Hay Bales Research Articles

Influence of feed type and its effect on repressing wool-biting behavior in housed sheep.

Sheep sometimes develop an abnormal behavior termed as wool-biting when kept in an indoor system; however, little is known about this behavior. As the provided feed type may affect the foraging behavior and repress abnormal behavior in animals, we tested the effect of feed type on repressing wool-biting behavior in this study. We used hay prepared in three forms, that is hay bales, rolls and cubes. The wool-biting frequency associated with hay bales was significantly higher than that associated with rolls (P < 0.05) and cubes (P < 0.05); however, there was no significant difference between rolls and cubes. For hay rolls, wool-biting significantly decreased after feeding (P < 0.05), suggesting that rolls may provide sheep with appropriate oral stimulation; thus, decreasing the post-feeding oral abnormal behavior. An individual difference of wool-biting behavior between sheep was also detected, and an unexpected bed-eating behavior was found in the hay cube treatment. We suggest that sheep performing movements that are similar to their natural foraging behavior while grazing would repress wool-biting behavior, which happened in hay roll and hay cube treatments. Considering sanitation and animal welfare, providing sheep with hay rolls may provide an easier method to control wool-biting behavior in housed sheep.

Nutritional value of baled rice straw for ruminant feed

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of cultivation and hay making factors on chemical composition, protein fractionation, and digestibility in rice straw, as well as to identify the chemical fractions that contribute to the variation in its nutritional value for ruminants. Statistical procedures were performed in a model that included rice crop cycle, sowing season, baling season, soil classification, fertilizer application, and productivity (kg/ha) as fixed effects and the hay bale as random effect. Chemical composition, protein fractionation, and digestibility data were subjected to multivariate analyses including factor, cluster, and discriminant. Considering the cultivation and haymaking factors, development cycle, baling season, and grain production explained the most variation in the rice straw nutritional value. Straws derived from early maturing cultivars showed the lowest levels of neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, acid detergent insoluble nitrogen, and C nitrogen fraction in comparison with straw originating from mid cycle cultivars. Rice straw from more productive cultivars had lower levels of lignin and C fraction as well as higher levels of crude protein and B3 fraction compared with straws from less productive cultivars. However, the main variation in the nutritional value between the samples of rice straw was related to the baling season. The bailing seasons were grouped in two clusters. Straws with better nutritional value were those with lower levels of cell wall fractions, from more productive crops, with early development cycle and baled until March. Rice crop cycle, baling season, and grain production effects explain the variation in the nutritional value of rice straws. Straws with better nutritional value have lower levels of fractions related to secondary cell wall and lignification.

Effect of Soaking on Nitrate Concentrations in Teff Hay

Soaking can affect respirable dust particles and the concentrations of some nutrients in alfalfa and cool season grass hays. However, the effect of soaking on nitrates in hay has not been reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of soaking on teff hay, a warm season annual grass, that contained high concentrations of nitrate (>2.0%). Six bales of teff hay were used for the study. Six 0.5 kg samples were taken from each bale and assigned to one of six soaking treatments: no soaking (control), cold water immersion for 10 seconds, warm water immersion for 10 seconds, cold water soaking for 1 hour, warm water soaking for 1 hour, and cold water soaking for 8 hours. After soaking, hay was dried, ground, and submitted to a commercial laboratory for analysis. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance as a block design. When the main effect of treatment was significant (P < .05), means were separated by Tukey's honest significant difference test. Soaking for 1 or 8 hours decreased water-soluble carbohydrate (P < .0001). Phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and zinc concentrations were reduced by soaking for 1 hour or longer (P, K, Na: P < .0001; Zn: P = .003). Nitrate concentrations were reduced (P < 0.05) to safe levels for horses (≤0.5%) by soaking hay for 1 hour or longer but soaking also reduced the concentrations of some nutrients in the hay. Minimal differences were observed between cold and warm soaking temperatures.

