Bale Drying

[Bluedog]

Looking for a solution to drying straw bales. Any ideas ? Kit? We store out doors and with the weather the tops are more than damp. Any pointers would be much appreciated.

 

[Still Farming]

Looking for a solution to drying straw bales. Any ideas ? Kit? We store out doors and with the weather the tops are more than damp. Any pointers would be much appreciated.

If you can get turning on dry sunny days helps.
If for biomass boilers, Centers burn but outsides smoulder nuisance.
Other than put on a shed or dry in corn shed limited ideas?

 

[Lincs Lass]

Big company in Lincolnshire does it ,they have their own straw drying barn ,,Wendt's

 

[Still Farming]

Big company in Lincolnshire does it ,they have their own straw drying barn ,,Wendt's

Can do anything I suppose it's just costs?

 

[Lincs Lass]

Can do anything I suppose it's just costs?

What Ive been told by the guy that works in it ,,they split the bales which then go through the dryers loose and its rebaled the other end ,,seems an expensive exercise but it must pay

 

[chickens and wheat]

Use haycaps, avoid getting the bales wet in first place, https://www.haycap.co.uk/

other sheets/covers are available

 

[d williams]

Looking for a solution to drying straw bales. Any ideas ? Kit? We store out doors and with the weather the tops are more than damp. Any pointers would be much appreciated.

Any market for compost mushrooms??

 

[Goweresque]

One would assume that given the current market conditions it would be far cheaper to buy in dry fresh straw than to try and dry manky bales off the top of the stack............isn't the whole point of storing straw outside that you accept that the top bales may be a write-off, thats the 'cost' of putting a cover on the stack?

 

[555]

Blue dog Hi. Manco Energy are now the sole importer of the Kongskilde bale dryer now. We have just fitted one. Very robust and simple set up. Using spikes driven into the bale and blasted with hot air. Quite automated. Please give me a call on 07507 562954 and we can discuss , ideally suited to a biomass boiler, using straw as a fuel, which we also supply. Lin ka.

 

[555]

[QUOTE="Goweresque, .........isn't the whole point of storing straw outside that you accept that the top bales may be a write-off, thats the 'cost' of putting a cover on the stack?
[/QUOTE]
All depends on the amount of top bales you are talking about , the value of that bale, the cost of dumping it . Verses the cost of drying it and the income that it generates. You need a good few top bales for it to stack up. At a certain scale it does.

 

[Goweresque]

.........isn't the whole point of storing straw outside that you accept that the top bales may be a write-off, thats the 'cost' of putting a cover on the stack?

All depends on the amount of top bales you are talking about , the value of that bale, the cost of dumping it . Verses the cost of drying it and the income that it generates. You need a good few top bales for it to stack up. At a certain scale it does.

I would have thought that anything stored outside since August this year would be past drying anyway. Its most likely to have a thick layer of green growth on the top and a good 6" of black mankyness below that which is hardly that useful, even if you've got it all bone dry. Top bales this winter are going to be not so much damp as rotten.

 

[Fievel Farmanimal]

Textile covers are good, but must be a pyramid shaped pile.

 

[D14]

Can you claim rhi on the heat use to dry bales?

 

[omnihp]

We are currently installing a Ground Source Heat Pump which is being used to dry bales.

The project has been designed with lower temperatures, and dehumidifying the air as to not damage the bales.

The installation qualifies for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

 

[Formatted]

We are currently installing a Ground Source Heat Pump which is being used to dry bales.

The project has been designed with lower temperatures, and dehumidifying the air as to not damage the bales.

The installation qualifies for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

Insanity. Growing a crop on subsided land, getting subsidised energy to dry bales to produce subsided energy.

A criminal waste of taxpayers money. Agents creaming off the top at every stage. You should all be ashamed of yourselves

 

[e3120]

We are currently installing a Ground Source Heat Pump which is being used to dry bales.

The project has been designed with lower temperatures, and dehumidifying the air as to not damage the bales.

The installation qualifies for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

Just how many times can you pull the dry bales out and run the hosepipe over them before the strings are knackered and fresh bales are needed?

 

[beefandsleep]

Could understand for a high value crop such as Lucerne hay but straw for burning? Incredible!

 

[omnihp]

The bales being dried in this project are not used for energy.

The crop that is being bailed is alfafa/Lucerne.

The project scope was specified by the farms agricultural consultant with the main aim of increasing the quality and quantity of the crop that left the farm.

The crop is baled wet and dried and processed in a controlled environment rather than in the field where some of the crop is damaged or lost.

We have been told the additional revenue from doing this in a controlled environment justifies the investment in the drying and processing equipment.

The Renewable Heat Incentive is there to incentivise the additional investment required to use a renewable technology instead of using a gas or oil boiler.

Due to the size of the installation additional revenue is obtained through providing grid balancing services to the National Grid by helping to balance the grid with the heat pump to further enable more renewable power generation on the grid.

 

[Bluedog]

Planning on using waste heat from our gas engines. But also plumbing into our biomass . Yes there is an incentive from the RHI, but more of an push is the sale of a previously unsaleable bale. Had a look at the kit at Manco’s site, impressive , simple and robust. Interested in the grass drying also.

 

[thesilentone]

Well this is one of the daftest threads on a renewable forum I've come across. "We store bales outside and they get wet," well Does a bear sh!t in the Woods !

There is a really technical solution available that is re-usable and sustainable and requires little energy, it's called a stack sheet !!

Alternatively you could go very high tech, and wrap em..........................