I’m often the first one to attempt dry hay in town. It’s often beautiful quality, but acts strange in storage compared to the rest of first cut. This year I got a moisture meter (Delmhorst), and when baling both the in-baler probes and hand probe agreed I was at 8-10% moisture. (Around here below 15% is what I’ve always heard as ideal.)
Just to be safe I stacked this hay single layer, cut side up in the barn. Lo and behold, both 24 and now 48 hours later, there is a small amount of perceivable dampness to the touch, and the moisture meter now reads anywhere from 15% to 22% (usually 16-18). This is my first time with a moisture meter, so I have nothing to compare to.
In short, is it normal for recently baled hay to have a spike of moisture content in the barn? Zero signs of heat, but don’t want this beautiful feed to mold/dust on me. Plan to keep it single layer cut side up as long as I can and keep checking, but can’t figure out if I’m missing something. Also don’t want to panic and sell it as discounted use-asap “feeder bales” - but would prefer that to a batch of dusty mulch in a month or two.
Any thoughts welcome! (Just remember - northeast, mixed grass, small squares)
Thanks!
Moisture increase after baling - what’s normal?
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