central - east central Minnesota - | Hayburner - 3/14/2009 00:12 I believe it was Old Pokey that mentioned in another thread about building or having a shed for hay with open sides for air circulation to cut down on dusty hay. Can you post some information on this? For the past few years, I have put my hay in the barn. It is good hay until I get down to the last 100 or so bales, and they seem rather dusty. What is the dust from? Is it mold? Is there some way to prevent it other than an open-sided shed? Does moisture content when baled cause this? Any comment would be great. TIA From my experence with barn stored hay, the last or bottom layers of the stack may be dusty due to moisture when stored and as you point to, air circulation. The moisture in the bottoms simply can't get out and so the hay, when going through it's "sweat" cycle has no place to "let the moisture go". Thats a reason some farmers stacked their bales on edges, to let more "venting" out of the bale and through the stack. If your hay is higher in moisture - maybe consider makeing a few layers and then lay a row of pallets on the layer then continue stacking hay on top the pallets. . . . . dusty hay is due to moisture in the bale not being able to evaporate off . . . I'm sure there will be others to dispute my opinion and may offer better solutions .. . |
Dusty hay -- Old Pokey
