# Sisal



## CaptainQ (Oct 22, 2009)

I am new to this site and also to farming hay. I play with a few acres of bermuda hay mostly small squares with a old J.D. 336. I keep seeing posts about different strings poly vs. sisal and I am not sure that I know the difference in 7200 sisal and 9000 sisal. I am assuming (which I know is a bad thing) that this represents the feet per roll of twine and that 7200 is larger in diameter therefore less feet per roll? Any help would be appreciated


----------



## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

You are correct 7200, 9000, etc, etc.... are the feet, but it's per box (or bale, as I refer to them), and most box's have 2 balls in them. I always figure just under 500 bales of hay per box of twine, but that depends on the sixe of the bale. The difference between poly and sisal is the poly is just a plstic - much stronger, more consistent, will never rot; the sisal is a fiber and is prone to thick and thin spots, and will rot. Rotting can be a good or bad thing - some guys leave the string on their round bales, and the sisal will just rot away. Normally the less feet in a box the thicker it will be, and in poly the feet is given and then the strength - like 9600 - 170 9600 feet, 170 knot strength. Either 7200 or 9000 will work for you, and if you go poly - 9600

Rodney


----------



## Hayguy (Jun 4, 2008)

As long as we're on the topic, can anyone tell me if there are different knot strengths available between maufacturers for say 9000' sisal twine ? Been using 9000' for years for kicker bales and it just doesn't seem as strong or uniform as it used to be . I think most baler manufacturers recommend the 7200' twine for kicker balers now.


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

We never used less than 7200 for our thrower. Was a belt type and not a kicker though.


----------



## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

Generally using 7200 you will end up with less breakage then when using 9000. I ran into a bad batch of 7200 this year that was not any thicker then 9000 and had a lot of thin spots in it that I asked the dealer to take back. The best 7200 I have seen is the 7200 Holland Extra Strong.


----------



## CaptainQ (Oct 22, 2009)

Thanks for the help, but just to make sure I am clear I need to ise 7200 sisal because it is thicker and less likely to break than 9000?


----------



## Production Acres (Jul 29, 2008)

for small square bales - use at least 170lb knot strength poly twine. No better way to ruin your back that pick up a 60# bale - throw it up to the loft and have the knot break - where do you go - off the trailer!!!!!!!


----------



## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

9000 sisal can be used in a perfect world. But what I think has happened is that so few people use sisal twine anymore that there is not much demand for buyers to go to South American and really look up quality control but it probably is more of a availability and price thing. Being that we run into some sub-quality batchs and polytwine is more consistent leading to alot of producers just switching to a consistent and often less costly poly product. Being that most sisal twines are pretty lacking in good quality control producers that still want to use sisal instead of poly have in large numbers switched to the thicker 7200 sisal because breakage is less likely. What I mean by a perfect world for using 9000 is if there are no sharper wear edges like on the knife arm, needles, porcelin twin guides, etc. Hard to run many bales through a machine and not have some of these sharp edges somewhere.


----------



## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

We used to run 9000 sisal in the balers, when we had a throwers. If you'd forget to adjust the throwing distance, and the bale got thrown against the back of the wagon - POOF! We didn't have much trouble, but at the time we were making like 35-40lb bales. Towards the end we were having a lot more trouble, and that made the choice to go to poly much easier. I don't recall a knot strength on sisal, you'd just have to go down to 7200. If 9000 is no longer working for you, that's what I'd do if you don't want to go to poly.

Rodney


----------



## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I still use 9000 sisal because, for the most part, I'm baling for my own use and my accumulator isn't hard on them. When I've used poly it often gets dropped around the property while feeding. Poly is attracted to rotary mowers, and I'm convinced it will snake across a field just to embrace my blades. I've never had to cut sisal out of my mower.


----------



## jpruett (Apr 14, 2010)

Plastic is hard on a baler... burn or cuts through the ceramic guides and knotter can lead to expensive repairs from what I have heard from a large producer. I can see wear after 3900 bales on new baler, and heeding advise, I am going to switch to grass string this year. Plastic string just never disappears and eventually gets wrapped around drive trains and axles. Pay now or pay later.


----------



## kingranchf350 (Dec 13, 2009)

I'll have to disagree with a few of the guys. I've ran well over 400,000 small squares over the years with poly twine and have had no problems. You will see some twine guide wear but bad cases of it are usually from excessive twine tension. Poly is superior in quality and consistency from what I've seen and typically a little cheaper than sisal. I will certainly agree that 170# knot strength is the way to go. I run single ball 7200' 170# poly with no problems. If your into round bales several companies have a Poly Solar Degradable twine - which is basically poly string with NO UV Inhibitor which makes it susceptible to sunlight. I don't know of any such product out for small squares though. Typically the Sisal vs. Poly for small squares goes like this down this way - if your baling your own hay - most use sisal. If your baling for the commercial market - most use poly.


----------



## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

kingranchf350 said:


> if your baling your own hay - most use sisal. If your baling for the commercial market - most use poly.


I agree completely. I only know of one commercial operator that uses sisal and he charges about $1 a bale more because he says his bales are organic....I guess that's because he sprays sewage sluge on the fields instead of fertilizer, but he does a good business.


----------