Assessing the Spatial Variability of Alfalfa Yield Using Satellite Imagery and Ground-Based Data

Understanding the temporal and spatial variability in a crop yield is viewed as one of the key steps in the implementation of precision agriculture practices. Therefore, a study on a center pivot irrigated 23.5 ha field in Saudi Arabia was conducted to assess the variability in alfalfa yield using Landsat-8 imagery and a hay yield monitor data. In addition, the study was designed to also explore the potential of predicting the alfalfa yield using vegetation indices. A calibrated yield monitor mounted on a large rectangular hay baler was used to measure the actual alfalfa yield for four alfalfa harvests performed in the period from October 2013 to May 2014. A total of 18 Landsat-8 images, representing different crop growth stages, were used to derive different vegetation indices (VIs). Data from the yield monitor was used to generate yield maps, which illustrated a definite spatial variation in alfalfa yield across the experimental field for the four studied harvests as indicated by the high spatial correlation values (0.75 to 0.97) and the low P-values (4.7E-103 to 8.9E-27). The yield monitor-measured alfalfa actual yield was compared to the predicted yield form the Vis. Results of the study showed that there was a correlation between actual and predicted yield. The highest correlations were observed between actual yield and the predicted using NIR reflectance, SAVI and NDVI with maximum correlation coefficients of 0.69, 0.68 and 0.63, respectively.

Soil Contamination of Grass Biomass Hay: Measurements and Implications

A large area of unutilized or underutilized marginal land in the northeastern USA, some of which currently produce a mature hay crop for use as mulch, is potentially suitable for bioenergy crop production. Mature-mixed grass hay bales (n = 1980) were sampled across New York in late summer and fall of 2011 and 2012 from 65 farms. Chemical analysis of 19 parameters, including gross calorific value, fiber, and elemental analyses, was conducted on the samples. In addition, 156 soil samples, representing 67 soil types, were analyzed for 12 to 14 parameters, using two different extraction procedures. Results indicate that hay composition is extremely variable among bales, and that much of the variation is due to soil contamination. Soil contamination reduced energy content of hay, a reduction best estimated from ash content of the hay. Standard plant analyses of contaminated hay samples determine total elemental content, but the same analyses only partially extract soil elements. A subset of samples showed that fiber analysis of soil-contaminated hay is problematic, with results impacted greatly by soil type and gravimetric filtration method. Aluminum, because of its low plant uptake potential, its high concentration in most soils, and its relatively moderate range in concentration across soil types compared to other soil elemental predictors, is the best indicator of soil contamination of biomass when the soil type is unknown. Evaluation of herbaceous plants for bioenergy parameters should include ash and Al analysis to assess soil contamination, which could significantly bias other compositional analyses.

Environmental Parameters Associated With Stable Fly (Diptera: Muscidae) Development at Hay Feeding Sites

Substrates composed of hay residues, dung, and urine accumulate around winter hay feeding sites in cattle pastures, providing developmental habitats for stable flies. The objective of this study was to relate physiochemical and microbial properties of these substrates to the presence or absence of stable fly larvae. Properties included pH, temperature, moisture, ammonium concentration, electrical conductivity, and numbers of coliform, fecal coliform, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus bacteria. Each physiochemical sample was classified as a function of belonging to one of the three 2-m concentric zones radiating from the feeder as well as presence or absence of larvae. In total, 538 samples were collected from 13 sites during 2005-2011. Stable fly larvae were most likely to be found in moist, slightly alkaline substrates with high levels of ammonium and low temperature. The probability of larvae being present in a sample was the highest when the moisture content was 347% relative to dry weight and the average pH was 8.4. Larvae were recovered within all zones, with a nonsignificant, but slightly higher, percentage of samples containing larvae taken 2-4 m from the center. All methods used to enumerate bacteria, except total coliform, indicated decreasing concentrations in hay bale residue throughout the summer. In addition to the environmental parameters, cumulative degree day 10°C had a significant effect on the probability of observing stable fly larvae in a sample, indicating that unidentified seasonal effects also influenced immature stable fly populations.

