Which describes you?

[Twisted]

There are 2 kinds of ranchers, one removes all of the baler twine and netting before feeding no matter how cold and frozen a bale is. The other couldn't care less and will wait until it is wrapped up and around the shafts of their tractors and equipment next summer before worrying about it. The first one will get you a case of frost bite, the second one is usually replacing seals and bearings when it's much warmer. Which one are you?

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Not a lot of round bales around here, but ill leave the strings on a 3'x4'x8' bale in the feeder to slow them down for the first 5 days then pull them off.

 

[TCRanch]

Netting is removed always. No exceptions. If it's frozen or covered in a thick layer of snow and Mr. TC can't pull it up/off with the spear, I'll scale the bale and literally crawl under it, slowly peeling it off. I don't care how cold it is, that's why I have outerwear and multiple layers.

 

[Little Joe]

It would stress me out to leave netting or string on a bale. I keep my hay in a barn so getting frozen isn't an issue for me but even before I did I always tried to figure out how to remove it. I'm always concerned I'll miss some and they'll eat it.

 

[gman4691]

Not worried about frozen hay here but I do remove all of the netting when I feed…other than that. I could be described as simple yet delightfully precocious…lol

 

[chaded]

Everyone that has done my hay uses twine. Most of them are sisal and the one before last used a plastic. I remove all of it before feeding.

 

[EasTex]

No frozen hay here but I do remove the netting. Don't want the cows to ingest any of it.

 

[Logan52]

My hay man has net wrapped for several years. I like it, though it is tough to get off when frozen.
It is worth it to get it off. You do not have to worry about the cattle eating it or the mess it leaves in the field.
I also buy some hay each year and find plastic bottles and other trash in some of them. This year one even had a plastic mail box rolled up, or at least pieces of one. I do my best to pick up all the trash.

 

[4hfarms]

My hay man has net wrapped for several years. I like it, though it is tough to get off when frozen.
It is worth it to get it off. You do not have to worry about the cattle eating it or the mess it leaves in the field.
I also buy some hay each year and find plastic bottles and other trash in some of them. This year one even had a plastic mail box rolled up, or at least pieces of one. I do my best to pick up all the trash.

I find 'side of the road trash' a lot more than I should. @ $65 a bale I expect that I can feed my cows with it. Have a long list of crap I found in the hay we buy. I was considering buying an old baler and cutter. Seen them sell for as much as my winter hay cost.

 

[wbvs58]

I was going to jump in and say I bet I know which category @TCRanch would be in but she beat me to it, I was correct in my thinking.

Ken

 

[Caustic Burno]

I'm tighter than a crabs ass and that's waterproof!
I remove it, I don't like doctoring bovines or replacing seals.

 

[redcowsrule33]

It all gets removed. What makes me cry is the rare bale where the wrap/twine goes all the way through the bale. What a pain.

 

[Silver]

I leave sisal on. I just cut the strings and unroll. Run over the feed grounds in the spring with diamond harrows and put what I get off in a pile. Whatever I don't get biodegrades soon enough.
If it's plastic string or net wrap I remove every single piece. If there are any little scraps in the spring that I missed I'll hand pick it.
Every so often I hear someone has invented an edible net wrap. But it never comes to market.

 

[Twisted]

Netting is removed always. No exceptions. If it's frozen or covered in a thick layer of snow and Mr. TC can't pull it up/off with the spear, I'll scale the bale and literally crawl under it, slowly peeling it off. I don't care how cold it is, that's why I have outerwear and multiple layers.

I wondered if I was the only one. I keep a stick on the tractor to wrap string around to pull it out.

I had a couple of older guys as mentors and I would take care of their cows whenever they needed to leave town or were under the weather. I learned a lot from them even if it was what not to do.

One guy I don't think even owned a knife and never cut a string or wrap. His wife passed away and I was going to clip his pasture for him as a way to help around the place. As I drove around looking at the layout, everywhere I looked was baler twine. I didn't want to put my cutter in it. So I was going to use his and it had a bearing out of the gearbox with a wad of twine around the shaft. His tractor had another wad of twine wrapped around a front spindle. I took my knife and after a while got it all cut off but the seal was already gone. He was really good with fences though.

Another guy was very adamant about getting the twine off his bales and that every water tank was full and leveled off to the top. Great guy and beautiful stock, but he was without a doubt the worst that I had ever seen with his buildings and fences. I was always scared the barn was going to fall on me getting hay out and I hated when he would ask me to see after his cows while he was gone because I knew that I would be chasing them all over the county.

Come to think of it, both of them were terrible with outbuildings.

 

[Travlr]

There are 2 kinds of ranchers, one removes all of the baler twine and netting before feeding no matter how cold and frozen a bale is. The other couldn't care less and will wait until it is wrapped up and around the shafts of their tractors and equipment next summer before worrying about it. The first one will get you a case of frost bite, the second one is usually replacing seals and bearings when it's much warmer. Which one are you?

I've probably picked up enough wire and twine to go around the planet more than once. First thing I do when I buy any real estate is walk it to find anything I don't want my animals to eat. I would surely never throw a bale out with any kind of wrap still present.

 

[Dave]

I don't feed round bales but the 3x4x8 big squares have 6 twines on them. I get them off and tie in a big knot. Not saying I don't loose one every now and them. If I do loose one my wife is the twine Nazi. She has terrible eye sight but can spot a piece of twine from 200 yards away. Probably 1,200-1,500 pieces of twine per winter I might lose 5 or 6.

 

[Hogfarmer10]

I use plastic twine. I remove mine. I've found that using an old hay hook (made for square bales) really helps me get the strings off. Also, with frozen bales, it's easier to remove the strings if you place the bale on its end and "walk the strings around the bale".

 

[daneg]

I use net wrap and remove and pick every thread.

 

[Silver]

I got one of these the other day for cutting and pulling net wrap. So far I think it's just the ticket. The hook grabs the wrap very well so you don't have to take your gloves off and gives you a bunch more reach which is handy when the bale is in the air on the bale spear. The knife works slick too.

HAY83947 HAY KNIFE TWINE CUTTER

This Hay Bale Cutter Knife is the perfect tool to cut the heavy-duty twine, mesh, and plastic wrap that holds hay bales together. These applications can damage standard knives, but this knife is specifically designed to be used in this way.• Features a heavy blade and uses standard utility knife...

agri-auto.com

 

[R lazy 7]

Net wrap gets removed. Check in the spring for bits and pieces that were missed.