# Hay Too Dry?



## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

Finished baling my first cutting grass hay yesterday. Due to weather, management on my part, strange mix of various grasses and some clover with some sections drying really fast and some really slow........hay got really dry. Hand held moisture reading was often showing 10%.

I know what the downside is of baling too wet.....moisture exceeding 20%......but what about too dry? Not worried about leaf loss with grass hay. Had good color.....smells good, but it was baled really dry.


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## cjsr8595 (Jul 7, 2014)

Other than getting slick for the baler if your going with rounds and leaf loss, none. Bale it up.


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## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

Should have mentioned......small square bales......equine and goat hay market.

Mostly brome, but with some fescue, timothy and clover mixed in. Due to wet weather and wet ground, cut about 2 weeks later than I would have liked, so on the downhill side of mature. Brome dried out before anything else would.

Bales averaged 50 pounds and 14% moisture at the start, but got a bit lighter before I finished. Hot day, low humidity and high winds did me in.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Downside is it’s harder to make a tight bale. Also I find hay baled drier than desired has slightly less visual appeal.


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## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

My feeling is moisture will increase and stabilize at around 15%, from humidity in the air, and weight will go back up a bit too. Just not sure if over drying it like that affects quality or palatibility.


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## Hay diddle diddle (Nov 17, 2017)

No.


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## Hay diddle diddle (Nov 17, 2017)

Dryness will make zero difference. Over maturity will.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

One thing is the 'sweat' will not usually be a big of problem. Diddle hit on maturity being more important.

Larr


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## Ray 54 (Aug 2, 2014)

Grain hay oats,barley,and/or wheat is what is grown out here. Takes a long time for the stems to dry. This a dry time here no rain from the May to Oct generally lots of 100 degree days. We only bale after the dew comes on in the night,a lot of times start as sun is coming up. Most days baling is over by 10 AM. Kind of a side note all balers have had hydraulic tension on the bale chamber since the 60's out here. You start with very little tension, and keep turning it up all morning. So it seems strange to hear east coast people here talk of using the air bags and setting them for the season.

No effect on the feed value,but much nicer bales if baled with dew. I don't know of any measurement but would hazard a guess there could be as much as 10% loss of hay in chaff that just falls and blows away if baled in the heat of the day. Color makes a difference in eye appeal and price,but for feeding doesn't matter. The alfalfa is even worse in that the leaves fall off so easy,but all on irrigated ground out here so ground has more moisture and even mornings without dew they will bale alfalfa. But sometimes take the loss of leaves to get the water back on to cut it again in 28 day. But of course that is a loss of feed value.


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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

Bailed up 15 rolls of millet. I swore it was dry. My neighbor checked and thought so too. Funny thing I got a call from the customer and he said one of the bales had a white V on the end. He called me the nest day and said that bale was burning.  Eventually all 15 burned. Replaces the loss with 25 haygrazer. Nope had no problem with bailing too dry!

PS. did get a moisture tester after that fiasco.


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## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

Years ago, I was witness to a conversation my dad had with his uncle, who lived in NW Kansas. Dad had mentioned how hard it was to get that first cutting alfalfa up dry with such short weather windows (North Missouri). Uncle mentioned how hard it was to keep any cutting of alfalfa dry enough to not lose the leaves......and did mention he would often start baling at around midnight when the humidity was high enough keep the leaves from shattering.

I did the same this week......suspected things were getting too dry, so started raking around 7:30 am....with a bit of dew on.

Hay was heavy* and had been cut with rubber roller conditioner, and tedded the day before. Yet a few clumps of green still rolled up with the rake. It was those clumps of green that had me worried.

But given a choice of 10% dry and crunchy, vs. 15% to 18%, with 1 bale in 10 having a hot spot.......I'd take dry and crunchy. Pretty sure I had no hot spots this way. So if dry is OK, dry it is.

* How heavy is heavy? Double raked windrows from 7' rake (actually not full doubles, but more like 1 1/2.....just wide enough I could fit baler and tractor between windrow and bales from previous round) filled pickup header on NH 315, in some areas was leaving hay on both sides of pickup reel......baled in 1st and 2nd gear and in some areas was dropping 50# bales every 15 to 20 feet. so 2.5 to 3 ton per acre, first cutting. Goes to show what fertilizer to soil test, halfway decent ground and abundant rain will do.


