small bale sweat

if i were to bale some orchard grass and my agratronix tester/probe showed 15% moisture, what could i expect the tester to show after a few hours or even the next day. i guess my question is how much do small bales really sweat. these are 70 lb bales. thanks for the help

By sweat, since of course hay does not sweat, I assume that you are asking how long will it take for it to dry down to a moisture level where it will stop molding and the temperature will drop. This is also assuming that 70lb. bales are substantially heavier than what you normally make since most small squares weigh 35 to 55 lbs. Another question to the picture is that hay needs to be down to 18% to not heat up, so a 15% reading doesn't make sense. My answer is that it will take not hours or days but weeks before the moisture can ever so slowly work its way out. When I am asked about heavy bales here locally I advise people to put them on edge with space on all five sides in order to prevent heat build up. If you want to just prevent fire you need to keep them separated so that heat can't build up. If you want to prevent mold you need to load them up and open them up on some dry ground, tedd them out and let the sun dry it.

15% is what we consider pretty much dust dry around here.

If anything the moisture reading will go UP slightly in the near term. It won't go down any time soon.

I just go by feel never have had a tester. Always just put in barn right off the wagon . This is whether it is large rounds or small square. Small squares went the way of the dodo here. To much labor and time involved.

I've tested rd bales that tested 15% moisture at baling & mid 20's % the next day

(quoted from post at 18:47:34 07/03/21)


By sweat, since of course hay does not sweat,

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Next day baled hay temperature rises & moisture content increases so may I ask what do you call this process if not sweating?

(quoted from post at 04:15:44 07/04/21)

(quoted from post at 18:47:34 07/03/21)


By sweat, since of course hay does not sweat,

Click to expand...

Next day baled hay temperature rises & moisture content increases so may I ask what do you call this process if not sweating?

Click to expand...

Tx Jim, moisture content can't increase unless you add it from rain or pouring water on it. The increase in temperature is from the bacteria eating the sugar in the leaves and generating energy in the form of heat. Sweating is when sweat glands in a persons body secrete liquid. It is a cooling function because the seat evaporates which consumes heat. Sweating can also be the process of joining two copper or copper and brass parts by heating them to the point where solder touched to them will melt and draw into the space between the two forming a water and pressure tight joint. Hay has none of these required components so no sweating can take place. If you are an old wife you can call it that.

I think we all know hay doesnt sweat like people, but I thought it was a pretty well known term for hay releasing moisture and heating up soon after baling. We can nitpick the name all we want I guess, but it still happens.

(quoted from post at 19:14:34 07/04/21)


Tx Jim, moisture content can't increase unless you add it from rain or pouring water on it. The increase in temperature is from the bacteria eating the sugar in the leaves and generating energy in the form of heat. Sweating is when sweat glands in a persons body secrete liquid. If you are an old wife you can call it that.

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Wives Tale or not I've heard the term hay sweats for 70 yrs & I'm TOO OLD to change!!! Maybe the term hay sweating is due to my locale

If I check hay when it was baled & it tested 15% moisture & check it the next day & it tests 24% moisture then to my thinking the moisture % has risen IE hay has released moisture IE sweated.

(quoted from post at 03:13:01 07/05/21)

(quoted from post at 19:14:34 07/04/21)


Tx Jim, moisture content can't increase unless you add it from rain or pouring water on it. The increase in temperature is from the bacteria eating the sugar in the leaves and generating energy in the form of heat. Sweating is when sweat glands in a persons body secrete liquid. If you are an old wife you can call it that.

Click to expand...

Wives Tale or not I've heard the term hay sweats for 70 yrs & I'm TOO OLD to change!!! Maybe the term hay sweating is due to my locale

If I check hay when it was baled & it tested 15% moisture & check it the next day & it tests 24% moisture then to my thinking the moisture % has risen IE hay has released moisture IE sweated.

Click to expand...

I never heard it called sweating in my 72 years until a year or two ago here on YT. It was always called molding or barn burning down around here. Of course you didn't want either to happen, whereas real sweating never caused any damage. The actual moisture in the bale can't go up so I am thinking that an increase in the reading is due to how the moisture is available to the surface of the probe. My moisture meter won't give an accurate reading on stemmy hay. There has to be a lot of leaf to get a good reading.

Next day/week moisture increase(sweating) inside of bale after initial baling is probably caused by stem moisture that as you stated moisture tester can't detect very well. This small amount of moisture increase will not cause mold or mildew but will give hay a smell/texture that increases hay palatability similar to how sweat changes body odors. :lol: