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You're getting a pretty good discussion of hay here. I only know of 3 ways to get dust in hay: mold, plant dust and pollen, and dirt. As to the last two, unless there are significant weeds pollen is a non issue. Dirt from the field can come from the rake. I get into this working on wet ground. Wheel rakes seem to pick up more than bar rakes. Mold dust doesnt have to be a pile of white mold. If you can see that, its a sign of big problems. Microscopic molds will colonize in hay, if moisture is present above the threshold level (bulk density is a real factor here). There are a lot of ways to 'eyeball' when hay is 'ready' but there's no substitute for a moisture tester or oven drying a sample to be sure. I've taken more than a few bales out that I 'knew' were dry enough (even recently), and thats with experience since 1983. You can estimate stem moisture but you cant know unless you measure. I normally use a straight disc mower, followed with a tedder. The haybine runs for square baled alfalfa after first cutting (sometimes) and in soybeans for round baled silage. Otherwise its a pasture ornament. Nutrient loss to days of curing is not a huge issue. Sun bleaching will degrade beta carotene but protein and energy arent going anywhere in a reasonable period of time (give or take a day or two without rain). Back to the dust though, density is a huge issue. I barn store a lot of round bales which go into high end brood mares. The greater density of a roll makes it even more critical to ensure that hay is below heating threshold. Two years ago I was in the same field with a square and round baler. Hay I 'knew' was dry. Square bales did fine. Out of 1400 I had 4 that were dusty. Round bales were a different story, at day 2 I could smell them in the barn, and it wasnt a good smell. Temperature in the center (that run was 3 rolls tall, 14 rolls deep, and 15 rolls wide) was up into the 120's. I got them out but fast. Made cow hay that was ok for me, but were very dusty. What I lost on that one barn in sales would have paid for 3 moisture testers.
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