Posted by Ken Macfarlane on May 29, 2012 at 17:08:25 from (184.151.114.239):
In Reply to: saltin hay posted by mss3020 on May 29, 2012 at 12:54:48:
We used to, then read some of the studies, did some math. You'd need truck loads of salt have it evenly distributed in each bale to make any difference. At the rates folks sprinkler it on its mostly to make the hay more palatable to the animals. Watch the old timers up there in the loft, slinging one 50 lb bag into 40 tons of hay.
Take that bag of salt and dump it in a trash can, then add water, it won't hold a gallon of water. 1% high in moisture in 1 ton of hay is 20 lbs of water, you bale hay 3 or 4 points high thats a fire risk and you're up to 60-80 lbs of extra water in each ton of hay.
Next experiment, pour a 50 lb bag of salt into a pile on the floor in a dry hay loft. Come back in a year and its still in the same spot. Why people think flinging a few scoops is going to magically propagate through the pile I don't know.
If it helps you sleep, go for it, if you really want to put up quality hay that won't heat and lose nutrition or catch fire, get a moisture meter and a probe type thermometer.
From probing bales that were baled too wet over the years, it takes a pretty wet bale to heat enough to get really dusty, and that bale has to be in a stack just so to heat enough and catch fire. We bale very light 40-50 lb bales for horse owners and it is wet, wet wet here. There is a lot of bad hay put up due to dusting (mould).
When we get a 50-60 lb bale it is immediately kicked off the side of the conveyor at the bottom or if it gets up it comes back down. They are stacked spaced out an extra section of conveyor so all sides can breath. The first day they stay at the temp they were baled at, day 2 they will climb 2-3 C above the baling temp and hold for a couple of days then fall to 20 C (68 F I think) by a week after baling. There won't be any visible problems with the bale but we don't sell them, use them on the farm.
When we get a 60-70 lb bale it goes back on a wagon spaced out and gets backed in an old shed. If you watch the temps, it will stay at the baling temp for a day, then it will go up 5 C above that and come back down. If it is packed in a load, it will climb 10-15 C above baling temp. So baled at 90 F, it will hit 105-110 F or so and stay that high for a few days. If you open this bale it will be dusty as all get out.
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