Check the Temperature & Moisture of Your Hay Before Stacking

Each year, we hear about a barn that burns down because the hay inside caught on fire. It happens when the farmer wants to put the hay up before it has either cooled down or it is moist. When moist hay comes in contact with dry hay, spontaneous combustion can occur. We measure both the moisture and the check the temperature of each bale before we put it into the barn. While I don't know if there is any absolute way to know for sure you won't have the hay catch fire, for us, having hay under 90 degrees fahrenheit (32c), and as dry as possible makes us sleep better. We stage the hay in the barn with space around it and check each bale. Any bale that is warmer than 110 f (43c) gets put outside until it cools down. The goal for us is 12% moisture. Much drier than that, and the hay doesn't seem that good... any more moist and don't put it into the barn. It gets stored away from the barn outside.
In order to check the moisture, we use a Draminski Moisture meter. Here is a link to the one we like and use all the time.
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