Grass string

[Workinonit Farm]

I always remove the wrap or twine. I'd rather not take a chance on a possible problem that can be prevented.

Katherine

 

[CattleAnnie]

When we bought this place we discovered that the previous owner had fed cattle here for about seven years...and never picked up any of his polytwine.

On any given day when there's no frost, you can find an end of poly sticking out of the ground, start pulling, and that will end up yarding chunks of sod out and about 20 feet of the original coloured twine. In the process of doing this, you'll also start up four or five different colours of twine, end up with a huge ball of the junk, and find you've spent two hours pulling twine out of the soil. Hate the stuff.

We switched to sisal after the first winter here, and even though it's more costly at baling time, sure is nice not to be yanking frozen polytwine off ice covered bales every day. And then of course, always having to peel away the outer layer of the bale to get to the buried 'starter' polytwine.

If you're determined to use poly, would suggest the bright blue stuff, as it's the easiest to see (and therefore find and remove)on a bale or in the snow. ;-)

Just cut the sisal and walk away. Great stuff. Rots nicely.

Take care.

 

[DOC HARRIS]

We take twine or netwrap off the bales when putting them out now.

Odd that nobody mentioned cutting that twine off the manure spreader flails. (Embarrassed to admit that I became an expert at that.) We don't do it as often as we should, but we try to scoop up all the muck where the hay rings have been and spread it...the manure pack gets deep after a few months.

I guess that's what happens when the 'STRING' hits the fan!

DOC HARRIS

 

[frenchie]

I definitely make sure I pic up Poli-Twine ..

If animal gets twine around and above the foot it can cut the flesh right to the bone...Its a real bugger to get off as well.


Had it happen here...not a pretty site.

 

[purecountry]

We always cut twines off, no matter what kind. We've lost calves to twine balls in their guts a few times. Pretty hopeless feeling watching a big stout healthy calf just go down hill when they can't eat anything and can't push anything out the back end neither.

 

[shorty]

I try to remove all twine, I use plastic , one time I saw a cow with a piece of string hanging out of it's mouth , I started pulling on it and pulled over 10 feet out , I would think it could cause trouble if they got too much

 

[DOC HARRIS]

I try to remove all twine, I use plastic , one time I saw a cow with a piece of string hanging out of it's mouth , I started pulling on it and pulled over 10 feet out , I would think it could cause trouble if they got too much

:shock: :shock: Uh-h-h-h Yea, I guess - - maybe! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: What would you say would be - - - -"too much"? 10 feet?. . . . .100ft. . . .Where do you draw the line?? Or . . stop the twine? as the case may be??

DOC HARRIS

 

[frenchie]

I try to remove all twine, I use plastic , one time I saw a cow with a piece of string hanging out of it's mouth , I started pulling on it and pulled over 10 feet out , I would think it could cause trouble if they got too much

:shock: :shock: Uh-h-h-h Yea, I guess - - maybe! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: What would you say would be - - - -"too much"? 10 feet?. . . . .100ft. . . .Where do you draw the line?? Or . . stop the twine? as the case may be??

DOC HARRIS

I think the point is to pick it up when you see a piece of twine laying around.



That being said sometimes its hard to get it all off especially If its been rained on then froze.

 

[DOC HARRIS]

I think the point is to pick it up when you see a piece of twine laying around.

It seems to me that we are treating the symptom in "picking up the stuff" rather than eliminating the cause by not using plastic non-biodegradeable calf-killing miracle crap! It seems to me that if we can put people on the moon, design 'shock and awe" basement-busting bombs - - somebody should certainly be able to come up with a bale binding twine made out of stuff that won't be lethal! How about - - -a combination of Rhodes grass and corn stalks twisted into a strong cable-like string. . . or some other "naturally-occurring politically-correct biodegradeable tree-hugging acceptable substance that the Environmentalists can sink their Canine teeth into and help solve all of the world's torments by doing something worthwhile instead of the asinine, moronic, and juvenile behavior they waste their time with currently!

Don't Get Me Started!

DOC HARRIS

 

[frenchie]

I think the point is to pick it up when you see a piece of twine laying around.

It seems to me that we are treating the symptom in "picking up the stuff" rather than eliminating the cause by not using plastic non-biodegradeable calf-killing miracle crap! It seems to me that if we can put people on the moon, design 'shock and awe" basement-busting bombs - - somebody should certainly be able to come up with a bale binding twine made out of stuff that won't be lethal! How about - - -a combination of Rhodes grass and corn stalks twisted into a strong cable-like string. . . or some other "naturally-occurring politically-correct biodegradeable tree-hugging acceptable substance that the Environmentalists can sink their Canine teeth into and help solve all of the world's torments by doing something worthwhile instead of the asinine, moronic, and juvenile behavior they waste their time with currently!

Don't Get Me Started!

