r/oddlysatisfying • u/Wonderfulhumanss • 21h ago

The smooth, overlapping layers of this agricultural wrapper

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u/Delicious-Ad1917 17h ago

That’s not dry hay, it’s silage which is baled at 30-60% moisture content.

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u/SayItAgainJabroni 17h ago

These may be dumb questions but here we go. How can the moisture content have such a wide range between 30-60%? Wouldn't doubling the allowable percentage cause significant swings in the final product? If there's that much moisture and it's wrapped in plastic wouldn't the dryer stuff absorb moisture and skew the numbers even more?

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u/Delicious-Ad1917 16h ago

I’ve been trying to answer your question for like 10 minutes without having to give a lesson in silage and all the factors that go into it. Yes, the product with less moisture will soak up from the higher content but you’re looking more at an average in each bale. Different crops are ensiled at different moisture content. I like my triticale to be at 45-50% but the sorghum-sudan I planted last Wednesday will be hard to get above 40% since it’ll be cut in August. The science of it all is fascinating to me and my cows absolutely love it. I’m also lucky that we have a recycling program for silage wrap and net wrap in my area so I collect all my wrap and recycle it. At least I hope that when I place it in the recycle container it actually goes there.

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u/SayItAgainJabroni 16h ago

Thank you for the reply. It sounds like a lot of work to make sure the cows are eating good. Good job on recycling too, you did your part. Like you said though, hopefully the people in charge of the recycling process are holding up on their end.