# round bales sweating



## stoneyacres (Jun 29, 2013)

Need information:

We tedded twice on day 2, raked at 11 a.m. day started to bale around 4 on day 3. Our round bales are 4 x 5 we started seeing them sweat in the core. The hottest cores on the third stack are 115 to 120 with the hay core sweating and some smell.

The hay is all older grass just made a week ago. What did we do wrong? Too much moisture or something? The average temperature on the bales from the side probe is around 93 degrees.

Can anyone give us some advice. We were thinking maybe we would have to spend for an automatic applicator on the baler costs $6500! ouch!

Thinner stands we baled 3 weeks ago are running around 84 degrees and the cores have a tiny amount of warmth in them.

Sure could use some advice.

Thanks for the help.


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## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Too much moisture in the plant, aka, baled green. I have had the problem many times when I had to bale in a hurry of face bad weather. Sometimes it seems that getting rained on would be the least damaging.

120 is getting pretty hot. I baled a field once and immediately stacked the rolls tight end to end (5x6s). I had the string near my shop and over the next few days started smelling something. I decided to remove the bales and have a look. Sure enough I had the makings of a fire. After the first roll, the bales got progressively browner and after about 4 they were smoldering with smoke marks coming up from the center.

A 4' roll isn't all that thick and if you leave it sit out such that the air can circulate it will usually do pretty well. I have started doing this as a matter of fact since the problem mentioned. Haven't had a problem since. I leave them like that for a week or so, test the bale temp at the center with my finger and then stack them. Should work for you.

The three turn twist I mentioned in my Johnson Grass post above has worked for me and most other folks around here that do hay. I admit that the bales I had problems with, I fudged on the test, failed it, but wanted to get the stuff rolled due to weather approaching.

HTH,

Mark


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)




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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

mlappin said:


>


Is this chart surface or internal temperature? I'm guessing it's surface temp.

Ralph


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

rjmoses said:


> Is this chart surface or internal temperature? I'm guessing it's surface temp.
> 
> Ralph


Internal temperature taken with a probe.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Here's a slightly different chart in Figure 3:

http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPrinterFriendlyPub.aspx?P=G4575

"A large variety and number of microorganisms are associated with plant material in the field, but fungi are the microbes primarily responsible for breakdown of complex carbohydrates. Heating above 175 degrees Fahrenheit results in thermal death of microbes; then heat-producing chemical reactions serve to further increase temperatures. A subsequent rapid oxidation of reactive compounds may cause a further temperature rise to an ignition point of 448 to 527 degrees Fahrenheit. If enough oxygen is present, flames will erupt. *The time required for heating to combustion may vary from four to 10 weeks*, depending on storage and climatic conditions and on the moisture content of the forage."

(Emphasis mine)

Ralph


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Have never seen it take that long, but I always keep a lot closer eye on my hay than some. We do have a guy in the area that has burned down two barns so far, don't think it took 10 weeks to happen either but I suppose anything is possible.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Can someone tell me if there's a difference between DRY hay that got a little ground moisture and GREEN hay that was baled too soon in terms of heating up?

Seems like DRY hay that got a little rain on it and was baled a little too soon doesn't heat up like GREEN tough hay that was baled before it was ready for baling.

Because we had a wet spring, my windrows of DRY hay seemed to wick up moisture causing my moisture probe to read >20%, sometimes 25%. However, I never saw internal temps over 130-135 and in most cases more like 110.

Is this because external moisture such as described above is less impact foul on temps than internal moisture?


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

First, it helps to differentiate between alfalfa and grass hay. Alfalfa can appear dry in the leaves, but still have quite a bit of stem moisture. It's the stem moisture that can cause the most problems with a "wet" bale. Mowing alfalfa with a crimping style moco cracks the stems which in turn allows the inside moisture to escape.

Whereas grass, and this largely depends on how tall it was cut, will tend to dry more evenly but still be a little higher moisture at the base. Mowing with a flail style moco scratches up the surface of the leaf and gets the "waxy" protection off of the leaf, thereby again allowing more moisture to escape faster.

Dry hay that picks up a little ground moisture will absorb in on the surface, but then tend to dry out in the windrow before baling. If the moisture is inside the stem, it will escape inside the bale and cause problems as it migrates to the outside world. If it's surface moisture, it escape almost directly to the outside world.

There are always going to be slightly wetter and dryer spots in most fields, unless you live in one of the desert states. Some spots will be denser, shadier, etc. and conditions will vary place to place. An analogy might be if you have one sopping wet towel and throw it in with a bunch of bone dry towels. The dry towels will get damp, but tend to dry faster.

Hope this helps.

Ralph


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Dry hay that is a little wet rarely heats up and will just mold instead, green hay that is just a little wet will almost always heat. A big difference between dry hay and cured hay, last year when it was so bone dry I'd mow in the mornings and sometimes it'd be too dry to rake that afternoon if I wasn't right there with the rake ready to go at the drop of a hat, so I'd rake early the next morning and bale right away without preservative as the hay was probably around 10% or so before nightfall the day before but I'd bale it at 19-20% as cured hay won't heat versus hay that is just dry enough to bale. Getting superlow on moisture then waiting for it to pick up dew moisture practically eliminates any sweat it might go thru. Was also some of the prettiest hay I've ever made.

Look at it this way, hay that is just dry enough to bale is still somewhat green hay, hay that's gotten bone dry then picked up dew moisture or moisture from the ground has had most if not all biological reactions stopped in the plant from being so dry, so in that case much much less chance of heating or sweating.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

This is usually the case for me: I get my hay plenty dry, but it picks up ground or rain moisture after hay has stopped respirating.


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

rjmoses, I like your Missouri publication. I copied it to a another form and enlarged the print size as well as the size of the graphs.

For any interested this publication might be interesting for some. Pull a grab sample of hay and shake all the leaves off and Then mesure the moisture in the leaves and in the stems. Average moisture can lead us down the path to a barn fire.

Related MU Extension publications

G3151, Using a Microwave Oven to Determine Moisture in Forages
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G3151


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