Sure, air fryers are versatile, but did you know they were hay-moisture-measuring versatile?
By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Sept. 3, 2025
Fast facts:
- Find FSA3155 fact sheet online
- Moisture readings key to avoid spoilage, ignition
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(545 words)
SEARCY, Ark. — A common kitchen appliance has a novel application that can help ranchers ensure the quality of their forage.
Checking the moisture content of forage is key. Too much moisture in hay bales not only leads to mold, but it also encourages fermentation, which leads to hay bales heating and eventually catching fire.
For silage, which is stored at higher moisture levels than dried hay, chopping or baling outside a recommended moisture range can reduce fermentation, which is necessary to make sileage more usable by livestock.
There is more than one way to measure moisture in forage. There are commercial probes that can be used but can be cantankerous to calibrate.
There are several methods that involve other household appliances. The University of Kentucky suggests several methods, including wringing a handful like a dishrag and seeing what moisture seeps out, or microwaving a forage sample and comparing its weight before and after. Another, developed by Penn State Extension, involves PVC pipe and a hairdryer.
Brian Haller, White County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, used another kitchen appliance, an air fryer, as part of a corn silage demonstration in Rose Bud, held in August.
“We even have a fact sheet for it,” Haller said. The 2020 extension fact sheet, FSA3155, “Measuring Forage Moisture Content Using an Air Fryer,” explains the process.
The principle is simple: the air fryer is used as a drier. Users take a core sample from a test bale, chop it into small pieces and weigh out 100 grams. The measured sample is placed in the air fryer and allowed to dry out for about 30 minutes. Users can then weigh the dried sample and subtract the dried weight from the original 100 grams to determine the moisture level.
“I started using the air fryer this year,” Haller said. “For many years we used microwave ovens and would teach producers how do that. Microwave ovens work, but you have to make sure there is a small cup of water in the microwave oven, or it could dry the forage out too fast and cause a fire.”
John Jennings, former extension forage specialist for the Division of Agriculture and author of the fact sheet, said he first heard about the forage application for air fryers in an article by from Dan Severson, New Castle County extension agent for the University of Delaware.
“We tried it and tweaked the technique a bit for our conditions,” Jennings said. That eventually led to his fact sheet.
Using the air fryers “is a little less dangerous than in a microwave, and you can get an air fryer fairly inexpensively,” Jennings said. “Just don’t use the microwave in the home kitchen because it can produce an odor that’s very hard to get rid of.”
Jonathan Kubesch, the current extension forage specialist echoed Jennings’ advice: “I think it's a great way to keep farmers from ruining the home microwave or stinking up a kitchen!” Kubesch said.
Kubesch also noted that air fryers offer more accurate results when compared to balers’ moisture meters.
Jennings said the plus side to the air fryer is “you could cook up some French fries and have them to snack on while you're waiting on your core sample.”
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu