Bale twine

farmerjon · #1 01/21/09, 09:51 AM

I just got some square bales. They are baled with rope twine. Not wire. The farmer I got them from said he likes them because he dosnt have to cut the bales to feed, but he can just toss them in and the cows can eat the twine. Is this true? Im kinda scared to do that. I have had wire bales tha and round bales with net obviusly you cant do that with those, but can you with this twine?

pookshollow · #2 01/21/09, 09:54 AM

The one advantage to sisal twine is that it will rot - eventually. But . . . I wouldn't leave it on the bales - what if someone got it wound around a leg? It could cause a lot of damage before you noticed.

When we moved here, we spent a lot of time pulling nylon twine out of the ground. The previous owner never took the strings off of the bales for his cattle.

That stuff doesn't rot or break easily, and in the mud, you'd never see it wrapped around a leg.

Welshmom · #3 01/21/09, 10:27 AM

Since it isn't so hard to remove the twine, only takes an extra second, I would always remove it, and pick it up from the ground wherever I see it. I dont like the thought of a three foot length of twine inside any animal. It can get tangled in there and cause a blockage or cause a torsion (the gut to twist). Just. aint. worth. the. chance.

Besides, I kept the twine on a peg in my barn, and always had a ready supply of twine for all those random tying jobs - great in the garden, gates, you name it. Also makes good bonfire kindling! I look at it as a material resource to not be wasted.

**fordson major** · #4 01/21/09, 10:30 AM

i would remove the twine, while it will rot it can get wrapped around feet as pooks said and is not good eating! pooks, we used blue plastic twine 34 years ago, our baler did not like too tye that twine so we had a lot of bales we dropped in a fence row. cleaning up the rock in this fence row last year came across twine that looked as good as the day we dropped the hay in that fence row! plays hang with spreaders and flail mowers! (just ask ross, he still has night mares about that situation!)

farmerjon · #5 01/21/09, 10:39 AM

Thanks guys. I wasnt sure I would ever do it, but the idea of it made me think. This guy was an old tymer who has been doing this for years. Me being new to farming I try to take it all in when I talk to one of these guys. This made me second guess what I should be doing. Thanks again

mtman · #6 01/21/09, 10:43 AM

takes only a second to take it off by the way the plastic twine will kill a cow

unioncreek · #7 01/21/09, 11:01 AM

I hate plastic twine, but sisal is almost double the price. I walked out to the corral one day and one of my calves was eating something on the ground. He picked his head up as I got close and there was about a foot of twine hanging out of his mouth. I was able to get them in the corral which is unusual and got him cornered with a panel. By the time I got a rope and had him tied to a post it was all the way in his mouth. I had to reach down his throat almost to my elbow before I was able to get it out. Once a week I walk my winter feeding area and make sure I pick up any twine that may have gotten out there.

Bobg

Ronney · #8 01/22/09, 05:03 AM

Do you still bale with wire over there? I've wondered this in the past because of the apparently high incidence of hardware disease that you appear to have. My farming life started in 1972 and even back then wire had long gone from hay bales, so much so that I've never seen hay baled with wire.

That aside, no, cows cannot eat the twine irrespective of whether it's plastic or sisal and hay should never be fed out with it still intact. If a cow ingests it, they chew it up into a ball and if you (and she) are lucky, it will be expelled at the other end. If not, it compacts in the rumen and causes big problems for the cow that usually ends up as a big hole in the ground.

Apart from the health problems involved in eating twine, nor is feeding out a bale in a lump good feeding out practice and results in wastage as cows fight to get at it, trample all over it, pee on it, crap on it and half of it never gets eaten. If feeding out in a paddock, break the bale up into it's biscuits and spread them out every 4-6 feet. The cows will clean it up and you get the benefit of spreading the grass seed around your paddock.

Welshmom, baleing twin is invaluable on a farm for all the reasons you mention. Somewhere, hidden on this computer

, I have a pattern for weaving hay sacks out of baleing twine. These are handy things to feed hay to sheep, calves and goats and prevent wastage. They can be hung off a walll or fence and the animals pull the hay through the mesh as they need it.

Cheers,
Ronnie

farmerjon · #9 01/22/09, 07:52 AM

I have had my feilds baled for the past two years. They are baled with round bales. Usually the farmer who bales them took all the bales. This past year I asked for 3 or so round bales. Back then I only had the sheep. Then I got the cows. The farmer I got them from bales alfelpha for horses. They have to use wire so they can truck the hay to Florida. He gave me 25 square bales with the cows when I stoped to pay him. Now I got these square bales from a local guy. I have a john deere 3320, I m looking to get an old square baler to bale with. I have about 20 acres of mix grass. I love the round bales, but I just dont have the tractor to do it.