# 25% green alfalfa....preserve color?



## werkman53 (Sep 11, 2014)

Is there a preservative out there that will keep the green color in wetter baled alfalfa? I'm talking small squares for sale to the people that buy with their eyes and don't care about RFV. I have used various brands of propionic acid and it keeps the hay, no mold, but it doesn't keep the color. The wetter you bale the more brown the end result will be in months. Any product out there that will maintain the color as the hay cures and moisture moves from the stack?


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## werkman53 (Sep 11, 2014)

Northern IL. The alfalfa here is tough to bale green and dry. If the monstrous stems are less than 20% the leaves are probably 10% and fragile and disintegrated as the baler compacts. I have resorted to baling a little wet to keep as many leaves as possible.


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

I hate to burst anyone's bubble but to consistently put up Pretty Green hay you need to be in Western ND, SD, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and further west.

East of there, i.e. like here it is next to impossible to put up pretty green hay. 
BUT we can try by laying the hay out in a full width swath.

Here hay in a full width the leaves will be at or below 20% moisture by sunset. That first day a major portion of the moisture can leave the plant via the stoma in the leaves. Put the leaves in the dark and the stoma in the leaves will close and will not reopen the next day.
The hay needs to be cut with full daylight. The heat from the sun on the stems will raise the vapor pressure of the moisture in the stems. 
Then the next day the hay can be raked. The leaves will rehydrate with the night dew but he stems will stay with the stem moisture they enter the dark of night with. Again the heat of the direct sunshine will increase the vapor pressure in the stems. The heated stem moisture will exit the plant by the nearest opening. This is where conditioning comes into it's own.
The leaves will quickly dry with the evaporation of the dew. The stems continue to dry. 
Watching the pan evaporation forecast will let us know when the hay will be ready to bale.
This hay must be raked with the night humidity. Best while the leaves are still damp. At this stage the stems will be at the same moisture content as they had as it got dark.
The magic moisture needed to rake with a minimum of leaf shattering is 40% moisture. When the Air Next to the Hay is 90% Humidity the driest the hay will be is 40% moisture.
As night falls we can bale the hay that night, when the night dew will raise the leaf moisture enough to hold the leaves.
*OR *we can bale the hay when the hay's moisture will be low enough to bale during the day, We can start baling when the air next to the hay is at 70% humidity. Large bales we need to bale when the humidity is at 65% (for day time baling).

IN the ARID West many times the humidity will never be high enough to prevent leaf shatter. Obviously the there will never be a time they can rake the hay after the hay has started to dry. So they drop the hay in a windrow and rake it into a windrow large enough for their baler. They may go for weeks with the humidity never above 50%. The remedy is to wet down the windrow. Some get by with a spray boom. Some will use an artificial dew machine. For others they pull a steam jenny ahead of the baler.

This hay never is exposed to a lot of direct sunshine on the hay and this hay will retain it's pretty green color that the young and foolish want.

In a Hay Contest color is never considered.
The animals do not see the color of green, they go by taste & smell. The person with the purse will only see the color of green, and never smell or taste the hay.

At one national hay show the winning bale of alfalfa showed sun bleaching, but had the highest feed value. The bale with the Pretty Green Color did not do well at all. It did not have the feed value.

Curing hay down to baling moisture on day three or four will have the best chance for a good green but nothing like you can buy in Idaho. The Idaho hay will have both color and feed value. That is why Idaho hay is trucked to Florida.

An Alfalfa grower in Illinois, Ron Tombaugh, is a past AFGC President. He also is a hay broker with his own fleet of trucks.

Some references

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/pubnwsltr/TRIM/5811.pdf

PROPER HANDLING AND CURING OF HAY1 JANUARY 2002
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http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/442/442-454/442-454.html

Management Tips for Round Bale Hay Harvesting, Moving, and Storage

Hay moisture content

Hay moisture content is the largest single factor contributing to leaf loss Figure 1 shows the importance of baling at higher moisture contents. Hay baled at a moisture content above 15 percent has much less leaf loss than hay baled below 15 percent moisture.

Note the figure 1 pm leaf loss

Figure 1. Leaf loss during baler operation. Accumulation of data for several large round balers over a range of hay moisture contents in fields of mixed alfalfa, crested wheatgrass and bromegrass. Data source: Prairie

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http://www.uwex.edu/ces/forage/pubs/drying_forage.pdf

Drying Forage for Hay and Haylage
Dr Dan Undersander
University of Wisconsin


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## werkman53 (Sep 11, 2014)

Couldn't agree more on the arid west being the place to make green hay. I also agree that dew moisture is the greatest thief of color.

