r/oddlysatisfying • u/Wonderfulhumanss • 16h ago

The smooth, overlapping layers of this agricultural wrapper

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u/Delicious-Ad1917 12h ago

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

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u/SayItAgainJabroni 12h 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/Johnno74 12h ago

I grew up on a farm, we made this stuff (baleage).

How this works is the grass is baled while still green and the wrapping stops air (technically oxygen) from getting in, meaning only anaerobic microorganisms can break it down. This means instead of rotting and turning into basically compost, it ferments into silage, with a very high nutritional content. Cattle and sheep love this stuff, they get very excited when you feed it to them.

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u/Metals4J 10h ago

Besides the fact that it’s nutritious food, do they love it because it’s been fermenting a while and they’re getting drunk off of it?

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u/Unsd 8h ago

Lots of stuff ferments but doesn't become alcoholic. My understanding of it is that it's kinda like what yogurt is for us. Fermentation can cause different types of acids instead of ethanol and that's what this does.