DOC HARRIS

Any replacement would have to be affordable

 

[DOC HARRIS]

Any replacement would have to be affordable

Just a little attempt at humor there, frenchie! Let's not make a Federal Case out of it. I still think it is a pragmatic and pregnant idea. Why don't you work on it and make a fortune? I'll only take a small % for a finders fee!

DOC HARRIS

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

There is a "Biodegradable" plastic twine out now. It doesn't rot as fast as sisal but doesn't last forever either.

I have a neighbor who used it this year.

We'll see.

MikeC - do you have any info on this twine. Manufacturer? Comparative Costs??? This would be wonderful. If they could just make something that will totally hold together for a year, than biodegrade.

 

[jersey lilly]

Somewhere around 10 years ago, before we put our cows on the place, the uncle that ran his cows on it didnt cut the plastic string and take it off the bales before feeding. I'm still to this day yankin and pullin hay string outta the ground, bout the time I think I've got it all, I'll notice a small piece stickin up, go yank and there ya have it, forty million miles of that stuff all balled up in the dirt.
We cut all strings and take them off the hay when feeding. Nothin makes me madder than to spend hours out there pullin and yankin for somethin that coulda been prevented if he hadn't been such a lazy butt and took the strings off when he fed.

 

[MikeC]

There is a "Biodegradable" plastic twine out now. It doesn't rot as fast as sisal but doesn't last forever either.

I have a neighbor who used it this year.

We'll see.

MikeC - do you have any info on this twine. Manufacturer? Comparative Costs??? This would be wonderful. If they could just make something that will totally hold together for a year, than biodegrade.

Got this from the John Deere site:
Twine
Twine Choose sisal, polypropylene, or degradable polypropylene baler twine. Polypropylene twine is well suited for extra-heavy, high-tension baling, and resists UV exposure. Biodegradable polypropylene twine offers the durability of plastic plus sisal twine's degradability. It retains full mechanical strength for 10 to 14 months before decomposition begins. Economical sisal twine is all natural composition, and biodegradable. It incorporates high-tensile and knot strength, and is specially treated to resist rodents and insects.

 

[cfpinz]

I use plastic twine and always cut the strings off before setting the hay out. Used to use the orange but switched to a bright pink string this year. It comes in double sized balls, 20,000 per ball instead of per pair. All the neighbors make fun of my "pretty pink string" but you can really see it going on the bales. I bought a bunch of the stuff this spring and all of them who came by to "borrow" a couple balls cause they didn't want to go to town came back wanting more.

As far as disposal, wind the strings up when you cut them off and when you go to light your wood stove, lay them on top of the newspaper or whatever you use. Once it gets to burning, the plastic strings put off a pile of heat, helps to get your fire going fast.

 

[Victoria]

We use poly and I hate the stuff. In nice weather it takes no time to get it all off but when it gets frozen on it is a pain. Of course it always gets frozen on here with our Chinooks.
I would like to switch to something biodegradable but wonder how long the strings would hold though and how they hold up to mice and weather.
We had one cow who LOVED eating the twine. She would come up to the bale and purposely pull it off the bale to eat and off I would be running after her to try to get it back. I wrap the twine up and put it in the back of the truck (flatbed) and go to cut the next bale. Well, this crazy cow ran up and grabbed the balled up string and took off. I did catch her that time. I don't know how much string she did manage to eat without me knowing. She started doing it as a calf though and continued for the 12 years she was here so I bet she managed to sneak some. Always a healthy, fat cow with a good calf too. All I can figure is that she saw it was what we took from the bale so figured it had to be the best.
:lol:

 

[ChrisB]

I cut plastic off but leave sisal. I almost always use sisal when I bale. To solve the problem of the bale falling apart after several months, I made a bale mover with 2 long spikes that slide underneath the bale instead of spearing into the middle of the bale. There is still a little that falls off when I pick them up, but not too much.

 

[DOC HARRIS]

I cut plastic off but leave sisal. I almost always use sisal when I bale. To solve the problem of the bale falling apart after several months, I made a bale mover with 2 long spikes that slide underneath the bale instead of spearing into the middle of the bale. There is still a little that falls off when I pick them up, but not too much.

Reality check! Sounds reasonable to me!

DOC HARRIS

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I cut plastic off but leave sisal. I almost always use sisal when I bale. To solve the problem of the bale falling apart after several months, I made a bale mover with 2 long spikes that slide underneath the bale instead of spearing into the middle of the bale. There is still a little that falls off when I pick them up, but not too much.

Reality check! Sounds reasonable to me!

DOC HARRIS

Problem is - we have sooo much rain/snow, that if the bottom of the strings break loose, the bale just keeps "growing" with the moisture & molds inside. Plastic or net wrap (best) keep the bales real tight so moisture stays out. So, even with a fork lift picker-uper, what I'd be picking up wouldn't be worth much to feed.
Biodegradable plastic sounds great.