ROUND BALES

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kerley

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I've been feeding round bales. I am wondering about the cows eating the bailing twine. I clean it out when I can, but I know there is some that I can't reach or see. QUESTION... Will the twine harm the cow if eaten ? If so, How do you feed the round bales inside of the round feeders ? I would appreciate your advice.
 
Our cattle never touch net plastic or strings, But I have seen it many times. My father says that if they have enough minerals, they will not swallow it. Some cows get a behavior that is compulsive and eat all net and strings they can find My uncle has a photograph with a pile of silageplastic originating from the stomach of two such animals, as he worked for the meat cooperative. It is not toxic and does not usually harm the animal, but it can not pass naturally so it stays in there and hinders the the extra fodder that could have used the space.
 
Might not be toxic but if a cow ingests enough bale twine or net wrap it can block the digestive system and could lead to the death of the animal. I had to cut some twine off the neck of a heifer that was suffocating because a friend of mine was in a hurry one time to go on vacation and left it on the bale. Good thing I went and checked his cows that day.
 
after a bad reaction to a cow and plastic, we use sisal twine only for baling our bales. When we buy straw it comes wrapped in plastic, and we take the time to get it all off...we hope
 
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I cut all strings on one side of the roll and then walk around to the other side and pull each off. It is easer if you do it before you sit it down. when feeding with the tumblebug I cut one side and then tie it to the other side before dumping. It then come off when I pull the tumblebug out.
whatever way you do it I recomend that you remove the twine.
 
I want to thank all of you that offered advice about the twine on my round bales. I have another question pertaining to the same subject..... While removing the plastic twine from my round bales I noticed that the bales appear to have been tied as it was bailed. The twine is throughout the entire bale, not just around the outside like in a regular rectangular bale. Could it be the type of bailer used,or possibly an older or newer model bailer. I tried to cut and remove the twine before dumping into the round ring but the string seams to be never ending.....First calve born today at 11:00 am. Guess we're on our way to all that wealth. :lol2: :lol2:
 
I don;t know what would cause it, but that ain;t the way it's supposed to work. Sure owuld jack the cost of a bale up a lot.
 
kerley":30zhkevf said:
I want to thank all of you that offered advice about the twine on my round bales. I have another question pertaining to the same subject..... While removing the plastic twine from my round bales I noticed that the bales appear to have been tied as it was bailed. The twine is throughout the entire bale, not just around the outside like in a regular rectangular bale. Could it be the type of bailer used,or possibly an older or newer model bailer. I tried to cut and remove the twine before dumping into the round ring but the string seams to be never ending.....First calve born today at 11:00 am. Guess we're on our way to all that wealth. :lol2: :lol2:
Click to expand...


I suspect that the twine through out the bail was mistake. The loose end of the twin may have been picked up while bailing. I have had my old 510 roller do that. It makes a mess.
Try another roll.
 
I bought a bunch of corn fodder rolls this year out of a NH baler that must have had program tie on it. Where the two strings started in the middle of the bale they were about two revolutions deep, the rest were on the surface. Reckon it's how fast you stop once the light goes off.

cfpinz
 
We use black net wrap but also buy hay with palstic twine on. We cut the twine off from one sid all the strings and then go over to the other side and pull all of them off. We do this while the bale is on the spear and is off the ground. Then we jsut drive up to the feeder and dump it in. With net wrap we set the bale down on end cut thorugh the net wrap all the way up and down and then jsut ppel it offand then set the feeder down over top with the front end loader or else we do it the same as twine.
 
I got a piece of plastic twine wrapped around my foot next to the feeder once. The bad part is that the other end was wrapped around my bull's foot. I was hopping along in the crap on one foot, trying to get my knife open to cut the twine. Sounds funny, but the thought of it still scares me today. If I had gone down, dropped the knife or just had a meaner bull, I could have been in serious trouble. No plastic twine for me.

Since I put up a barn for the hay, even the bright green sisal is hard for me to see against my hay. Why don't they dye it blue or something so it shows up better?
 
Yea the other day I noticed a young calf eating a piece of bailing twine.(Hope it was only part of one) anyways when we tried to catch him to take it out of his mouth & he swallowed it. Should I worry & do something soon or just wait it out?
 
I run into a bale now and then with the twine all the way though. and even made a bale or two myself like that. :oops: It's a mistake, and can happen easily with hydraulic tie. I have fed thousands of bales with plastic twine on. And so has a lot of Northern climate ranchers. If the bales are stored outside the twine is frozen to the bales. When not, I always take the twine off before feeding. Calves will commonly chew on the plastic. Cows will get a mouthful of hay with plastic in it. As soon a s they realize the twine is in their mouths they spit it out. I've seen it many many times. I have not had a problem. I pick the twine up when the ground is thawed. it usually ends up in compact balls. I'm not saying there couldn't be a problem with cattle ingesting plastic twine, but must be rare.
 
I know I'm a bit late on this, but the string is always cut as soon as the bales are put in the feeder. Mostly because the string lying around makes for good booby traps when your not watching where your going and chasing a few rogue cattle, and it gets conglomerated on the inside of the wheel or PTO shaft on the tractor. I've seen a few calves eat string, but mostly by accident when they're so eager to get at the new bale. A lot of the time too they spit it out.

I've dealt with trying to cut strings from a straw bale that was BOTH completely froze through and had strings going through right to the center. :roll: Doesn't help the nerves much when you've got a few steers head-butting the bale, it's -30 C and snowing, and your fingers are getting numb, :lol: and you've got to deal with a bale that has endless strings attached to it.
 
I cut mine while the bale is still on the forks, easier to pull off. Sometimes I use a utility knife (keep one on each tractor) but what I prefer is a pair of Klien side cutters. They don't get dull like the knife blades do.
 
We cut off and put into a feed sack to burn or fill a wash. If the bails are frozen will roll them with the unroll er to break the ice before taking string or net is taken off them.
 
I have found that it's more dangerous to my feet and the cows feet than anything else. There is a write-up on this in Progressive Farmer this month too....
 

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