Hay moisture tester

[Florida cattle]

Anyone using a hay moisture meter on their baler, I'm thinking of purchasing one instead of a new hand held probe. The one that sets up on the baler with the readout for the cab is only about $50 dollars more than the hand held. I'm just wondering if there might be any cons over the mounted meter vs the hand held?

 

[SSS Angus]

I'm curious as well. I am in the market for either a hand held probe or one that mounts in the bale chamber, personally I would think that a hand held probe would be more accurate. What meters have you been looking at?

I have just about decided on a hand held model due to the fact that I can't really see a need for constant monitoring. I would just occasionally probe a bale. Maybe 1 out of every 15 bales.?.? I would like to hear any input from anyone else though.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I'm making the switch from a hand held probe to a chamber mount unit this year. I haven't used an in-chamber monitor, but from the guys I talk to, they are every bit as accurate as a hand held probe. I'm going to be custom baling this year, and as the end of the day approaches, I don't want to be probing every few bales to see if they're getting tough. In my area, the hay will go from dry to tough in a matter of an hour.

Rod

 

[RiverSide Cattle]

From what I have learned, the in bale chamber monitor is more useful because it will give you a trend as in the average of a lot of bales. Whereas, checking one bale here and there will only give a keyhole view of what your hay moisture is. Also it is easier to check on the go then it is to get off the tractor and check a bale. I have experienced that the readings are different though so 18% moisture reading in chamber won't read 18% moisture in the bale eventhough they are the same moisture level. For me who does custom bale, the in baler monitor was well worth the added cost. For not much more you could get both the probe for inbale and the in baler monitor both and be able to do it all. Afterall its just money. ;-)

-rsc

 

[ALX.]

What Diamond said, especially if you are using preservative.

I'll bet that if they did a test that chamber ones would generally be more accurate, especially in field conditions.