Protesting the Privilege of Perception: Resistance to Documentary Work in Hale County, Alabama, 1900–2010

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [A]ny engagement with visuality in present or past requires establishing its counterhistory.--Nicholas Mirzoeff most intense point of a life, point where life's energy concentrates itself, is where it comes up against power, struggles with it, attempts to use its forces, or evade its traps. --Michel Foucault Since ethnographic other can read, she now presumes to criticise her characterisation and to clamour for right to represent herself. Pity poor ethnographer.--Stephen Tyler (1) PRIDE AND RESENTMENT TWINE Hale County, Alabama. For many, words conjure images of Allie Mae Burroughs's face. (2) Appearing older than her twenty-seven years, she stands before an unpainted clapboard house staring straight into Walker Evans's lens, her lips pursed and brow furrowed. Others may see a kudzu-covered country store embalmed by William Christenberry's lush Kodachrome film. Some might hear in their heads James Agee's often quoted archaeological list of materials he wanted to present to readers instead of words in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: If I could do it, I'd do no writing at all here. It would be photographs; rest would be fragments of cloth, bits of cotton, lumps of earth, records of speech... For others, Hale County summons images of Rural Studio, an innovative architectural project Samuel Mockbee started there in early 1990s. The photographs by Rural Studio's photographer, Timothy Hursley, vividly depict striking designs of houses, chapels, and community centers made of salvaged tires, hay bales, license plates, and innumerable reusable materials. A writer who visited Hale County in 2005 for a story on Rural Studio described its landscape as if it was a gallery displaying work of these documentary artists: Drive through Hale County today, and Agee and Evans' world will come to life. Broken-down pickup trucks and dusty storefronts are evidence of residents' hardscrabble lives, eking out a living on catfish ponds and in cotton fields, in endless battles against kudzu. Look out car window at a freshly plowed acreage, and you'll see Christenberry's Rothko-like bands of brown, green and yellow glistening in afternoon sun. (3) Photography curator and critic Thomas Southall argues that, for these artists, Hale County--or, more accurately, small part of it encompassing some farming families and roadside buildings in a few small towns--has functioned as a place of creative inspiration akin to William Faulkner's fictional cosmos of Yoknapatawpha County. As much as Hale County served as their these documentarians also created this cosmos, granting county, in words of historian Alan Trachtenberg, the status of place in American art and imagination. Hale County has indeed become indelibly linked with work of these three artists and writers, but they were not first--or last--to document area. Here, for more than a century, travel writers, folklorists, journalists, photographers, and filmmakers attempted to reveal realities of life in rural Alabama, and, by extension, South, through documentary forms of expression. Their portrayal of county and its people, however, contributed to a broader twentieth-century romance of rural South that transformed faces, landscapes, and architecture of poor into art that resonated with educated, middle-class audiences eager to see and experience islands of vernacular beauty and authenticity in a sea of standardization. As their work circulated in books, magazines, films, and galleries, Hale County became a place defined by documentarians rather than local residents. (4) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A very different image of Hale County comes into focus, however, if we look at history of documentary work there from perspective of those who have been photographed, filmed, and described. …

A Solution for Buridan’s Ass

Buridan’s Ass faced a choice between two identical bales of hay; governed only by reason, the donkey starved, unable to choose. It seems clear that we face many such cases, and resolve them successfully. Our success seems to tell against any view on which action and intention require evaluative preference. I argue that these views can account for intention and intentional action in cases like that of Buridan’s Ass. A decision to act nonintentionally allows us to resolve these cases without their being a damaging theoretical counterexample.

