Jake in SD

New User
Im starting to put up hay for my first year next summer. I'm 16 and decided its now or never and have put my outfit together. My question is what type of twine to use on hay for sale. Sisal, plastic, or biodegradable plastic. What brand of twine, and what weight? Thanks in advance, Jake in SD
 
Jake, you need to post what kind of equipment you are going to use, such as the brand and model number of your baler before folks can recommend what twine might work best. Tom
 
As much as I dislike plastic in the fact it never rots away, I use
plastic because it never rots. That means it is critical all twine
is carefully removed when the bales are fed. I used to use
sisal, but after about a month of sitting, the bottom twine would
be rotten and a large part of the bottom of the bale would be
wasted when you went to pick it up with a spear. This is on
large round bales stored outside. I use the 20,000 size. If I had
inside storage I'd go back to sisal and tip my bottom bale on
end, then stack a couple more on top, that way the sisal twine
would never have ground contact. I have seen others do this
outside, but the bottom bale on end is now exposed to water
running in to it when it rains. I've seen some pretty nasty bales
from doing that.
For my squares that are stored inside, I use sisal 9,000.
What little hay I have bought and sold, (I mostly use all my
own hay for my cattle), I always try and buy hay with plastic or
net wrap, and when I have sold hay, buyers always specify if it
has plastic twine over sisal when buying.
I buy all my twine at fleet farm. That is the cheapest place I
have found. I believe it is Jaguar brand?
 

I use plastic, 9K on the squares and 20K on rounds, simply because I need plastic on the rounds and I can't get good sisal anymore at a decent price for the squares.
 
Jake, May I say If your Baler will do Net-wrap, It will help make You look better, Because your final product will have eye appeal to any potential customers you sell hay to!, Clients whom you may bale for!, the Net-wrap will last a long time, and also shed water better and help reduce spoilage!
Even Poorer quality Hay will bring more due to quality packaging! Especially when dealing with Urban/Suburban people who want some of that pretty hay for their critters! Hope this helps!
Later,
John A.
 

If you already have customers lined up then ask them which they prefer. That's the way I do it. Most of my customers are horse people and they want sisal but I do have one that likes plastic. I round bale it with which ever they prefer. Now on square bales all I bale with is sisal. I buy my round baler twine from local Massey dealer. Agco 20000ft is cheaper than anywhere else I have checked. For square baler twine I get Goldcrest 9000 from my local Co-op. It usually cost $4.00 to $5.00 more than elsewhere but I have better luck out of the Goldcrest.
 
(quoted from post at 07:07:01 01/04/15) Jake, you need to post what kind of equipment you are going to use, such as the brand and model number of your baler before folks can recommend what twine might work best. Tom

My baler is approximately a 1990 Hesston 560. It has a single twine arm; but it is in very good shape.
 
One rounds I use sisal and on squares I use the plastic stuff. Twine is pretty much twine weather you buy it at a farm and home store of the tractor dealer
 
I use to use sisal on squares and then I bought a different baler. Previous owner used 7200 plastic so I gave it a try. Seems to work good for me. On the round baler I use 20000 plastic as my bales sit outside. One thing I did learn this year is not all twine is the same. I got some 20000 on sale at TSC and that was not worth it. Just doesn't seem as strong or stay on the bale as well. Seems that almost every bale I have picked up the twine pops. That's not fun when you try loading a wagon or trailer. Usually get my twine from my IH dealer and that works well. By the way using a CIH 8530 square baler and a JD 330 round baler.
 
John A you are right about net wrap looking better. But this summer my friend had some of his hay baled and net-wrapped and the rest wrapped with twine. Baled from the same field and same day. In fact the net wrap was baled last. Bottom line ALL the net-wrapped hay got hot and spoiled. None of the twine bales spoiled. These were 5X6 and for sure 6ft. Vic
 
Vic, You and I, Both Know that the only way hay spoils in the bale, and it wasn't rained on after baling.... is Baler-Error! He Baled it Toooooo Green! Granted here in South Central Texas Too-dry is our long suit I have never Seen hay spoil in the bale when it was dry to begin with! Has NOTHING to do with the Net-wrap.
Sounds like the Baler-man was compromised and needed a 1/2 day or so of dry weather and didn't get it or had a rain coming in, needed to get to another customer, Something! that hay was bales Green No 2-ways about it!
Not my first Rodeo!
Later,
John A.
 
I've used plastic and had it degrade on the bottom and
biodegradable and it never broke down. Right now I am
feeding last year's hay and I don't need a knife to cut the twine
- every single bale has it rotted in two and it just pulls off. It
wasn't supposed to, but it does. If it is too cold out I end up
with about half a mile of it strugng across the barnyard and
around every axle on the place. It makes me crazy. I sure wish
it had been as resilient as they say it should be.

The only reason I enged up with the "earth friendly" junk was
they were out of the usual orange. It is light green and nearly
impossible to see on the bale when you are cutting it off. I
hate that green junk.

All of my squares are sisal. I like it that way but the mice will
chew the bales apart in the mow.
 
We ran two of those balers (560 and case ih 8460 same thing)
use 16,000 ft. sisal, works well. You can buy a double tie arm
kit for them. Or make one like we did. They also sell a heavy
duty clutch kit for that baler. Good luck
 
I use plastic on rounds, sisal on squares.

I don't like the plastic - no matter how careful I am I still find pieces of it around. But the amount of waste using plastic over sisal when storing round bales outside makes it worth the extra work.

I usually use 9000 sisal on the squares (using a NH 311 currently), but will use whatever is around if I have to. This baler and the last one I had (NH 271) don't really seem to care about the twine, they just work.
 
What strength round bale plastic are you using? Down here we have 110, 130, or 140 to select from. Been using the 140 which misses cutting off now and then even though I sharpened the cutter. Have some 110 I bought for this year thinking it will cut easier but forget about it's endurance on the ground side. Oh well, we'll see in a couple of years. Really don't know if it will make a difference.

Mark
 
What strength round bale plastic are you using? Down here we have 110, 130, or 140 to select from. Been using the 140 which misses cutting off now and then even though I sharpened the cutter. Have some 110 I bought for this year thinking it will cut easier but forget about it's endurance on the ground side. Oh well, we'll see in a couple of years. Really don't know if it will make a difference.

Mark
 
I believe it is the 110. It's made by TYMAX. Guess I should pay better attention. Was in a hurry and really didn't look.
 
Use Titan 9600 170# test plastic twine. Buy it from the local IHC dealer, think it is around 35 or 36 dollars per bale.
Do not have any hay myself only do custom baling, around 5 to 6 thousand a year. Tried the 130# test twine but had to many broken bales from farmers picking them up and putting in barn.
I will only buy 170# test, customers like it better.
 
Whatever your customers want.... I run 20,000
plastic, 16,000 sisal, and net wrap on rounds and
7200 plastic on my squares, I try to buy some
squares with 9000 sisal on them. Because, no matter
what you have, you will get a customer that is 'if
only'.... but my preference for selling is netwrap
on rounds and 7200 plastic on squares. For feeding I
prefer sisal and feed with twine on.
 
BradyW, will you give me some information on where to buy a second twine arm for my baler and how one might hook it up. I'm also curious about how you built yours. Please and thanks
 

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