The Rural Voice, 1999-04, Page 11Scrap Book
Faster hay drying
with a microwave
Farmer families have grown
used to speeding up mealtimes
using their microwave, now a
Toronto company wants to use the
same idea to accelerate drying
hay.
Int -Agra Technologies has
devised a microwave -augmented
crop -drying system that cuts hay
drying time in half and improves
the quality of the crop.
The MACDS is a mobile unit
that is pulled behind the tractor.
Swathed hay is gathered, zapped
with microwave energy and then
spewed out the back of the
machine to continue drying in the
field.
This microwave on wheels
uses a 100 -kilowatt generator to
reduce moisture content from 50
per cent to as low as 20 per cent,
but the real benefit is that it draws
moisture out of the middle of the
stalk, which significantly cuts
down drying time. Mother Nature
handles the rest of the job, blow-
ing away the moisture and taking
the moisture level below the
industry standard of 15 per cent.
Field tests conducted in
Ontario have shown that in -field
drying can be reduced to a little
over a day by using the system.
"The shorter the time, the
higher the quality of hay because
as hay lies in the field it loses
chlorophyll ... and the bacteria
and moulds grow," said Ted
Chadwick, project manager.
"What we end up with is green
hay with virtually no bacteria and
virtually no mould. This is now
prime alfalfa."
The company will have the
units on the market this spring but
the cost of saving those extra
hours in drying is steep. The units
will cost $275,000 to $325,000,
depending on the options selected.
The target market is growers of
premium alfalfa for the horse
market.0
— Source: Western Producer
tho
*hop
7
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APRIL 1999 7