Removing poly twine from fields

[tjandrews]

My first thought would be IF and only IF you can do so safely, burn the field off in sections, then disc it with a good heavy disc harrow. Other than that, you're in for a long and tough haul.

Around here, at the time of year when it's dry enough to burn, the county imposes a "burn ban" to prevent it.

Besides, it seems to me that burning the field would melt the poly, turning it into an even more impossible-to-remove mass.

 

[shaggyman]

Too bad a little foresight wasn't used in the past. I ALWAYS remove the twine or netting before feeding.
Plastic twine is not good for cow innards.

 

[jonathansfather]

I bought an old dairy farm and the previous owner used poly baler twine and left in in the fields. This stuff is now so embedded in the sod, that even dragging a box blade through it can stop my 45hp tractor. When I do pull it out, it usually because some parts snapped and chunks remain. Rotary tiller just gets jammed up and I cut tons from the rotary mower.

I am at the point of thinking I need to till and replant but wondered if anyone had tried renmoving this stuff. If so, moldboard or disc or both?

I pasture a couple of horses on a small-acreage farm in west-central WV. Occasionally will find some orange poly bale twine. First thing, I cut it so as to prevent the horses getting a hoof caught in it. If the twine is abundant, I've simply marked that spot to put out a bale (with twine removed) and a bale feeder right over that spot. The leftover hay will decompose and create a nice, thick (3-5") cover over that twine mess and you can seed with pasture grass and clover. Each year, then, the twine will become buried deeper. Hope this helps. good luck,

 

[tjandrews]

Too bad a little foresight wasn't used in the past. I ALWAYS remove the twine or netting before feeding.
Plastic twine is not good for cow innards.

I did too, back when we still had cows, even when we used sisal. Only thing that makes sense.
But we sold all the cows a few years back. Now that we are in our 70's, they're just too much work for what we got out of them. We sell our hay to local horse/cow/goat/sheep owners who come to the barn, and take it away. Eliminates the hassle of what to do with all that used twine, but also eliminates the advantage of having used twine available for other things so we don't waste the unused stuff.

 

[Bison]

I bought an old dairy farm and the previous owner used poly baler twine and left in in the fields. This stuff is now so embedded in the sod, that even dragging a box blade through it can stop my 45hp tractor. When I do pull it out, it usually because some parts snapped and chunks remain. Rotary tiller just gets jammed up and I cut tons from the rotary mower.

I am at the point of thinking I need to till and replant but wondered if anyone had tried renmoving this stuff. If so, moldboard or disc or both?

It is due to lazy uncaring a-hole farmers who cant be bothered to remove twine from the bales when feeding.
I bought a 1800 acre ranch , twine troughout the place, its everywhere but the worst was in the old corrals, manure 5' deep and more twine than one could throw a stick at. After 3 loads the beaters were covered and had to be cleaned, it took hours to do. In the end i just lit it on fire.
After 30 years cleaning up i seem to be winning the battle but i'm afraid i will never get rid of it all.
Cultivating is best option as lots of twine will be caught by the shanks and then walking the field to pick whats left

 

[MT Kioti]

Ospreys are fascinated by poly bailing twine and will bring it back to their nests from miles away. Problem is that they and their babies get caught it it and eventually get wound up and die. Sometimes, wildlife workers will remove hundreds of pounds from a single nest. Nasty Stuff.

https://hs.umt.edu/osprey/documents/balingtwine.pdf

Osprey & Baling Twine | owlresearchinstitute

When discarded baling twine is left in a field or pasture, Osprey will pick it up to use as nesting material, lining the nest and building it up. This can have devastating consequences for the birds.

www.owlresearchinstitute.org

Osprey Bailing Twine Project

Osprey Bailing Twine Project - Raptor View Research Institute - Missoula, Montana

www.raptorview.org

 

[sequoyah101]

I bought an old dairy farm and the previous owner used poly baler twine and left in in the fields. This stuff is now so embedded in the sod, that even dragging a box blade through it can stop my 45hp tractor. When I do pull it out, it usually because some parts snapped and chunks remain. Rotary tiller just gets jammed up and I cut tons from the rotary mower.

I am at the point of thinking I need to till and replant but wondered if anyone had tried renmoving this stuff. If so, moldboard or disc or both?

Note: Good herdsmen don't just throw hay out for the cows. They unwrap the bale, stow the twine and dispose of it properly. I keep a little barrel on the front end loader for twine trash.

You are probably stuck with this stuff for a very long time. I still find it in spite of lots of chiseling, tilling, aerating, mowing, baling and discing. The best thing I have found is that if it is not on the surface, LEAVE IT ALONE. Others have mentioned:

1. It eats bearings if it is long enough to pick up and wrap. It usually burns into melted poly and you can't just pull it out, you have to disassemble and clean.
2. If you ever pick it up into the front hubs of a FWD tractor it will eat the seals. Not just an expensive repair and if not caught you will run a dry planetary that will make an even more expensive repair.
3. It takes at least an hour to get it out of the tiller as you know. I have laid under the thing with a knife, hook and pliers more than I care to.
4. If you chop it up maybe it won't wrap around axles and shafts but you will have a whole bunch of little bits to pick up and may not chop it all up
5. After nearly 10 years the problem is getting buried and picked up. It is a royal PITA!

I don't usually reply but this situation irritates the snot out of me. Someone did this to my fields while i was trying to do him a favor and he crapped on me.

I have a friend that runs over 500 head of cows. He picks up every bit of his twine and bales right at 2,000 bales a year. He also is plagued by former owners on his various places who left their twine in the field. It takes time to feed and check cows. You need to look at every one of them every day if you can. Only coca cola cowboys drive by and dump hay.

If you are leaving twine on the fields you are a lazy ass herdsman and a coca-cola wanna-be cowboy leaving a permanent problem for yourself or someone else. If you can't do any better than that you don't need cows or deserve the land you are supposed to take care of.

And that is what I think about twine on the field.

 

[sequoyah101]

It is due to lazy uncaring a-hole farmers who cant be bothered to remove twine from the bales when feeding.
I bought a 1800 acre ranch , twine troughout the place, its everywhere but the worst was in the old corrals, manure 5' deep and more twine than one could throw a stick at. After 3 loads the beaters were covered and had to be cleaned, it took hours to do. In the end i just lit it on fire.
After 30 years cleaning up i seem to be winning the battle but i'm afraid i will never get rid of it all.
Cultivating is best option as lots of twine will be caught by the shanks and then walking the field to pick whats left

You called it and your are dead right:

It is due to lazy uncaring a-hole farmers who cant be bothered to remove twine from the bales when feeding.

 

[Elviscaretaker]

I would question disc plow or heavy offset disc effectiveness since suspect twine would catch and wrap vs cut cleanly all the time. No actual experience though.

You are right, it actually wraps around the axles. But, I found not going deep and a few passes helped not wrap as much then I went over with my box blade with the rippers extended and the box not dropped all the way. Perfect, no. But it did help a lot just a time waste when it should have been put in the garbage or at the least into a single pile. Every time you think you got it all. there's more. Then at least I also found a crap load of metal while doing that. A metal detector and 2.5 years later I'm almost metal/twine free in my fields.

 

[yozzause]

Its great stuff for cutting into seals