The Effect of Steaming and Soaking on the Respirable Particle, Bacteria, Mould, and Nutrient Content in Hay for Horses

Forage is crucial for stabled horses, promoting gut health, supplying valuable nutrients, and maintaining normal feeding behaviors. Forage can contain high levels of respirable dust predisposing horses to respiratory disorders. This study examined the effect of different treatments on the airborne respirable particles (ARPs), microbial and nutrient content of hay for horses in three experiments. Experiment 1a eight bales of meadow hay were subjected to five treatments n = 40: dry (D), 10-minute soak in water (W), steamed in a wheelie bin (TWB), steamed in a Haygain (HG) 600, and steamed with a kettle of boiling water (K) on ARP content. Experiment 1b microbial contamination was measured in five bales of meadow hay after treatments D, TWB, and HG in cold conditions (0–7°C) (n = 15). Experiment 2 measured the nutrient content of 30 different hays after D and HG treatments, n = 60. Data in experiments 1a and 1b were analyzed using analysis of variance and least significant difference test: hay and treatment as factors. Experiment 2 was analyzed using paired t-test with significance levels accepted P < .05. Results showed steaming in the HG reduced ARP and microbial contamination by 99%. TWB or K reduced ARP in hay by 88%. W, TWB, or K did not reduce microbial contamination. HG treatment preserved mineral and protein contents but reduced water-soluble carbohydrate by 18.3%. Steaming using an HG steamer is a feasible long-term strategy for reducing ARP and microbial contamination, while conserving mineral and protein content in hay and is thus suitable for providing hygienically clean forage to stabled horses.

Comparison of repeated measurements of methane production in sheep over 5 years and a range of measurement protocols.

Emissions of 710 ewes at pasture were measured for 1 h (between 09:00-16:30 h) in batches of 15 sheep in portable accumulation chambers (PAC) after an overnight fast continuing until 2 h before measurement, when the sheep had access to baled hay for 1 h. The test was used to identify a group of 104 low emitters (I-Low) and a group of 103 high emitters (I-Hi) for methane emissions adjusted for liveweight (CHawt). The 207 ewes selected at the initial study were remeasured in 5 repeat tests from 2009 through 2014 at another location. The first repeat used the original measurement protocol. Two modified protocols, each used in 2 yr, drafted unfasted sheep on the morning of the test into a yard or holding paddock until measurement. Emissions of the I-Hi sheep were higher (102-112%) than I-Low sheep in all subsequent PAC tests, with statistical significance ( < 0.05) in 3 tests. Tests without overnight fasting were simpler to conduct and had repeatabilities of 51 to 60% compared with 31 and 43% for the initial and first repeat tests, respectively. After habituation to a diet fed at 20 g/kg liveweight, 160 of the 207 sheep were measured in respiration chambers (RC); 10 high (Hi-10) and 10 low (Low-10) sheep were chosen, representing extremes (top and bottom 6.25%) for methane yield (MY; g CH/kg DMI). The Hi-10 group emitted 14% more methane (adjusted for feed intake) in a follow-up RC test, but Low-10 and Hi-10 sheep differed in only 1 of the 5 PAC tests, when Hi-10 sheep emitted less CHawt than Low-10 sheep ( = 0.002) and tended to eat less in the feeding opportunity ( = 0.085). Compared with their weight on good pasture, Low-10 sheep were proportionately lighter than Hi-10 sheep in the relatively poor pasture conditions of the initial test. Sheep identified as low emitters by PAC tests using the initial protocol did not produce less CH (mg/min) when fed a fixed level of intake in RC. Correlations between estimates of an animal's CHawt measured in PAC and CH adjusted for feed intake in RC were quite low ( = 0-19%) and significant ( < 0.05) in only 1 test of unfasted sheep. With moderate repeatability over the 5 yr, PAC tests of CHawt could be a viable way to select for reduced emissions of grazing sheep. As well as exploiting any variation in MY, selecting for reduced CHawt in PAC could result in lower feed intake than expected for the animals' liveweight and might affect the diurnal feeding pattern. Further work is required on these issues.

