Hay Storage Methods

[Angus Cowman]

but being of German and Black Dutch ancestry it's my heritage to be frugal.

When I make bales for the barn I will use twine because its cheaper.

if you actually put a pencil to it and do the math the net wrap is cheaper than twine when you figure wear and tear on the baler
on a 1000 bales the baler turns approximately 6,500 less revolutions on net than it does on twine ( this is figured on a baler with dual twine arms one with a single twine arm would have a greater differnce)

and the increased fuel saving of being able to bale more bales per hr on the same fuel that it takes to bale with twine on average you can bale 30 bales pr hr with a twine baler and with a net you can average around 50 so the savings on wear and tear on equipment and fuel and labor savings sure beat the 70 cents pr bale difference of twine versus net

o

 

[johndeerefarmer]

As far as wear and tear on the baler- I don't worry about it. I bale about 500 rounds per year. I kept my first JD baler for 10 years and during that time had to replace one pickup chain (from baling in sand) and a few pickup teeth. I bought this JD 457 in 2002 and so far have only broke a chain and my only cost was for a half link. I have my own baler so that I can bale my hay when it's ready not wait for some custom guy to show up. Most guys will say that you can't afford to own a baler if you only bale 500 bales- I can't afford not too. If I cut my coastal at 4 1/2 to 5 weeks I can get 17-19% protein and TDN of 62-63. If I have to wait for 8 weeks the protein may be 8 or 9 %.

I haven't timed how much longer it takes for twine v.s. net but lets say 30 seconds extra for twine. If I bale 100 bales I spent an extra 30 minutes. Now if my tractor uses 4 gallons per hour, I spent $5.00 on diesel. So both my tractor and baler had to run for an extra 30 minutes! What is 30 minutes wear on a tractor or baler? Not much!

Also when you figure your cost of twine v.s net, you gotta remember that the net wrap option was $4-5k extra. So you would really need to add extra cost to just the net wrap bales.

Now if I was a commercial baler and ran thousands per year it makes sense.


BTW I prefer net wrap myself because it is faster (that extra 30 seconds can feel like an eternity) and because the bales hold their shape better. What I don't like about net is how fragile it is. I use 2 wraps on my coastal bermuda but every time you move it around you have the chance of ripping some of the net.

I am waiting for the patent on the cover-edge net to expire so other's can manufacture it, then prices will come down.

 

[Angus Cowman]

NH will go over the egde all you have to do is run the wider wrap
I run edge to edge wrap on mine

on the net wrap option when you purchase it does cost more but at trade in time or resale you will get 80% of that back if not more

also on the baler the wear is in revolutions not hrs

the bales shouldn't be any tighter with net than twine mine never are in fact on mine I would say the twine bales are tighter and the pressure in increased as you are only holding the bale in a smaller area on twine where the pressure on the net is distributed all the way across the net
you might need to adjust the tension on the twine so that it has to pull harder when putting it on
when you cut the twine on my bales they "pop"

they have also done studies where they say there is NO reduction in loss from water damage from net over twine if the twine is spaced no further than 4" apart

 

[johndeerefarmer]

NH will go over the egde all you have to do is run the wider wrap
I run edge to edge wrap on mine

on the net wrap option when you purchase it does cost more but at trade in time or resale you will get 80% of that back if not more

also on the baler the wear is in revolutions not hrs

the bales shouldn't be any tighter with net than twine mine never are in fact on mine I would say the twine bales are tighter and the pressure in increased as you are only holding the bale in a smaller area on twine where the pressure on the net is distributed all the way across the net
you might need to adjust the tension on the twine so that it has to pull harder when putting it on
when you cut the twine on my bales they "pop"

they have also done studies where they say there is NO reduction in loss from water damage from net over twine if the twine is spaced no further than 4" apart

How does that wider wrap work? On the JD wrap the outer edge is a stretch material that pulls tight against the bale.

Thanks

 

[Angus Cowman]

NH will go over the egde all you have to do is run the wider wrap
I run edge to edge wrap on mine

on the net wrap option when you purchase it does cost more but at trade in time or resale you will get 80% of that back if not more

also on the baler the wear is in revolutions not hrs

the bales shouldn't be any tighter with net than twine mine never are in fact on mine I would say the twine bales are tighter and the pressure in increased as you are only holding the bale in a smaller area on twine where the pressure on the net is distributed all the way across the net
you might need to adjust the tension on the twine so that it has to pull harder when putting it on
when you cut the twine on my bales they "pop"

they have also done studies where they say there is NO reduction in loss from water damage from net over twine if the twine is spaced no further than 4" apart

How does that wider wrap work? On the JD wrap the outer edge is a stretch material that pulls tight against the bale.

Thanks

not really sure as I run the edge to edge wrap
the only rerason I know you can get over the edge wrap is I seen a guy doing it with a NH baler he might of been running the JD wrap

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

just use wider net wrap. We use John Deere wrap.