greybeard
Well-known member
sometimes those creepy crawlies are under or inside the 100 deg temp bales.......
Anybody found a "best way" or tool/machine design to remove frozen Net Wrap from Round bales?
- Thread starter RDFF
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Only on bales that are very high moisture and colder than -20. The plastic wrap seems to soak up enough sun to thaw the bales after a few days of warmer weather. We try to bale at 35% moisture or a bit less. Those bales are no issue.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
My bales are under around 3-4 foot of snow right now so they are well insulated and not much is frozen to them.
But when I get to the real frozen ones I flip them on the flat side on a plowed lot. Even at -20 if the sun peaks out for a couple hours they usually melt off enough to get the net off. Also have an axe in the tractor for chopping water that doubles as a bale beater. If we get a decent sunny day and the bales I flipped thaw out I will unwrap them all in the yard. I carry them out to the pasture with a grapple bucket so I don't lose any hay along the way.
But when I get to the real frozen ones I flip them on the flat side on a plowed lot. Even at -20 if the sun peaks out for a couple hours they usually melt off enough to get the net off. Also have an axe in the tractor for chopping water that doubles as a bale beater. If we get a decent sunny day and the bales I flipped thaw out I will unwrap them all in the yard. I carry them out to the pasture with a grapple bucket so I don't lose any hay along the way.
We switched to sisal twine from plastic back fifteen years when there were 300 cows here. Feeding took two hours per day less. We stood lots of bales on end for several days ahead and still beat ice off frozen twine.
Some don't seem to care as they throw plastic twine or net wrap still on the bales into a processor and then wonder about the mysterious cow deaths a few months later. Not to mention all the little plastic fragments to be grazed next year. I have mentioned to a couple people I know that there is so much protein in plastic it kills cows if they overload….
Some don't seem to care as they throw plastic twine or net wrap still on the bales into a processor and then wonder about the mysterious cow deaths a few months later. Not to mention all the little plastic fragments to be grazed next year. I have mentioned to a couple people I know that there is so much protein in plastic it kills cows if they overload….
RDFF
Well-known member
I'm a "regenerative farmer"... so I'm always tuned into being aware of/concerned about potential negative biological impacts, both for animals, and for the micro-biology of the soil and our environment. I read an article a couple of years ago about a fellow who had made a business out of picking up grocery store compostables and putting them into his compost windrows. He would actually have to physically hand remove the little stickers that they put on each piece of fruit with the UPC label on it... because of the plastic they contain. I thought, "REALLY"? What could THAT possibly do to a compost pile? It's mostly paper!
Turns out, the shiny plastic coating on them was enough of a problem for "digestion", that it would literally take up to 3-4 times longer for that compost to finish working, vs. if he removed those labels. He was working really hard to get that message out, specifically to his store's help (which of course has high turnover rates...), to help to reduce his labor involved in removing them... but was having very little success there. Composting is a BIOLOGICAL process, done by worms, microbes and bacteria, etc. It's all about the biology. It's called "micro-plastic toxicity"... and it's a big deal... look it up. It's NOT primarily about plastic bottles being put into landfills, or plastic can holders getting caught around the necks of turtles, per se... but the effect of the chemicals being dumped into the environment as these plastics are breaking down.
Now, think about it. What is a cow's gut (or ours, and all animals and living species too, for that matter), other than a highly efficient microbial digestion system? If that small amount of plastic has enough impact that it slows down the digestion process by 3-4 times... WHY would you not pay attention to this, and try to remove from your animal's diet every bit of plastic that you possibly can? It's not that the digestive system can't EVENTUALLY process a limited amount of contaminants... God did design it so that it CAN still function (fearfully and wonderfully made), in spite of our own foolishness (stupidity???, arrogance???, laziness???). But knowing this, and then beyond that just using our common sense, we have to KNOW that feeding plastic, be it ground up or whole, to our cattle (or ourselves) can't be a good thing.
Now think further... that plastic that DOES get processed through your cows microbial digestive system (and the system then DOES function less efficiently than it would without its presence), and it recognizes it for the "toxic/unhealthy" contaminant that it is, and for the most part ends up expelling it out the back door as "toxic waste"........ which is deposited onto your pastures/fields. That soil, and the whole environment, functions BIOLOGICALLY, through microbes. And by not removing that plastic, and instead, grinding it up in a processor and feeding it to your cattle, you're actually "feeding it" to all those microbes in the soil too... that you're depending on to feed your cattle (and you) all year long, and for many, many years to come (plastic has a very long half-life)!
Seems like a pretty short-sighted step all the way around, to not take the time to remove that contaminant from that food supply!
WFfarm
Well-known member
The best way to handle frozen net wrap is to avoid using it in the first place.
Good info, enforces my opinion.
A poster on another site talked about having a custom tub grinder come to his place every couple weeks to process bales. I made a comment that it must keep a few people running to remove net wrap as it was going in. His reply was that there was no time for that…..
He got quite offended when I asked how much ground plastic he put on his own food at meal times…. Excuses are like evacuation orifices, everybody has one.
He got quite offended when I asked how much ground plastic he put on his own food at meal times…. Excuses are like evacuation orifices, everybody has one.
Having done the grinding business a couple years ago, there really is no time for that. Cutting the net off would be a colossal mess and time investment.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
I try my hardest to remove as much net as possible. Sometimes there will be a stray strand here or there.
I see lots of guys bale grazing with the net or twine still on the bales. Cows eat the hay and leave the net/twine..... yeah right.
Cut 1 round around a field that was bale grazed that way when I ended up with twine in the discbine and an epic mess to cut out.
I see lots of guys bale grazing with the net or twine still on the bales. Cows eat the hay and leave the net/twine..... yeah right.
Cut 1 round around a field that was bale grazed that way when I ended up with twine in the discbine and an epic mess to cut out.
birdog
Well-known member
Where I live we don't have this problem much but I saw a YouTube video of guys cutting bales with a chainsaw. Not sure how that would work with the net?
RDFF
Well-known member
The problem isn't in cutting the netwrap, it's getting it off the frozen bale. About impossible if the bale was sitting on the dirt. Wet, muddy bottom = frozen netwrap INTO that mud. Comes off in a 2" thick chunk measuring 3-4' long x the width of the bale, and only after seriously testing your religious devotion!
So people should use sisal…… simple. If time is more important than animal welfare we are going the wrong way.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
Trouble with twine of any kind and short baling windows is it limits what you can get done in a day. Also more run time, fuel burn, wear and tear, and leaf loss.
Really? We bale more hay than all but one other operator here, only one using twine and we are done first.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
You say "we"... I operate as an "I". Lol
The time in our days to rake and bale are limited here. Net wrap is 30 seconds quicker per bale. In a 200 bale day that is 100 minutes saves using net wrap. That means I can do more in a day.
The time in our days to rake and bale are limited here. Net wrap is 30 seconds quicker per bale. In a 200 bale day that is 100 minutes saves using net wrap. That means I can do more in a day.
Dave
Well-known member
There is no way I can feed twine or net wrap. Can't leave it around either. I am married to the twine Nazi. Every single piece of twine (large or small) must be picked and properly disposed of.
Haven't fed netted hay til this winter. Bought some in Morristown. I am not a fan either. Unless price is right I will not be buying it again.
I much prefer plastic string. Hate the sisal stuff too.
sunnyblueskies
Well-known member
Netwrap is made for only one reason. To save time wrapping a bale.
I don't see it any other way. What good is it after that?
I don't see it any other way. What good is it after that?
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
Studies have shown that in outdoor stored hay their is less spoilage with net wrap as well.
