HAY MAKER
Well-known member
Used quite a bit sisal this year,seemed to tie a bit better than the plastics.
Your pros & cons ?................good luck
Your pros & cons ?................good luck
sisal twine
- Thread starter HAY MAKER
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mnmtranching
Well-known member
Very good idea for your own use. Truckers can't haul bales with rotted twine.
Jogeephus
Well-known member
Haven't use it myself but am considering it. Good friend of mine swears by it on hay he bales for personal use. He says it will rot on the bottom if you keep it any length of time (outside) but he doesn't have the plastic problems in his fields. Also, he said the cost was a bit more.
We used it on squares this year and the unexpected problem was the mice chewing through it. Don;t have that problem with plastic. Sisal was also almost twice the price of plastic when I bought it in the spring
OP
OP
HAY MAKER
Well-known member
The cost was more,but it sure tied good,I cut the twine off all the bales I feed,thought I heard someone mention that they used sisal so they could leave it on the bales ? Here is some of it.
good luck
good luck
Jogeephus
Well-known member
Would that be considered a "mess of hay" or a "beucoup" or "a lot" of hay? :lol:
Did you have to sharpen the cutting blade any? Or did it work fine without it.
Did you have to sharpen the cutting blade any? Or did it work fine without it.
OP
OP
HAY MAKER
Well-known member
Jogeephus":27wv5mce said:
Probably a mess
as usual,I learned some new cuss words gettin it done,cutter bars get removed after hay season,and all the knives changed when the other equipment is serviced .............good luck
rockridgecattle
Well-known member
In the short term sisal is more expensive. But if you add up all the costs involved with plastic, sisal ends up cheaper.
I live in a cold winter climate. So here are a few things I have to look at.
We can't shut off our tractor in the winter and unwrap 6-10 bales. It's too cold and to hard on the tractor. It takes almost a hour or more to unwrap twine. at least 10 minutes a bale. Why, chopping through ice and snow and pulling the twine off as well as your skin. So, add the tractor running and your man hours to each feeding.
AS well we haul manure. We usually get guys into do it, cheaper for custom done that us to do it. We have to pay the time it takes for the operators to cut the twine from the beaters and the track hoe. At 500/hr and 20-30 min per equipment, adds up.
Add in the cost of manhours to cut twine from feeding tractors...can wrap around an axle pretty good and if not looked after cost cost cost.
These are some of the costs not incurred with sisal.
Drop a bale and go
twine is aready rotted so it does not get on the manure beaters.
Add in time of man hours to clean up what is in the field that did not get cut off a bale,
Don't forget about the repairs on equipment cause that plastic gets everywhere.
How about cows health if they eat it.
these two items i did not add into the cost of the twine because they were not actual costs that could be measured until it happens.
We will not go bac to plastic. We have spent many a dollar on fixxing a cow from twine,
spent many a dollar cleaning the twine from bales and from in the pasture.
The only place on this farm we use plastic twine is small squarre bales cause of the mice and easy to dispose of the twine. And if we buy hay or straw and get it hauled.
Better for the enviroment to.
I live in a cold winter climate. So here are a few things I have to look at.
We can't shut off our tractor in the winter and unwrap 6-10 bales. It's too cold and to hard on the tractor. It takes almost a hour or more to unwrap twine. at least 10 minutes a bale. Why, chopping through ice and snow and pulling the twine off as well as your skin. So, add the tractor running and your man hours to each feeding.
AS well we haul manure. We usually get guys into do it, cheaper for custom done that us to do it. We have to pay the time it takes for the operators to cut the twine from the beaters and the track hoe. At 500/hr and 20-30 min per equipment, adds up.
Add in the cost of manhours to cut twine from feeding tractors...can wrap around an axle pretty good and if not looked after cost cost cost.
These are some of the costs not incurred with sisal.
Drop a bale and go
twine is aready rotted so it does not get on the manure beaters.
