Temperature of haystack

[A Sales representative]

Afternoon Groweresque, My post wasn’t pushing what I do for a living, there are plenty of companies selling different types of moisture meter, a few selling application kit and plenty jumping on the hay preservative waggon. My point is there is equipment to suit virtually all budgets that would help to reduce problems that occur virtually every year. Haymaking seems to be more of a black art theses days with weather that often tries its best not to help

 

[Devil's advocate]

Afternoon Groweresque, My post wasn’t pushing what I do for a living, there are plenty of companies selling different types of moisture meter, a few selling application kit and plenty jumping on the hay preservative waggon. My point is there is equipment to suit virtually all budgets that would help to reduce problems that occur virtually every year. Haymaking seems to be more of a black art theses days with weather that often tries its best not to help

do you have a website

 

[DrWazzock]

Without the weather you are stuffed with hay.

 

[puppet]

the risks to baling at high moisture (over 15%)

Doubt I have ever reached the 15% nirvana. Have to rely on sun and wind rather than additive.
Haymaking in Scotland takes 5 to 7 days of good weather. There is an art to that in both forecasting and being patient enough to realise it is not ready to bale. As I have said on other threads this has been my experience over the last 50 years of difficult summer weather

 

[nails]

I picked up some supposingly dry bales of winter barley straw the other day . I thought they were a bit spongy and put the temp probe in 47c
Told the bloke who baled it and said he could not understand it . 10 of the 20 bales on the load were over 35c.

 

[Henarar]

Dad cut a hole down through the middle of a shed full of lose hay that was getting hot once, he cut it out with a hay knife and chucked it out with a pick, reckoned it just blew away, couldn't stay in there for more than a few minutes.
I bought a tool from a farm sale that is apparently for cutting holes in haystacks it looks like a giant apple corer.
Bale some hay once and stacked it in the shed a bit quick, went up to have a look a week later and there was a good dew on the top plus a bit of fog, couldn't work out what best to do so just didn't go near again till winter and it was fine

 

[dowcow]

The weather forecasts have been noticeably dodgy this summer. Barely a predicted spell of good weather lasts as long as they say it will, and when we've held back due to heavy rain in the forecast it has amounted to naff all.

 

[Little squeak]

Just on update on the Haystack it hasn’t got any hotter and I now expect it to be OK. I had never taken the temperature of a stack before and I now believe from the information I have been given that the temperature is about normal. The reason why I thought there may have been a problem is that after the first cut fertilizer was applied on the 2nd June at a rate of 90 units/acre, 53 days later I cut again on 28th July in that time we had received 240mm of rain so it was still very green. The hay was baled just 3 days later on the 31th July, 3 days is the fastest I have ever brought hay in but the day was extremely hot and sunny with a brisk wind. Ideally I would have left it out longer but as usual rain was forecast (and did arrive) the next day. I do use a moisture meter but I find they are just a guide with rapidly drying hay giving a falsely low reading due to sap still in the stalks. I have never tried adding salt and as most of my hay goes for sale I’m not sure my customers would like it, same goes for additive.

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

If its first cut grass you should be fine, there will be very little sugar in grass mowed in the last week of July. Without the sugar to feed the bacteria and moulds you can never get the runaway temperature required to make it catch fire. Thats why straw baled damp never bursts into flames, no sugars. If its second cut hay then you might have more issues.

According to this info from the US, 34C is fine, its once it gets beyond 45C and rising that you need to be worried

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Total rubbish I'm afraid. Last December contractor baled 150 ac of barley straw next door after a rain (baled several days later). Made better bales with a bit of moisture. Also burnt the whole lot 6 weeks later.
Just another point regarding cereal hay or straw. Large squares in stacks will burn 6 months or more after baling if they are exposed and get significant rain on them. Only takes 2 inches as 2 farmers and a large trucking company found out here in April. Hay had been baled in October. Several thousand bales involved all stacked within 15kms of me.

 

[Flat 10]

Total rubbish I'm afraid. Last December contractor baled 150 ac of barley straw next door after a rain (baled several days later). Made better bales with a bit of moisture. Also burnt the whole lot 6 weeks later.
Just another point regarding cereal hay or straw. Large squares in stacks will burn 6 months or more after baling if they are exposed and get significant rain on them. Only takes 2 inches as 2 farmers and a large trucking company found out here in April. Hay had been baled in October. Several thousand bales involved all stacked within 15kms of me.

Just to be clear- nice dry hay baled stacked outside all nice. 6months later rain and then heated and self combusted?

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

Just to be clear- nice dry hay baled stacked outside all nice. 6months later rain and then heated and self combusted?

My second paragraph , yes. It happens here every year. I'm not sure whether our hay is of higher quality than what you make over there. In fact I would pretty much say it's a given. Less rainfall to wash the goodness out of the plants when drying. Higher sugar levels in shorter crops... Most cereal cut here is done so due to drought to recover some value from the crop and will have a higher sugar value as it hasn't put all its energy into growing.

My first paragraph, it was baled after a rain in November. (Hot here) and it burnt in January during the bushfires. There was no fires near here but the smoke was that thick from the bushfires that I never saw it go up , nor did I see the firetrucks responding.

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

Best practice is to monitor stacks /sheds for a good 6 weeks. Yes it will heat in first week. Will it burn? No not that quick unless you have absolutely no clue as to baling hay. If it holds or keeps heating after 2 to 3 weeks, I would pull it out. It's not just heat. You will smell the caramelized hay if it gets bad.

 

[Classichay]

Who makes a sensible priced moisture meter then?

 

[A Sales representative]

do you have a website

Morning “Devils advocate” sorry for the delay, please take a look at www.pfc-eu.com it’s a little messy at the moment and in the process of being updated, if you can’t find what your looking for or have any questions please let me know 07769 992932

BR - Martin

 

[Goweresque]

The best moisture meter for those on a budget is one of the ones off ebay from China. Like this:

MD7822 Digital Grain Moisture Meter Temperature Thermometer Humidity Tester DR | eBay

Features:<br>1. Big backlight display screen and data hold function,convenient to read data. AA AAA C D 9V 1.5V Universal Button Cell Battery Volt Tester Checker Indicato. 1 x Grain Tester. Probe Weight:201g.

www.ebay.co.uk

OK you have to get off the tractor to check bales rather than reading off a screen in the cab, but its a few quid vs hundreds or even thousands. I bought one years ago but ended up hardly using it because about the same time I had an additive system put on the baler that had moisture sensors anyway, so it became a bit redundant. But it works well, although it may not be 100% accurate, it at least allows you to measure relative moisture - if a known good bale is X% then X+5% must be getting a bit closer to iffy, X+10% will be too damp, that sort of idea. Having said that I've tested bales that I know the moisture from the baler readout, and it was pretty much in the right area, so I'd trust it to be right within a % either way. Just make sure you get one that goes up to 30%, some only go to 20% which isn't ideal.