Twine versus net for rounds

[ovrszd]

In the beginning net wrap was touted as sheltering the bale better from weather. I can't testify to that.

 

[LouNY]

In many cases it is a matter of personal preference.
That said wrapped baleage (silage bales) are better off in netwrap.
Dry bales stored inside twine is fine.
Bales stored out in the weather;
in this area you will have a lot of loss, it's not unusual to see a 30% loss,
with netwrap it may be a bit less.

 

[Tx Jim]

Lou
What type of hay is in rd bales that have 30% spoilage? Do you stack rows with 3 or more ft between rows??? The rd bales I store outside over the Winter that have netwrap have a lot less spoilage than twine wrapped bales. I doubt if I have 5% spoilage during storage

 

[LouNY]

Doesn't matter what kind of hay it is.
That is why I said in my area.
We normally get some rain every week, as well as heavy dews.
Then add in several inches or a few feet of snow melt soaking into a bale outside,
in just a few years its pile of compost with string or wrap init.
It's not like Texas where the east is wet and from the central on out west gets dryer and dryer till it's desert.
Heck, I'd swear that in West Texas you could get dust in a sealed mason jar.
I lived in Seminole and Fort Stockton for several years.

The following chart is a bit hard to read but it illustrates some of the weather differences;

Climate Albany - New York °C | °F
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Average high in °F: 31 35 44 58 69 78
Average low in °F: 15 17 26 37 47 56
Av. precipitation in inch: 2.6 2.2 3.23 3.19 3.62 3.78
Days with precipitation: - - - - - -
Hours of sunshine: - - - - - -
Average snowfall in inch: 18 12 10 2 0 0

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average high in °F: 82 80 72 60 48 36
Average low in °F: 61 60 52 40 31 21
Av. precipitation in inch: 4.13 3.46 3.31 3.66 3.31 2.91
Days with precipitation: - - - - - -
Hours of sunshine: - - - - - -
Average snowfall in inch: 0 0 0 0 3 14

 

[5030]

In the beginning net wrap was touted as sheltering the bale better from weather. I can't testify to that.

Only way that would happen is of you applied multiple wraps of net on a bale (more than 3) and that would defeat and negate any time difference between net and twining.

My customer as well as myself keep all the rounds inside anyway. Never any dry hay left to the elements.

 

[5030]

Our weather is about the same as NY State, why all hay is kept inside. If it's outside for any length of time, it's basically mulch.

 

[HayDR]

There is 4 times as many cattle in cow calf herds in Missouri than Michigan. On average 5' wide baler sales are 55-60% of the total USA market. There is 10 times more cattle in Texas than Michigan. Only 20% of US farmers bale high moisture hay. Farming varies greatly across the USA because of geographic and climate issues.

 

[RickB]

But yet all weather, herds, management styles, regulations and traditions are local. I worked at a NH single store dealership in NY for 21 years and we sold exactly two 5 foot wide round balers, both to the same guy. Probably 60 4 foot wide balers.

 

[5030]

Bottom line (at least with me) is, a 5 wide RB is no good for anything but a producer that isn't transporting rounds anywhere. Far as the net versus twine thing goes, I've did the cost analysis both ways and twine always comes out less expensive per bale, whether it's 10 or 100 or 1000. I takes more time to wrap than net, granted and I'll use net over twine if I'm looking at a pending weather event (I keep the net loaded and the twine boxes full, always but if I don't have time constraints, it's twine. Poly, not sisal. I'm not sure you can even buy sisal around here. I see no advantage in it, only disadvantages.

All my rounds get transported via public roadways so a 5 wide is a no go for me.

 

[ovrszd]

5030, how many bales do you wrap per year?

Side dump trailers that haul the bales in single file are common here. Negates the width issue with 5' bales. For large feeders 5' bales are most cost effective.