Brown: Not too wet, not too dry

The tall fields of haygrazer are laid low and as soon as the moisture gets just right, the nights of the baler begin. Many jobs can last long into the evening and the early morning, but most of them at least start in the daylight hours. Baling hay, in my experience, usually starts just after supper and ends at a time approximating breakfast.

The thing about hay is that after you cut it, is has to dry, but then, after it dries, it needs to be a little damp to bale.

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Down on the Farm

Too dry and the baling process grinds the leaves into tiny pieces that is both less tasty to livestock, and less efficient. Too much of the hay never makes into the bale and even more is lost when it is put out as feed. Not to mention the fire hazard. Dry hay running around in a complex machine ... all it takes is the idea of a spark.

The other side is worse. Dry hay keeps. It’s not the best hay, as discussed, but what gets in the bale is usually still around when you get ready to feed it. Wet hay doesn’t get ground up and miss the bale. In fact, it shoves the loveliest, tightest, slickest bales you’d ever want out the back of the baler. But inside, the rot begins. Moldy, mildew, maggoty feed isn’t what you want to feed your livestock, the might not even eat it. But that’s far from the worst of it. Rotting organic matter produces heat.

Ever seen a big stack of hay burning? It probably wasn’t a misplaced cigarette butt that started it. It was probably baled too wet.

Stacking a bunch of wet hay together is like building a giant time bomb. Each decomposing bale adds its heat to the others and with them all together, there’s no ventilation or place for all that heat to go.

Eventually, it gets really hot, and then … spontaneous combustion. Suddenly, the core of the stack is burning. It burns outwards and before you know it, you have a haystack fire. You can’t fight a hay fire. You can keep it from spreading, and you can stir around the burning bales to get it over with quicker, but there’s no saving the stack.

Don’t bale your hay too wet.

Audra Brown says: Small stacks save bales. Contact her at:

[email protected]