# Remove your twine and net



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

It's amazing how many people don't take it off when they feed.

http://www.beefmagazine.com/ranching/remove-twine-every-time?NL=BEEF-02&Issue=BEEF-02_20171214_BEEF-02_504&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG02000003227233&utm_campaign=23157&utm_medium=email&elq2=a6b7376305c9427c8d03fb6c1f68c154


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

....and guys laugh at me. I smile at them and say my insurance policy is better than theirs.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Even if one tries to remove twine or net invariably I find some twine/net remnants after animals have eaten the hay. I would never feed hay without removing the twine or net.The other thing I despise is plastic shopping bags.


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## CowboyRam (Dec 13, 2015)

We use our manure spreader to feed with, and those big bales just don't peel off well without removing the strings, so we do our best to remove the strings.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Cleaned out the beaters of spreader I rented after hauling 30 loads of manure from neighbor.SMH.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

To me net is a lot faster and easier to remove than string. As hard as a person tries it is almost impossible to remove every string every time.


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## CowboyRam (Dec 13, 2015)

After loading the spreader we tie the strings to the load, and pull them out. It really does not take that long. It is easier than picking them up later. Besides I don't want all that string out in my fields. Once in awhile I will pick on up that got missed.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Around here lots of guys feed with bale beds, and usually cut the twine or net and throw it on the flatbed of the truck... which then invariably slides around and falls off or blows off on the road and ends up in the ditch...

PITA when you hit it with the shredder cutting the roadside next to the fence the following year...

Jackasses...

We have an old baler twine only... I set the bale on the ground, cut the twine all the way across on one side down about knee high, then go to the other side and gather all the strings in one hand, pull them over the top of the bale, and draw them out with the other hand, loop back, and tie the loop into an overhand square knot with the loop sticking out... then use that loop to pull the rest of the twine from underneath the bale, shake the hay off it, and then pull them up into a loop like a lasso, grab it with both hands and stretch it out tight, and pull it into an overhand square knot again-- keeps all the ends up pretty much out of the way and keeps it from being a mess. Pick off any missed ends and add them to the loop before I tie it off...

Then into the trash or burn pile it goes.

Hate having twine in the pasture... what a mess... machinery will find it for the next 20 years at least...

We USED to use sisal on our rounds, but within a month the sisal rots on bottom of round bales, and the bale is loose. Grandpa never liked plastic and Dad didn't either, but finally the price increases in sisal made the switch for us...

I tried the "ClearField" UV-sensitive plastic twine from TSC... any dropped or missed strings are SUPPOSED to "rot away" within a few months to a year, from exposure to solar UV radiation...

What happens is, the twine rots enough that the strings pop ON TOP of the bales when you go to pick them up... not good when you leave half the bale sitting there because the outer layers slipped off... They don't rot on bottom of the bale despite ground moisture, because the stuff doesn't rot unless it gets fried by the sun...

Found that strings that got pulled off or dropped in the mud were STILL INTACT a couple years later when they wrapped some equipment, BECAUSE they were down in the dirt and protected from UV rays... IOW, the stuff was "the worst of both worlds"-- stuff stick around forever like plastic twine, but rots and pops ON TOP (the worst possible place) just like sisal (where sisal would at least rot ON BOTTOM, so the strings basically still held the sides of the bales together and the top, unlike the plastic that popped on top, the bottom strings would tend to pull the bale apart when you lifted it!) Dumped that crap after one year and went back to straight plastic twine, and vigorously pick it up...

Later! OL J R


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

We leave twine on bales for horses until the bale is half gone then remove it all. If we had better feeders it would come off at the start.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I feed most hay with a bale processor, mostly because I bought a good used one at a great price.

When I feed an individual roll in a pen, I stand the roll up, cut the net down about one third and use the remaining het wrap as a hay ring. Works well for us.

I will admit it is not an original idea. I read it here. 

I have a friend with bad knees. He has trouble getting in and out of the tractor cab. He string ties with sisal the rolls he feeds. He leaves the sisal on the rolls and puts them in rings. He knows it is not ideal but he can not afford to be fighting cows while he cuts the strings. He has done this for two years and not seen a problem. (Might be some he has not seen)

Before net, I would see the little wads of chewed plastic string in the pasture. Someone said they were chewed and swallowed and the rumen rejected it when the cow chewed their cud.