Coprocessing of Agricultural Plastic Waste and Switchgrass via Tail Gas Reactive Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis of mixtures of agricultural plastic waste in the form of polyethylene hay bale covers (PE) (4–37%) and switchgrass were investigated using the US Department of Agriculture’s tail gas reactive pyrolysis (TGRP) process at different temperatures (400–570 °C). TGRP of switchgrass and plastic mixtures significantly reduced the formation of waxy solids that are produced during regular pyrolysis. Under an atmosphere of approximately 70% recycled tail gas, mostly noncondensable gases were produced along with highly deoxygenated and aromaticized pyrolysis oil. When the atmosphere was diluted further to a recycled tail gas concentration of about 55%, higher yields of liquid product were achieved but with less deoxygenation. TGRP of low plastic mixtures (4–8%) produced oils with increased carbon and reduced oxygen content compared to the fast pyrolysis of switchgrass alone. Noncondensable gas fractions containing high concentrations of H2, CO, ethylene, and other light hydrocarbons remained a significant p...

Detecting the Seeds of Nassella neesiana in Large Round Hay Bales, by Means of Non-Destructive Core Sampling

In the last three decades or so there has been a significant increase in fodder trading, both in terms of the quantity of fodder traded and in terms of its economic value to the industry. Often, this fodder type may be supplied free of charge to graziers in distress due to circumstances that follow natural disasters such as bushfires, drought, and flood. However, because of the obvious urgency arising from these situations, it is suspected that much relief fodder may unintentionally pose an elevated risk for dispersal of weeds since it may be supplied from pasture not normally used for trade in fodder, and therefore is of unknown quality. Previous destructive method to detect weed propagules in bales of fodder are cumbersome, time consuming and of limited ecological and statistical value. Therefore, objective of this paper was to development of a convenient method to assess round pasture hay bales for the presence of weed propagules, to prevent unintentional spread of noxious species in hay bales. To examine this objective known quantity of seeds were added in a series of distributions to bales of seed free pasture hay, and a positive correlation for the amount of seed added per bale with that recovered in core samples was observed. Whilst the number of seeds detected per bale varied according to the distribution of seeds within the bales and the number of cores analysed, the absolute detection of seeds suggests that this sampling method is worthy of further examination. In addition, a pragmatic estimation of bale remnants after stock feeding has been investigated to more closely estimate the potential size of the remaining seed bank. The authors propose that development of this approach is timely, in the light of future climatic uncertainty driving extreme weather events that increase the need for relief fodder, which can be a potential vector for the spread of noxious weed seeds.

Applying corn condensed distillers solubles to hay windrows before baling: Effects on bale temperature, nutrient composition, and growing steer-calf performance

ABSTRACT Three experiments were conducted to evaluate an alternative method of storing and feeding liquid ethanol coproducts while improving hay bale nutrient quality. In Exp. 1 and 2, corn condensed distillers solubles (CCDS) were applied to native grass windrows producing large, round bales. Inclusion levels (percentage of bale weight, DM) equaled 0 or 20% (Exp. 1) and 0, 16, or 32% (Exp. 2). Level did not affect internal temperature or DM, and 20% CCDS bales had increased (P

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The leucaena is a leguminous that has high protein content and digestibility, can be supplied fresh or made into hay. The objective was to verify the influence of dehydration time of leaves and fine stems of leucaena and storage time on their chemical-bromatological characteristics. Cutting the fractions to be haymaking (leaves and stems smaller than one centimeter) was deposited on a plastic canvas for dehydration, being collected samples of the material at 0, 4 th , 8 th , 24 th and 48 th hours of dehydration to determine the levels of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total carbohydrates (TC), not fibrous carbohydrates (NFC), ether extract (EE) and mineral matter (MM). The bales of hay were made using a manual baler and were kept stored in environment shaded, ventilated and protected of rain for 90 days. In that bales also were collected samples monthly to determine if occurred losses in nutritional quality. The dehydration time for 24 hours and storage for 30 days in water and allowed to dry to obtain the best chemical-bromatological composition of leucaena hay. The levels of CP, NDF, EE and MM decrease as function of drying time and storage both during the rainy as in the dry season, while the DM, TC and NFC increased due to these variables for both periods.

