By Dr. John E. Baylor
Director of Market Development
Beachley-Hardy Seed Company
Measuring Moisture in Forage
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Quarryville, Pa.
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Lancaster, Pa.
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Maugansville. Md.
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knowing the moisture content of
your forage to minimize losses and
at the same time assure safe
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GRUMEELI
storage. Hay harvested and stored
at too high a moisture content will
result in spoilage and possible
spontaneous combustion. And, an
accurate measure of moisture is
essential for the proper use of
chemical hay preservatives.
Harvesting and handling hay when
it is too dry results in excessive
leaf loss and reduced feeding value
in addition to the dry matter loss.
And, of course, harvesting
forage for silage at too high or too
low a moisture content results in
improper fermentation which
reduces feeding value.
Today, moisture testing devices
are becoming a much more
common tool used by forage
producers. Moisture testers on the
market are of two general types;
those utilizing heat, and those
utilizing electricity. Each has
advantages and disadvantages.
Forced heated-air drying units
such as the Koster Crop Tester are
Mechanical front
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CJ. WONSIOLER BROS.
Quakertown, Pa.
215-536-7523
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215-987-6257
CUV
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Models and
accurate and easy to use. Wet
forage or feeds are weighed, dried,
and reweighed, and the moisture
content either read directly from
the scale or calculated. Disad
vantages the time to complete
the test and the need for a power
source to run the unit.
Electronic moisture testers, on
the other hand, are fast. They can
be taken directly to the field or
feeding area and they’re easy to
handle. But they’re generally
expensive and are not as accurate
as the forced heated-air units.
Some units are totally un
satisfactory. Units that maintain
uniform pressure or compaction on
the forage are desirable. And units
with probes require careful
management and use compared to
units with a chamber and pressure
device.
Using Your Microwave Oven
You can also use your
microwave oven to determine the
moisture content in forages. And,
authorities agree, it provides an
accuracy close to that obtained by
accepted research methods.
Researchers in several states and
in Canada have developed
procedures for using your
microwave oven to determine
moisture. I’ve chosen to report a
procedure outlined by a group of
researchers in Animal Science and
Agronomy at Purdue University.
All that is needed, these workers
say, is a small scale, paper plate
and a microwave oven. The ac
curacy of the results is dependent
upon the quality of scales used. A
$25 diet scale, measuring in grams,
will give reasonably good results,
but an $BO to $lOO balance scale
weighing to 1/10 of a gram is
preferred.
The moisture determination
procedure as reported by the
Purdue workers is as follows:
1. Place a preweighed large
paper plate (9 inch minimum) on
the scale and weigh out exactly 100
grams of the forage prepared as
outlined in the following section. A
smaller sample can be used but the
100 grams makes for easier
calculations.
2. Spread the forage evenly on
the paper plate.
3. Place an 8-ounce water glass,
three-quarters full of water, in the
back corner of the microwave
oven; keep water level constant
during oven use. This will protect
the oven magnetron when sample
moisture is low. The setting of
adjustable microwave ovens
should be 80 to 90 percent of
maximum power.
trices available on request,
Lancaster Farming Saturday, July 12,1986-Dll
4. Samples of wet legumes
and/or grasses in the 50 to 70
percent moisture range should be
dried initially for eight minutes.
Then weigh and record sample
weight. Replace in the oven for
another minute, remove and
weigh. If the weight has not
changed more than one gram, use
this value. If the change is greater
than one gram, continue drying
additional one-minute segments
until the weight changes less than
one gram. For greater accuracy,
continue drying until the weight
change is less than 0.5 gram per
minute.
For forage with a moisture
content of 25 to 30 percent, an
initial drying time of four minutes
should be used. Then weigh the
samples following the same
procedure as for the wet forage
above using one minute drying
intervals until the weight change is
less than one gram. If greater
accuracy is desired, for example in
ration formulation, continue the
one-minute drying intervals until
the weight change is less than 0.5
gram.
5. Be careful not to char or burn
the sample. If this occurs, it means
the oven was set too high, the
drying time was too long, or the a 4
glass of water in rear of
microwave oven was omitted.
Discard the charred sample and
repeat the test.
6. Use the following equation to
calculate the moisture content.
Keep in mind, since the wet weight
and dry weight include the weight
of the paper plate (unless scale can
be tared to 0 with paper plate on
scale), the weight of the paper
plate must be subtracted from the
wet and dry weight before making
the following calculations.
% moisture
wet weight-dry weight
wet weight
If you have a scale which per
mits you to tare the paper plate
(adjust the scale to 0 with the
paper plate on the scale), the
percent moisture can be calcualted
simply by subtracting the final
sample (dry) weight in grams
from 100 grams (the original wet
weight). The final dry weight is the
dry matter content of the sample.
But, remember the results are
no better than the sample. So be
sure to use a good sampling
technique to assure a represen
tative sample if you expect to
obtain an accurate moisture
reading.
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For further details, write
171 Quarry Rd„ Leola, PA 17540
Dealership inquiries welcome,
x 100
717/656-2120