Looking for bright ideas for homemade hay sampler. I looked on the general interwebs and wasn't able to find much. One guy said he just took some conduit and sharpened the end at an angle so that is what I was gonna try. Pound it into the bale then push out the sample with a stick. I'm guessing there's got to be lots of homemade ones out there. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Homemade core sampler
- Thread starter fasttommy
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M-5
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Get you a metal golf club , cut it about 24" at a 45deg angle. Sharpen the point. I use an old carbon fiber arrow as my plunger. Cut the end off the rubber handle so hay can be pushed into your container. Wear gloves and just push it in the bale. I use a clean bucket to put cuttings in before I transfer to baggies.
TexasBred
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Just be sure and get a good representative sample. Probe several bales, not just one, mix up the sample and send or deliver to lab.
kjonesel
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I have thought about taking a hole saw and cutting the top out of it welding it to a piece of Intermediate conduit about 3' long then insert a plunger approximately 2" long, next weld the top of the hole saw back on. To drill thread in the arbor and drill, the 3' would get to the center of a 6' round bale, after you drill remove the arbor then push the plunger with a rod to eject the sample. I believe it would take a decent fabricator to do it but it would be worth it.
TexasBred
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No need for drilling. Something with a sharpened point can simply be shoved that deep into a bale and removed. Anything similar to this will work.kjonesel":14ftqsbe said:
http://www.udyone.com/hayprobeinfo.htm
muleskinner
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TexasBred
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Those are made to be drilled into a bale rather than simply shoved into the bale. Much slower. But they do work :nod:muleskinner":2klyts71 said:
M-5
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Exactly I built a drilled one that worked and cut a perfect plug. It took longer and the friction heat worried me . when I made at golf club one it was so simple and worked perfect IMOTexasBred":ocjj94ll said:
pdfangus
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our county extension agents have one that can be borrowed...drill type...
muleskinner
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TB an M-5 I know that it is to be drilled in. But that is what the Boss wants us to use. I have taken lots of samples with one from Frontier mills and run analysis on them.
TexasBred
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Then I would definitely do what the boss said and use what he gave me to use. BUT, I can take one of those taht you simply shove into a bale and probe a dozen bales while you're drilling one. Just that simple. Just glad you're testing. ;-)muleskinner":2f0ndbc2 said:
I ended up making one out of 1/2 inch conduit. Cost about $2. I sharpened it with a grinder and file as best I could. Works pretty good. I could only push it about 6" into my round bales but they are real tight and obviously the probe isn't super sharp. However I was able to push it pretty easily about 2' into the square bales I have. Anyway I got the samples I wanted so I'm looking forward to getting them back.
TexasBred
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Good job. That's all you need. ;-)fasttommy":39m7g29s said:
Edit: On the round bales after I pushed the probe in 6" by hand, I pounded it in to a 2' depth with a hammer. Wanted to clarify that cause I didn't want anyone to think I'm foolish and just sampled the outside 6".
Fire Sweep Ranch
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pdfangus":7xnmln2y said:
Same here, and they send off the sample too!
TexasBred
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But you still have to go to town to get it. A simply probe, even home made it more than adequate. a good lab like Dairy One will furnish prepaid mailing envelopes, and paperwork for the sample with a great turnaround time. Probably the best lab in the country.
