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Wet Hay

Program Contact: Kathryn Hoogheem, Agriculture Extension Coordinator
(509) 684-2588 • kathryn.hoogheem@wsu.edu

Dealing with Wet Hay

It seems like we’re always dealing with either drought or too much moisture to put our hay up.

Wet hay, either because of initial moisture or because of moisture from rain can have serious issues ranging from loss of nutrition value to forage toxicity and risk of stack fire.  To minimize these risks, it’s important for those growing hay and those feeding hay to understand that actually happens inside a wet hay bale.  The information below provides a good background on all these issues.

Reference material

Beware of feeding caramelized hay by Peter Vitti published by Grainews in the Cattleman’s Corner. November 19, 2013

Hay Storage by Dr. Rocky Lemus with Mississipy State University Extension Service. Copyright 2009

Preventing Fires in Baled Hay and Straw from eXtension.org. 2012.

Hay Additive Review “Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going” from the Twenty Fourth National Alfalfa Symposium, February 24-25, 1994

Sources: AG- Hay Storage Fires by Hazardous Occupations Safety Training in Agriculture. Copyright 2013

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