Add in time of man hours to clean up what is in the field that did not get cut off a bale,
Don't forget about the repairs on equipment cause that plastic gets everywhere.
How about cows health if they eat it.
these two items i did not add into the cost of the twine because they were not actual costs that could be measured until it happens.
We will not go bac to plastic. We have spent many a dollar on fixxing a cow from twine,
spent many a dollar cleaning the twine from bales and from in the pasture.
The only place on this farm we use plastic twine is small squarre bales cause of the mice and easy to dispose of the twine. And if we buy hay or straw and get it hauled.
Better for the enviroment to.
GMN
Well-known member
We use sisal, when we use twine. Now if you are going to be selling it, and hauling it, plastic holds the bales together better.
GMN
GMN
LaneFarms
Well-known member
Jogeephus":12vdjrfm said:
I tried using some for a customer 3 years ago and my 467 didn't like to cut it. Since then he bought his own equipment and I sold him the rest of the twine I had.
flaboy?
Well-known member
Sisal is all I use. I tried the plastic stuff once but decided I didn't want to cut it off the bales or leave it laying around in the fields.
cowwrangler
Well-known member
i use the biodegradeable plastic,rots away after 2 years
flaboy?
Well-known member
cowwrangler":38i3aqoi said:
Isn't biodegradeable plastic and oxymoron?
flaboy?":38xec819 said:
Plastic without UV stabilizer will turn to dust after some time exposed to the sun. I saw a test on poly twine with varying levels of UV stabilizer in it some where. It is also an extra cost.
hillrancher
Well-known member
I use both sisal and plastic. If we leave hay outside plastic twine hay keeps best. Taking it off when the hay is frozen is a job. Sisal we don't have to keep up with it as close, we feed it when the hay is frozen.
I have always used plastic but not dealing with the strings seems nice. I have a few questions. How long will the sisal twine last before it rots on the bale if stored outside/ inside?? I assume the cows will digest it. From what I read you just dump the bale with strings attached in a feeder as the cows do the rest, is that so? Any problems with cows eating the long twine even if they can digest it? Some years we get a couple inches of rain before it freezes and taking the strings off can be a real nightmare. Thanks
The Bachelor
Well-known member
Call me paranoid, but even though I tie with sisal I remove the strings. I did the highly calibrated "Brad" test with the string and cut a hunk off and put it in my mouth and chewed it. I couldn't break it up with my teeth, so I don't think I want a cow trying to swallow a 6 foot piece of it.
Sometimes redneck science works.
Sometimes redneck science works.
Farmguy wrote:
As for how long it last stored outside, I can't say for sure but hay I've baled this spring already has rotted twine on the bottom. I have found the trick is to get a bale mover that picks the bale up from underneat as opposed to stabbing it in the middle or you lose a lot of hay on the way from the hay lot to the feeders.
I just dump the bales twine and all and have never had any problems.
As for how long it last stored outside, I can't say for sure but hay I've baled this spring already has rotted twine on the bottom. I have found the trick is to get a bale mover that picks the bale up from underneat as opposed to stabbing it in the middle or you lose a lot of hay on the way from the hay lot to the feeders.
I just dump the bales twine and all and have never had any problems.
All I bale with is sisal. I use a well kept IH 56T that just ticks along with sisal. Had a couple of trash bales left outside for a couple of weeks before I could get them to the ditch. Rained on them twice. Those flat on the ground had to be forked into the truck. Those on their side were still throwable.
I put up all small squares and keep them in the barn so I don't have rot issues and the mice never affected me. Maybe I feed it all out too fast? I hate cutting plastic and if I accidentally drop some twine I don't sweat it too much (but I do try to keep all non edible items out of the pasture.)
I put up all small squares and keep them in the barn so I don't have rot issues and the mice never affected me. Maybe I feed it all out too fast? I hate cutting plastic and if I accidentally drop some twine I don't sweat it too much (but I do try to keep all non edible items out of the pasture.)
