Do you need bales to be below a specific moisture?

[555]

Just finished commissioning a 60m Ventus 2400 bale dryer on an AD plant in Kent. They have on average 4000 Hestons annually that are over moisture and could not be used, an need to be dumped and replaced. All at a big cost. The Ventus Bale Dryer will reduce the moisture content down to a specific %. As long as you can pick it up it will dry it! If you have over a 1000 bales a year that need drying please get in touch. Andrew at Manco Energy. 07507 562954. Even better if you have biomass to heat the water. RHI compliant. We are also busy replacing underperforming Biomass Boilers with High performance Linka Boilers

 

[renewablejohn]

That looks like total madness. A week drying in a solar kiln would do exactly the same job without any cost to the environment.

 

[555]

You won’t get deep into the bale , leaving pockets of high moisture levels , leading to a rejected load. We are also straw traders and have looked at all options, this was the only bit of kit that gave the results needed. Taking out 20% from a bale would take around 20mins, so over a continuous week 500 bales. The cost of drying the bale is a fraction of its value once dried, also gives the option to bale when the conditions are not ideal. There is a small window of opportunity to get into the fields, the window is a lot bigger now.Power stations are very particular to moisture levels throughout the bale.

 

[renewablejohn]

You won’t get deep into the bale , leaving pockets of high moisture levels , leading to a rejected load. We are also straw traders and have looked at all options, this was the only bit of kit that gave the results needed. Taking out 20% from a bale would take around 20mins, so over a continuous week 500 bales. The cost of drying the bale is a fraction of its value once dried, also gives the option to bale when the conditions are not ideal. There is a small window of opportunity to get into the fields, the window is a lot bigger now.Power stations are very particular to moisture levels throughout the bale.

Come on your on a farming forum, rubbish like that you might get away with elsewhere but farmers have been barn drying hay and straw for centuries.

 

[555]

Progression.

 

[Ben B]

The fact that something has been build to dry bales is so foreign to me. Here in Australia, we run around in the middle of the night to bale straw and hay so we have moisture in product so you can actually form a bale in the chamber!

 

[Doing it for the kids]

The fact that something has been build to dry bales is so foreign to me. Here in Australia, we run around in the middle of the night to bale straw and hay so we have moisture in product so you can actually form a bale in the chamber!

you need a bale wetter then! Opposite to OP!

 

[Hampton]

The fact that something has been build to dry bales is so foreign to me. Here in Australia, we run around in the middle of the night to bale straw and hay so we have moisture in product so you can actually form a bale in the chamber!

It’s alien to us too!
We tend to wait until it’s dry before baling it, stick a moisture probe in to check its dry, then store it in a shed to keep the rain off.
If we do have wet straw we put it through the straw chopper to bed the cattle although this can make it dusty.
Better to just bale it when dry

 

[Poncherello1976]

The fact that something has been build to dry bales is so foreign to me. Here in Australia, we run around in the middle of the night to bale straw and hay so we have moisture in product so you can actually form a bale in the chamber!

I think we did that here in 1976. Made hay in 2 days or so, and then had to bale it in the evening/night to be able to have the slightest bit of moisture in it!

 

[Ben B]

We need the straw dry for storage but straw been dry is really not a problem unless it's been rained on. We dont need rain just a little due so it will pack the straw in the baler. More of an issue with a round baler but for big squares you can lose some weight.