are loving it. It smells great, not musty, no mold and no fermented smell.


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## JD3430

I had many, many bales stored outside get rained on and with NW, they really did well.


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## somedevildawg

Grateful11 said:


> Twine, no netwrap yet, she wishes she had got netwrap now.


Doesn't everybody.....I kick myself in the buttocks everytime I run mine


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## Tim/South

I hope I have this picture process worked out. (Guess I will just link)

This is the hay I rolled and was convinced with out a doubt it was dry enough to roll. It would have baled the evening before.

I was checking out a friends new moisture tester and these rolls went from 32% up to 37% according to the tester. Hay temps were in the mid 80's. I am having a hard time believing this hay was 30%+ in moisture. Just trying to get a handle on what is going on.

The pictures were taken the following day after the hay had been through a monsoon.

http://www.haytalk.com/forums/uploads/gallery/album_142/gallery_25090_142_2245531.jpg

http://www.haytalk.com/forums/uploads/gallery/album_142/gallery_25090_142_2120012.jpg


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## somedevildawg

Like I said earlier Tim, if the damn thing can't measure temps any better than they do, I'm just guessing that the moisture reading is as much a crap shoot as the temp readings.....I'm not a big fan, although I will experiment with a winrow tester this year, I bought a deere unit on eBay this winter, brand new for $120....ima try it but I ain't got my hopes up.....try a similar experiment as mine, insert probe and leave it there, watch how slow it is to respond, then take it out and put it in a cool environment and see how long it takes to go down.....I was amazed that I couldn't get a temp reading any faster, led me to believe its unreliable or unusable at best....my take


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## Grateful11

I'm with you somedevildawg the thing can't even measure ambient air temperature correctly. The meat thermometer with a 20" probe I found for my wife last year is far more accurate but slow to respond. I think I'll email AgraTronix and see what they have to say about some of the concerns that have been brought up on here and see if they have any suggestions.


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## johndeerefarmer

I just bought the Deere deluxe in cab moisture tester for my round baler. It has three sensors, one up front and one on each side. This way I will get the best possible average reading from the hay.
The east side of my meadow has 35-40' trees lining the fence. They keep the windrows along that edge in the shade for hours so it's always wetter there. With a new $35000 haybarn I don't want to put any bales in there that might catch on fire. I will carry a can of flourescent orange spray paint with me and any bale that is too wet will get a big "x" sprayed on it. It will stay out of the barn

We are running behind here in north Texas- been way too cold so will be another few weeks before I get my first cutting of coastal but will let you know how the moisture tester works out.


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## Jake Nichols

I just purchased a John Deere SW07140 windrow analyzer . I know I paid mostly for the name, BUT that aside, does anyone have feedback on this unit. Good or Bad.....


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