Posted 9/9/2017 22:02 (#6238790) Subject: checking moisture of corn silage
northern IL
I opened up a corn field tonight and it was so wet that the chopper barely got it over the beaters. So I took a sample to the house to microwave . I started with a
9.15 oz sample 3 minutes on high
7.91 oz another 2 minutes
6.8 oz another 2 minutes
5.6oz Another 2 minutes
4.65oz Another 2minutes
3.8oz another 2 minutes
2.85 oz and it was smoking dry
So I divided 2.85 by 9.15 and I got 31% dry matter or 69% moisture . Did I do this right? because it seemed wetter than 69% . No dent and green all the way to the ground on the stalk.
Posted 9/10/2017 01:02 (#6238963 - in reply to #6238790) Subject: RE: checking moisture of corn silage
West Chazy, New York
Your procedure is correct. Sometimes if it is a real wet material there is some loss of water before you get the sample if it is wet enough to leak out of the chopper, but not usually enough to make a huge difference. The other easy mistake to make is to forget to subtract the weight of the plate from each sample.
Posted 9/10/2017 06:12 (#6239008 - in reply to #6238963) Subject: RE: checking moisture of corn silage
northern IL
I did subtract the plastic container on my second calculations. I did it the first time with container, and came up with 39% dry matter in wich I knew wasn't right.
Posted 9/10/2017 09:18 (#6239259 - in reply to #6239242) Subject: RE: checking moisture of corn silage
Central NY
For whatever reason on green samples, when it smolders, it's usually burning the outside of the wet stalks and not drying the inside. I've been told to add about 2 points of moisture to a green sample and it's more accurate. Fwiw
Posted 9/10/2017 15:53 (#6239782 - in reply to #6238790) Subject: RE: checking moisture of corn silage
SE IA
In college, professor told us to put a jar of water in the corner of microwave to keep it from burning sample. I would have kept drying it until the weight didn't change.
checking moisture of corn silage
