Will the 2018 Hay season conditions be like 2007?
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Water & Irrigation News
- Aug 30, 2018
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By Mark Lourey - Feedworks
With the likelihood of a significant amount of failed cereal crops being baled in 2018 we have a lot to learn from 2007, data and technology since.
The key factors we learnt were:
* Moisture alone is a poor indicator of hay heating and fire risk
* Microbial action is the actual driver of dangerous hay heating
* Microbial action drives on more than just moisture, consider also plant WSC and time on the ground as increasing risk
* Intervention with appropriate preservatives (HayGuard) can assist in managing risk of microbial action, and the impacts of the microbes including spoilage and hay heating
* Rather than just moisture alone, in our higher risk situations, we should look at a moisture x WSC matrix to bale hay when to use HayGuard. That will be a far better indicator of risk and will give us guidance on how long we should be willing to leave hay on the ground before we increase (not decrease) risk.
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