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## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

And as for the maturity, I wasn't happy about it at all......but had to wait out 6 to 8 inches of rain over the course of 10 days when maturity was optimum. Then had to wait for ground to dry so I would not rut it up.

Consolation to me is hay on 3 sides of my fields has not yet been cut by others........who have way better equipment than I do. And at least another week of rain delay coming for them too.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Hay diddle diddle said:


> Dryness will make zero difference. Over maturity will.


I think grass hay that gets too dry doesn't go through a sweat so therefore has a different odor so therefore isn't as palatable so hay won't be as readily consumed by animals as hay baled at correct moisture content.


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## Hay diddle diddle (Nov 17, 2017)

Tx Jim said:


> I think grass hay that gets too dry doesn't go through a sweat so therefore has a different odor so therefore isn't as palatable so hay won't be as readily consumed by animals as hay baled at correct moisture content.


Maybe your grass is different. Italian ryegrass here and subterranean clover. I let it get as dry as a popcorn fart then rake on a dew and bale after a dew has lifted. Would take dry hay over dusty anyday. Yes borderline caramelized hay is potentially more palatable. But anything that sweats/ heats is using the energy that is otherwise stored in the plant.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I bale rye grass but the majority of grass baled in my area is Coastal Bermuda. If Coastal Bermuda gets popcorn fart dry then the grass flakes off forming rd bales wedging between rollers & belts possibly locking down baler.

IMHO Bermuda grass baled at 15% moisture will not mold/mildew/caramelize & has a better odor than very dry hay.


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## Ray 54 (Aug 2, 2014)

Seems to me palatially has more to do with which plants and maturity at cutting than the moisture of the plant at the monument it was baled as long as mold doe not start. No real experience with caramelized hay but have to think Hay diddle's assessment is correct that part of the energy in the hay has been lost. But at the same time hay that livestock will not eat has not done them any good ether.

My conditions are so different than most I generally don't comment about other parts of the country. I just do what my family has done as I am 4th generation. But until the 3rd not much hay was baled,all handled loss into a barn.


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## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

Had to check on some things in the hay barn yesterday, and on a whim, took the moisture meter with me.

Had some hay baled about 2 weeks ago......it too was dry to nearly 10% when we baled it......and it now reads 15.5%. Dry hay baled Wed......then 10% or so, is already up to nearly 12%.......so as suspected, appears to be stabilizing at around 15%.

So of the two options.....bale early and risk mold, or wait a day and get it dry, I'm liking the latter. Still has good color and smells like hay. Customers liked and accepted it.....which they won't do when it's moldy.


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## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

And again, I should mention that this is 90% grass hay. The legume is red and ladino clover, and fearing things might be getting dry, I raked that early when we still had some dew on and hay was a bit tough. That retained the leaves on the clover, and they dried out in the windrow. When baled, they were still intact, and leaves are still present in hay.

And of the two choices......too wet and risk mold.....or too dry and risk leaf loss......I wanted dry. This is an equine hay market that has an inherent bias against clover hay due to that fungus that causes a horse to slobber. Believed to be worse if they hay goes moldy. Harmless, but if it makes a horse slobber, they won't buy it.


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

Modirt said:


> And of the two choices......too wet and risk mold.....or too dry and risk leaf loss......I wanted dry. This is an equine hay market that has an inherent bias against clover hay due to that fungus that causes a horse to slobber. Believed to be worse if they hay goes moldy. Harmless, but if it makes a horse slobber, they won't buy it.


Never heard about the slobber, normally we didn't get clover because it was too "hot" for horses that like a less protein rich diet. The main concern was laminitis with clover especially red clover.


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## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

https://wagwalking.com/horse/condition/slaframine-toxicosis

Back when I was a kid, if you asked an old timer, A#1 choice of hay for a horse (most would have been work horses or pleasure riding horse types) was timothy and red clover mix.

Locally, around here, have had several folks ask about clover in the hay and if it was present, would not buy. Have 2 or 3 neighbors with horses and they seek it out. Put up about 250 bales for one guy with high performance rodeo stock. His was over 50% clover and he was happy to get it. Curious to see what he thinks come winter.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Trillium Farm said:


> Never heard about the slobber, normally we didn't get clover because it was too "hot" for horses that like a less protein rich diet. The main concern was laminitis with clover especially red clover.


The "slobbers" is caused only by alsike clover. Ladino and red clovers are not a problem.

Ralph


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