Use of dynamic and rewarding environmental enrichment to alleviate feather pecking in non-cage laying hens

Feather pecking (FP) can cause feather loss, resulting in physical injuries, which may lead to cannibalism. FP appears to be a redirection of foraging behavior, which intensifies when hens have difficulty coping with stress and fear. Dynamic environmental enrichment (EE) may allow expression of natural foraging behavior thus reducing conspecific pecking behavior and alleviating hen injury. Three treatments (plastic box: BOX; hay bale: HAY; and no enrichment: CON) were randomly applied to 30 identical floor pens (10 hens/pen; 10 pens/trt). At the pen level, hen behavior, and the number of severe FP (SFP), gentle FP (GFP), aggressive pecks (AP), and enrichment pecks (EP) were recorded from video prior to (21wk) and after (24wk) treatment implementation, and when hens were 27, 32, and 37wk of age. A manual restraint test (MR) was performed immediately after behavioral observations and levels of blood serotonin (5-HT) and glucocorticoids (GC) measured. Short-term (ST) and long-term (LT) analyses identified the impact of EE over the ST (21 vs. 24wk of age) and LT (21 vs. all other ages) at the pen level. At the pen level, HAY (3.18±0.33) tended to reduce GFP compared to CON (4.10±0.34) over the ST (P=0.15) and LT (P=0.09), but did not impact the number of SFP, or AP over the ST or LT. More EP was observed in HAY (3.56±0.14) than BOX (1.61±0.18) throughout the study (P<0.0001). More HAY hens perched (P=0.05) at 24wk (0.28±0.12) compared to 21wk (0.19±0.11), and more HAY hens (3.69±0.25) performed dust bathing compared to CON (4.14±0.22, P=0.05) throughout the study. CON performed more struggles (1.13±0.04, P=0.04) and were quicker to vocalize (4.87±0.07s, P=0.05) during MR than HAY (latency to vocalize(s): 5.16±0.05; number of struggles: 0.96±0.05), counter-intuitively suggesting CON were less fearful. Treatment did not affect 5-HT or GC. HAY appears to be a promising EE for mitigating GFP in non-cage laying hens. Future studies should examine the impact of EE on individual, rather than group-level responses. These results suggest that the presence of a hay bale is stimulating and may reduce GFP while encouraging hens to redirect pecking towards a dynamic and manipulable EE.

Agricultural injuries to the hand and upper extremity.

Agricultural injuries involving the hand and upper extremity are common, debilitating injuries that reflect the significant occupational hazards associated with the agricultural industry. Farm injuries occur in all age groups and are associated with significant resource utilization and treatment costs. Most of these injuries are associated with machinery, including tractors, power take-off devices, grain augers, hay balers, and combine harvesters. Each piece of machinery produces specific injury patterns and a spectrum of bone and soft-tissue injuries that are frequently characterized by the loss of a digit or limb, permanent disability, loss of function, and serious complications such as infection. Management of agricultural injuries includes expedient administration of antibiotic and tetanus prophylaxis, aggressive irrigation, serial débridement, consideration of delayed wound closure, and reconstruction or replantation of amputated digits and limbs, if feasible.

Sustainable design and life cycle assessment of an innovative multi-functional haymaking agricultural machinery

Abstract The reduction in the use of raw materials and the spread of energy efficient processes and components are necessary from both the economic and the environmental viewpoints. This paper presents the design of an innovative multi-functional agricultural machinery able to integrate three separate traditional implements used for hay raking, hay baling and bale wrapping, i.e. hay rake, round baler and bale wrapper machines, with the aim of speeding up the harvesting operations and reducing both the energy consumption and the global environmental impact. A comparative analysis about the adoption of the traditional implements and the new multi-functional machinery is reported. Particularly, the reduction in both the fuel consumption (−32%), the human labor (−66.7%) is discussed together with a differential environmental analysis of the proposed system and the traditional implements. To meet such a last purpose, the study adopts the life cycle assessment methodology carefully quantifying the impact indicators for three different categories, i.e. human health, ecosystem quality and resource depletion. The results highlight a global environmental impact reduction of about 35%. The proposed system represents an effective and competitive improvement to ease and speed the haymaking process and to reduce the environmental impact of such a key farmer activity.

