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Little River, TX | By the time the stalks are dry enough for dry hay the leaves will shatter badly.
The above is true regardless of the hay type. To retain the leaves you will have a window of opportune humidity.
When the humidity is at or above 90% the hay will be in the 40% to 50% moisture range where leaf shatter is minimal.
When the humidity, at the windrow is in the 60% to 65% range the hay will bale at roughly 18% moisture. This is assuming the hay has cured enough that stem moisture will not be a factor. At this point there will be the normal leaf shatter from baling.
Below 50% humidity the hay will be down in the 12% moisture range. There will be no problem with heating or mold but there will be significant leaf shattering.
The thing with a probe type moisture tester with stem moisture is it is hidden moisture. Dry the hay with heat and the real hay moisture can be above 30% and you can have problems. The leaves can be down below 20% moisture while the stems can still be up close to 40% moisture. In this case expect some heating to possibly having the hay tobacco, to molding, in the extreme catching fire.
There is more but this is enough for a start. | |
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Soybean hay