If the cutting is not too thick, I can cut one morning(wide thin kit on NH discbine), ted the next morning, and rake and bale the following day. That's really pushing it though unless we have great drying days and the overnight dews are not as heavy. If I leave it longer then that, the color is really bleached. Still good hay, but very bleached.

Bottom line, just wondering if anyone has come up with something worth noting in the Midwest. Unfortunately my local market is dominated by the person you described carrying the purse and credit card. And to be honest, I enjoy selling them the green stuff for $8/bale, versus $4-$5/bale for the bleached out hay.

I have not tried the CropSaver from NH. Didn't know if the citric acid in it would work better on color retention then just straight propionic in most products. Anyone with experience on that?


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

Hay Master, great post and info


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

Huh, the last cropsaver barrel I bought, the label said it was 68% prop and had no citric acid..did they change the formula?


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

werkman53, what rates are you using? I can't say that I have observed a loss of color inside the bale of alfalfa that was baled in the range of preservative application. We used to use New Holland's product, but have switched to a generic buffered proprionic acid with the same concentration. Same results, less cost.

These are the numbers I've been using the last few years:

18-21% 4 lbs per ton

22-23% 6 lbs per ton

24& up% 10 lbs per ton.


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

sethd11 said:


> Huh, the last cropsaver barrel I bought, the label said it was 68% prop and had no citric acid..did they change the formula?


Have you noticed different numbers on the barrels? I bought some Saturday that had a different #, but same otherwise.


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

Only got Two from new Holland. Rest has been from a neighbor because of price. Both barrels had different labels but same % of acid and no other active ingredients.


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

sethd11 said:


> Only got Two from new Holland. Rest has been from a neighbor because of price. Both barrels had different labels but same % of acid and no other active ingredients.


If it's all the same, I'm going to research generic preservative for next year. I support NH too much as it is. -_-


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

I think the citric acid in crop saver helps with color . We use crop saver on small bales only was not aware they changed the formula to eliminate citric , We use potassium sorbate on the big bales . Many BTO switching if you will treat hay check this out


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## werkman53 (Sep 11, 2014)

My next barrel of preservative will be cropsaver. Hopefully with citric in it. I'll update when I get it. Gearclash, as far as rates my field SWAG is more then recommended. When I know the hay is rather wet I can't resist turning the dial up and hosing it. I baled some close to 30% and put on 25lbs/ton. I am learning that this stuff is awesome, but not a saveall. When I bale much over 25% bales lose their shape and color. Anything in this range goes to another barn for myself to feed. Not really saleable. Besides nobody can lift those bales anyway. I will say though that I would rather have those treated wet bales then rained on hay. I have had my feeders smash a gate twice this year getting at that hay. Usually their barn has rained on hay and the cattle don't bother lol.

My last cutting should be interesting here. It's been raining every couple days and I can't get out there. Alfalfa is down and starting regrowth it's a mess. Plus highs in the 60's. I wish I was setup to chop it and put it in a bag. Looks like I will need a barrel of preservative to finish the season.


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## werkman53 (Sep 11, 2014)

Just got a barrel of cropsaver (harvesttec acid...) and citric is listed as aneeded inert ingredient and not 5% next to propionic.


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

werkman53 said:


> My next barrel of preservative will be cropsaver. Hopefully with citric in it. I'll update when I get it. Gearclash, as far as rates my field SWAG is more then recommended. When I know the hay is rather wet I can't resist turning the dial up and hosing it. I baled some close to 30% and put on 25lbs/ton. I am learning that this stuff is awesome, but not a saveall. When I bale much over 25% bales lose their shape and color. Anything in this range goes to another barn for myself to feed. Not really saleable. Besides nobody can lift those bales anyway. I will say though that I would rather have those treated wet bales then rained on hay. I have had my feeders smash a gate twice this year getting at that hay. Usually their barn has rained on hay and the cattle don't bother lol.
> 
> My last cutting should be interesting here. It's been raining every couple days and I can't get out there. Alfalfa is down and starting regrowth it's a mess. Plus highs in the 60's. I wish I was setup to chop it and put it in a bag. Looks like I will need a barrel of preservative to finish the season.


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