Late-season haying can be especially challenging. Fewer hours of daylight, heavy nighttime dew and an increasing likelihood of precipitation often tighten the window for high-quality forage production. Case IH ThirtyPlus™ hay preservative can help you be more efficient in your haying and hit optimal timing.
We spoke with Bryant Henningfeld, general sales manager at Harvest Tec, the maker of ThirtyPlus applicators and hay preservatives from Case IH, to learn more about how ThirtyPlus improves hay quality. Here’s what we learned:
Q. How does a hay preservative improve forage quality?
A. Moisture management is critical to putting up high-quality hay. If you bale when the hay is too wet, you risk mold, fungi and yeast development. That can lead to excessive heating and harmful mycotoxins. As hay gets drier, leaf loss increases, which reduces tonnage and nutrient levels.
Q. How does Case IH ThirtyPlus help?
A. Applying ThirtyPlus hay preservative allows you to harvest hay at up to 30 percent moisture without the risk of heating or spoilage. That can mean baling as much as a day earlier, helping the hay producer be more efficient while putting up a high-quality product.
Q. What are some of the features of Case IH ThirtyPlus hay preservative?
A. Stringent quality standards ensure ThirtyPlus maintains a pH of 6.0 (same as rainwater), so it’s noncorrosive to equipment and safe for livestock. It has a long shelf life and won’t freeze. Treated hay can be stored for years, and it will feed as well as when it was baled.[Tweet “Hit tight late-season haying windows with Case IH ThirtyPlus hay preservative. Via @Case_IH”]
Q. What benefits does ThirtyPlus deliver?
A. For the high-quality hay grower, maintaining more leaves increases relative feed value and increases total digestible nutrients. When it comes to hay for the equine market, less time in the windrow means less bleaching.
Q. How is it applied?
A. Your Case IH dealer offers ThirtyPlus hay preservative applicator kits for most makes and models of large square, round and small square balers. Applicators offer precision application via sensors that measure moisture levels 100 times every three seconds. The system automatically adjusts the amount of ThirtyPlus hay preservative applied as moisture levels change from hilltops to low areas or other variations across the field.
Q. Are there other advantages?
A. ISOBUS technology allows Case IH large square balers and the ThirtyPlus 600 series automatic applicator to integrate seamlessly with Case IH Advanced Farming Systems displays, gathering important data, such as individual bale weight and moisture content. Via Bluetooth® technology, the 300 series applicator for round balers, and large and small square balers transfers data to your iPad® mobile digital device.
This time of year, extra hours can be tough to come by. Talk to your Case IH dealer about how adding a ThirtyPlus applicator to your baler can help you open up haying windows, and, most important, put up higher-quality bales.
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