Young Blonde Girl In The Hay With The Orange Scarf

Conditioning hay has become popular. The basic idea is that it decreases drydown time. Usually, a salt solution is sprayed over the top the hay (generally alfalfa) that helps to dry the hay. Conditioning can also refer to the rollers inside a swather that crimps the alfalfa to help squeeze out the moisture.
Safety issues
Hay baled before it is fully dry can produce enough heat to catch on fire. Farmers have to be careful about moisture levels to avoid spontaneous combustion, which is a leading cause haystack fires. Heat is produced by the respiration process, which occurs until the moisture content drying hay drops below 40%. Hay is considered fully dry when it reaches 20% moisture. Combustion problems typically occur within five days to seven days baling. A bale cooler than 120 °F (49 °C) is in little danger, bales between 120 and 140 °F (49 and 60 °C) need to be removed from a barn or structure and separated so that they can cool f. If the temperature a bale exceeds more than 140 °F (60 °C), it can combust.