baler twine

[fordson major]

except for a period in the seventies, we have used sisal twine. like it cause if we miss twine it will rot!! case in point, we baled up some hay with a blue and black twine and while adjusting the knotters had some break. dumped the hay in a fence row for the cows to clean up and thought nothing of picking up the twine!! this week was payback 33 years later, was working out the fence row were we dumped the hay and found the twine!! 33 years and still tough stuff !! as we learn from others mistakes thought you could learn from one of ours and if you use plastic twine make sure you get it all!! have had manure spreaders torn apart with the stuff as well in our custom spreading business and pumps on the liquids end of the line. makes a mess on the plows discs and cultivator as well!

[mtman]

machinery can be fixed it shur will kill a cow in a hurry

[sammyd]

I'm currently working up an old feed lot where the guy fed round bales and never removed the blasted plastic twine. Had to stop a lot and pull the twine off the plow to get the furrows to roll over, have several piles of it around the lot now. Same guy fed horses in what is now our backyard/pasture/garden and I snorted out an old IH Super C a couple of times from the balls of plastic twine on the plow. It's not good on tillers either.

[gone-a-milkin]

I must have cut about 3 miles of it out of the tiller I borrowed from my dairyman boss...there was a whole farm's history in that twine...every color it has ever been and every different configuration.

Another thing that I dont like...net-bale wrap. That stuff is a menace!

[Scrounger]

I USED to use sisal. HATE the stuff! Got tired of bales breaking when they were picked up. I use nothing but plastic twine. I also make sure where it goes when I feed hay....

[haypoint]

If you have sheep, beware. Somehow the plastic gets into the wool and the plastic raises hob with the processors carding machinery. Stick with sisal.

[Jennifer L.]

I had a major part of my haying done last year by a neighbor with a large square baler. They use plastic twine the size of a clothesline. For awhile I was good about not getting any in the manure, but then stuff happened and it started getting in. So nothing could be spread last winter, it all has to be composted so the twine can be removed. It's miserable stuff! But, I'll have to say, when you take a bale out of the bottom of the stack and it has a black bottom on it, it's sure nice that it doesn't break open. Wish there was some kind of compromise, like a slow break down plastic that would disappear in two or three years.

Jennifer

[Scrounger]

I've never had a problem with plastic twine. I re-use mine in a lot of projects, so I keep track of where it goes. I also never use big round bales, so the "net wrap" isn't a problem. I think I'll stay with the plastic - too much fighting with the sisal.

When I got the two manure spreaders I have - both were in pieces - they had a couple miles of wire, plastic twine, AND sisal wound up all over them. Even the sisal will cause problems in a spreader if it is wound thick enough so the center can't break down.

Also, if you lay the first (bottom) bales of the stack on thier side, then the strings will be out of the dirt. I have tons of pallets around so I just stack the hay on those to keep them from molding on the bottom.

[Old Vet]

Originally Posted by Jennifer L.

I had a major part of my haying done last year by a neighbor with a large square baler. They use plastic twine the size of a clothesline. For awhile I was good about not getting any in the manure, but then stuff happened and it started getting in. So nothing could be spread last winter, it all has to be composted so the twine can be removed. It's miserable stuff! But, I'll have to say, when you take a bale out of the bottom of the stack and it has a black bottom on it, it's sure nice that it doesn't break open. Wish there was some kind of compromise, like a slow break down plastic that would disappear in two or three years.

Jennifer

I was in Tractor Suply and saw a bio degesrable product that was made for bailer twine. It is somesort of plastic but breaks down. Don't know how fast or how good it is but it was selling faster than the pld plastic twine.

[EDDIE BUCK]

The sisal twine they made years ago was good. It would hold the hay and anything else as long as it was out of the weather. Then throw it away it will rot. Todays version of the same twine is not strong enough for greenbeans to run on much less tie anything.

[Jennifer L.]

You can use the plastic twine for just about anything, all right. I've got a lifetime supply right now . . . Each one of the large square bales has four strings on it, each one about 20' long.

Scrounger, I have a lot of hay, couldn't do the pallets here. Mostly I renew crushed limestone in the bottoms of the haybarns every few years, but it gradually settles down and there will be some low spots which causes some dampness. Don't really want to think about doing that anytime soon as the cost of hauling stone has gone up with everything else. I about had a seizure when I saw the price of twine at Tractor Supply the other day, too.

Jennifer

[Scrounger]

Originally Posted by Jennifer L.

Scrounger, I have a lot of hay, couldn't do the pallets here.
Jennifer

I have a friend who store 1000's of bales of hay on pallets. I store about 400 that way. All you do is lay them out for a floor.....