I never knew until reading this forum that net wrap froze in colder climates and was hard to remove. Always interesting to read and learn how things are done in other areas.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Yea if we get ice or snow melts and refreezes the net and can be froze on so I tip a couple
Weeks worth of hay on end with the top part facing the sun and it melts off even when very cold when the hay absorbs the suns rays.If there is a lot
Of ice I will drop them a few times
To get a lot of
It to fall off first


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Watching my buddy spread straw with a bale processor he just bought it does a great job catching all the net wrap.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Tim/South said:


> I have a friend with bad knees. He has trouble getting in and out of the tractor cab. He string ties with sisal the rolls he feeds. He leaves the sisal on the rolls and puts them in rings. He knows it is not ideal but he can not afford to be fighting cows while he cuts the strings. He has done this for two years and not seen a problem. (Might be some he has not seen)


That was one of the reasons I bought my first grapple. Got tired of opening and closing gates and taking strings off at the feeder with cows fighting to get to the hay. With the grapple I took strings off at barn grabbed the bale open the gate drove in drop bale backed out. You were done before they ever got to the feeder.

The other oddball thing I did was I did not cut the strings. Was a pain to find all of them. I would walk around the bale to remove them.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

slowzuki said:


> Watching my buddy spread straw with a bale processor he just bought it does a great job catching all the net wrap.


I doubt it catches it all. I'd say mine catches 95% +. Still see some little pieces once in awhile that make it through. During calving time in the spring I remove the netwrap from all the bales before the processor as I've seen baby calves chewing small pieces. I did start this fall removing it all before feeding the cows, but we got snow and rain that has froze it on pretty good now so I've been slacking and just grind them with it on.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

I tried twine-wrapped round bales one year bc that was what the baler used. I'll never go back to using twine. At that time I would feed the round bales with the hungry cows surrounding the hay ring. Occasionally while cutting the twine on one side of the bale, a cow would grab a piece of twine and pull it away from the bale and I couldn't get close enough to her to grab the twine and pull it out of her mouth.

After nine years of feeding round bales of hay, I think I may have solved most of the problems I've had with this process. I've learned to put our whatever number of bales I intend to feed with only having to dismount the tractor twice and without having cows around.

First, I feed the cows in the pen and close the gate on them. I then transport all the net wrapped bales to the individual hay rings. Once all bales are set next to the hay rings, I dismount the tractor and with my folding, replaceable-blade box cutter knife, I cut the net wrap about 3/4ths of the way up on one side of the bale and then go around the bale and pull the top end of the wrap from what would be the bottom of the bale In the hay ring toward the tractor. Once this is done on all bales, I re-enter the tractor and begin placing the bales into the hay rings. When this is accomplished, I exit the tractor, unwrap each bale, roll the wrap into balls, place the wrap into the tractor and go let the cows out of the pen.

By cutting the net wrap up high on the bale, the wrap will cling to the hay and not let pieces of round bales fall off when lifted into the hay ring. Experience will teach you how high up on the bale the wrap should be cut. The round bales are dropped into the hay rings on the flat side.


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## siscofarms (Nov 23, 2010)

I like the guys who grind hay for the exclusive use of using in feed rations and leave net on it . :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh: . Just laziness and not good on feeders .


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

I have only been 150 200 a year and only for a few years with net. I have only had a few bales a year which were a challenge to remove wrap due to freezing. Once it freezes it comes right off easy for me. Here.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

deadmoose said:


> I have only been 150 200 a year and only for a few years with net. I have only had a few bales a year which were a challenge to remove wrap due to freezing. Once it freezes it comes right off easy for me. Here.


Every year is different. If it gets cold and stays cold, then its usually easy to get off. Multiple freeze/thaw cycles and it gets tougher. Carryover bales tend to be the worst.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

I hear these guys are coming out with another study that says extending diesel by adding water to it has a negative effect on performance.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Hayjosh said:


> I hear these guys are coming out with another study that says extending diesel by adding water to it has a negative effect on performance.


I've got water injection on my 220 Allis and my 1370 Case.


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