Multiple quarantine treatment using bale compression and a three-day fumigation to control Hessian fly (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in exported hay.

A multiple quarantine treatment was developed to control Hessian fly puparia, Mayetiola destructor (Say), the stage of regulatory concern in exported hay. In a commercial test using 51.589 puparia, no insects survived to the adult stage after exposure to bale compression at 137 kg/cm2 and fumigation with 61 g/28.3 m3 hydrogen phosphide for 3d. The puparia were fumigated in infested wheat seedlings in cloth bags inside compressed timothy bales placed in different locations in three replicate freight containers in a heated building. Fumigant concentrations were 345-522 ppm on day 1; 580-824 ppm on day 2; and 680-861 ppm on day 3. Monitored temperatures were < 20 degrees C in all locations allowing the fumigation temperature to be established at > or = 20 degrees C. Copper detection plate corrosion values were severe inside the freight container doors, and moderate in the middle of bales in all locations, providing visual confirmation of exposure to hydrogen phosphide. Hydrogen phosphide residues in exposed hay bales were found in trace amounts, below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tolerance of 0.1 ppm for animal feeds. Timothy hay used in the commercial test is the representative species for all previously exported hay and straw species. The new multiple quarantine treatment is proposed for use with all previously tested bale sizes and wrapper styles for which 3-d fumigation data has been reported, and for bales and wrappers derived from those tested.

Numerical simulations and experimental measurements on the distribution of air and drying of round hay bales

The artificial drying of round bales offers the possibility to consistently produce quality hay by reducing field curing time and leaf shattering. Air distribution in the bale must be appropriate in order to achieve a uniform and efficient drying process. The air distribution and drying of four designs of round bale dryer were simulated using computational fluid dynamics. A round bale was modelled as a cylindrical porous media having a soft core. Bales were modelled both as being perfectly formed and as having a lower density close to their circular faces. Simulations showed that the simplest dryer design in which air enters the bale through one end, provides a deficient air distribution and inadequate drying, even when the bale is perfectly formed. Other designs studied showed, to varying degrees, an improved air distribution and drying uniformity. Simulations of a design in which an axial void is created in the bale centre, produced an optimal situation where the air and the drying front moves radially from the centre outwards. Conveying of air through both bale ends also contributed significantly to flow and drying uniformity. However, simulations for bales with a deficient density profile, as often found in practice, showed important distortions in the air distribution negatively affected drying. Therefore the uniformity of bale dry matter density is a determinant for the successful operation of any dryer. Additional efforts must be invested in the field to produce more uniform bales, particularly during raking and baling.

Economic efficiency of two baling systems for sugarcane straw

In recent years, harvesting process of sugarcane is changing itself, passing through semi-mechanized for mechanized system, who, currently predominate in Sao Paulo state, Brazil. Mechanized harvesting consists in a sequence of operations which includes cutting the pointer and chopping the stalk. The straw is a harvesting residue, and it stays in the ground, piling up above soil, with a possible prejudice for crop yield. An economic way to retract this straw is using mechanized processing for bailing it, involving hay balers, which are imported to Brazil and their use require regularly field conditions of work. Those balers could produce square or round bales, which can be sold to energy generation. This study aims to estimate economic efficiency indicators of round and square systems for sugarcane straw, establishing a relationship between baling costs and the incoming generated from those bales. Based on data set, round baling system was 26% more efficient than square baling system, and that round baler has a lower purchase price and a higher compress ratio of biomass, allowing a greater potential for power generation, turning it a more advantageous in a possible marketing for bales produced.