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northeastern Ohio | I have an Agratronics electronic silage tester and an OLD Koster tester.
The Agratronics requires you to take a sample and place it into a small plastic bag (about the size of a tea bag). You then place the bag in the slot and then turn the knob to apply pressure to the sample. Then you press a button. A number is displayed and you look up the number on a chart. The chart tells you the approximate moisture. I have not used it in years. The accuracy is decent, but when you are dealing with such a small sample size, you should do multiple samples. Here is what it looks like: http://www.agratronix.com/shop/grain/grain-and-silage/
I also have a Koster. It is about as accurate as any lab. It can take an hour to run a sample, but you do not need to babysit it.
I've used a microwave. You have to be careful not to catch the sample on fire and the smell is terrible. Faster than the Koster but you really have to careful as there is a fine line between not quite done, done and burnt.
I also made my own "high speed" Koster out of a popcorn air popper. Less smell than the microwave and faster and cheaper than the Koster.
There were some students at Penn State university that were selling a tester made from a hair dryer and pvc pipe. Penn State plans for building a Vortex forage dryer: http://extension.psu.edu/publications/i-101
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Silage moisture tester
