Livestock
So the Nieghbor and I bought a Stinger wrapper last fall together. The Machine worked well, was easy to run, was happy with it. We are now starting to sell some of the hay and getting into the stacks. The first Stack we got into was a field that was baled at 18 to 22 percent and we are finding more mold on alot of the bales then we like. Is this because we didn't use enough innoculant because it was drier? Another guy in the area wrapped some and it was like 14 percent and he said it came out great. So that has us wondering, is it just cause we were dry, but not as dry as that so we needed more innoculant? Is the hay we wrapped at 30 plus percent going to be better? Also lots of gopher holes under the Stack in the plastic, would this cause all this mold? That is hard to believe since the bale is still sitting on the ground / plastic sealing from the oxygen, but we are new at this so maybe thats not true. Any advice or thoughts on this would be much appreciated, trying to learn from here forward..
Thanks..
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I agree with Brad...also try to get hay to dry evenly...some may windrow to save raking but you'll end up with dry hay on top and way too green underneath. ...it has to be planned to make the best feed...honestly we plan for dry hay and if it blows up a shower then mange it as wet bales when the sun comes out...we have found the 45-50 best range...wetter will be ok but won't keep as long...
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If you are wrapping hay it should be 40-60 percent moisture or it will not ferment correctly. The 14 percent was dry so it didn't mold. 20-35 percent mositure is in the do not bale range. To wet for dry hay without acid, to dry to wrap and ferment properly. Do not try and wrap hay as a way to beat the rain. It must be a planned operation and bale it before it is below 45 percent moisture. Also ha...
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