I will never use poly twine again

[AKfish]

I figure that all twine is a PITA! All of it can and will create problems at some point. Sisal, smilsal, poly, smolly, wrap, smap... But, the old, haystacks had their own set of problems, too.

It's all work and payin' attention.

I always figured that I'd rather crawl in and out of the tractor cab or the front seat of a warm pickup and METICOUSLY cut and pull every strand before I'd have to run a cow, heifer, calf or bull back to the corral and run 'em into the squeeze chute to cut that frozen ball of sisal or poly and hay/manure off their hoof! And likely doctor the infection, too. Worse case was they had to go to town - to the sale barn - 'cause they were never gonna be sound again.

Anybody remember those 3-4-5 year old stacks of sisal round bales? You know, the ones that all the twine rotted off and the whole thing just sorta collapsed and sagged onto itself?!? Never liked tryin' to feed or grind those up - major PITA.

AKfish

[Jerry/MT]

I live in the Northern Rockies and we have our hay customed with net wrap and generally buy some and invariably, some of our bought hay is twine tied with poly. I have never had a net wrapped bale that I couldn't open when it was frozen. I have had many that were twine tied that I had difficulty with. I would have to drop them on the ground from about 6 feet before I could get the frozen twine off. Never had any that were tied with sisal so i can't comment on that.

The biggest problem we have with any round baled hay is that some of our bales, custom or bought, fall apart as soon as we unwrap or untie them! We feed with a bale spinner and this means there is a trail of hay where ever I drive, including muddy lanes, and it's very wasteful.

Our regular custom hay shaker has done a great job for several years but this year's hay was really loose and I'm at a loss as to why this is. The guys takes a lot of pride in doing things right and has excellent equipment. I just think he was preoccupied with something else and it's a one off situation.

We're not a big outfit, but if this continues, we'll either have to get our own hay equipment (doesn't pencil out) or abandon the spinner and buy a haybuster to feed with. A haybuster would allow me to control feed any kind of bale and would pay for itself by not wasting hay..

[Tx Jim]

Jerry
What type hay were having trouble with the bales coming apart after twine removal?? How long were the crop stems?? % moisture of hay when baled can affect how the bale stays together.

[Jerry/MT]

Jerry
What type hay were having trouble with the bales coming apart after twine removal?? How long were the crop stems?? % moisture of hay when baled can affect how the bale stays together.

Mainly first cutting orchard grass and some orchard/alfalfa mix both twine and net wrapped. I don't think it was overly dry but i didn't measure the moisture. My guess is between 15-20% moisture after a 2 1/2 day dry down and the crop was conditioned when mowed.

[AKfish]

Mainly first cutting orchard grass and some orchard/alfalfa mix both twine and net wrapped. I don't think it was overly dry but i didn't measure the moisture. My guess is between 15-20% moisture after a 2 1/2 day dry down and the crop was conditioned when mowed.

Kinda sounds like the hay might be down around 10% or less on the moisture when finally rolled up. And the bale tension should have been dialed up a bit.

AKfish

[Bison]

I live in the Northern Rockies and we have our hay customed with net wrap and generally buy some and invariably, some of our bought hay is twine tied with poly. I have never had a net wrapped bale that I couldn't open when it was frozen. I have had many that were twine tied that I had difficulty with. I would have to drop them on the ground from about 6 feet before I could get the frozen twine off. Never had any that were tied with sisal so i can't comment on that.

The biggest problem we have with any round baled hay is that some of our bales, custom or bought, fall apart as soon as we unwrap or untie them! We feed with a bale spinner and this means there is a trail of hay where ever I drive, including muddy lanes, and it's very wasteful.

Our regular custom hay shaker has done a great job for several years but this year's hay was really loose and I'm at a loss as to why this is. The guys takes a lot of pride in doing things right and has excellent equipment. I just think he was preoccupied with something else and it's a one off situation.

We're not a big outfit, but if this continues, we'll either have to get our own hay equipment (doesn't pencil out) or abandon the spinner and buy a haybuster to feed with. A haybuster would allow me to control feed any kind of bale and would pay for itself by not wasting hay..

I would cut the twine off where you plan to feed and not in the hay yard.
A haybuster is IMO the biggest feed waster one can have,..all the nutrient fines end up in the dirt.

[Tx Jim]

Kinda sounds like the hay might be down around 10% or less on the moisture when finally rolled up. And the bale tension should have been dialed up a bit.AKfish

I agree on hay too dry when baled.