Anybody else having problems with sisal square baler twine?

Jason S.

Well-known Member
I went thru the knotters on my old NH a couple of years ago. It has performed flawlessly. I always ran Goldcrest 9000 sisal twine and it never missed a knot. Last year I bought some sisal twine from NH and it too performed flawlessly and never missed a knot. I still had some of the NH twine when I started this season and I baled with it and did not have a problem. It was on a Sunday when I ran out so I picked up some twine from TSC. Bad mistake! 2 out of 5 bales wasn't tied and the twine diameter was all over the place. You could see it as it came out. Some places it was flat when it came out. So that Monday I went to the local Co-op and bought some Tytan 9000 sisal twine and that did help quite a bit but it still misses every once in a while. Usually if you make a round if you see one that is busted laying there in the round that you are baling if will bust one close to where one is busted in the previous row. That sounds like it is in the twine to me. I say that because if two busted bales are in close proximity to each other in different windrows that means the twine was in the same spot each time doesn't it? I've checked the knotters, sharpened the knives. When I went thru the I replaced the rollers on the knife arms, new bill hooks, and anything else that seemed worn or out of spec was replaced. Is anybody else having trouble from the twine?
 
I changed to 7200 years ago because of twine quality and lately even it is getting bad. I am starting to think about plastic as the price of twine never stops going up. Tom
 
Sisal twine quality does seem to have degraded over the years. The twine should be consistent in diameter and without "rat nests".

Bales breaking the same spot in the field, may mean there was a change in the hay itself in that area. It could have been damp and
twine could not hold the bale together or extremely dry and difficult to retain the "fluffieness".
 
I've got some sisal from TSC, can't recall the name, but it is/was the same twine my JD dealer was selling. Overall, it's been very good twine,
but there are some flat and thin spots like you say. I took a pic of one of my bales and after finished, picked up the bale and the twine broke.
While baling every once in a while, a bale would just bust open from twine breakage - away from the knot. The twine is green in color. One
thing is - this twine doesn't like to set in the twine box and draw moisture over the winter. I use it, I don't trust it. I'm considering plastic twine at
half the cost. I use this TSC twine in both my NH68 and JD348 and I buy it on clearance and/or with a sale coupon I get in the mail at times -
just got a $5 off $25 and a $10 off $50 purchase, so $52 sisal 9000 twine for $42. I'm also considering 7200 too. I can't imagine the bales I
made this year (read very tight), many of them surviving the trip from a bale thrower to a wagon.
 
Ya,the 16000 for the round baler's been that way. It's pulled right apart more than once. I watched a piece come through yesterday was wasn't holding by more than a few strands.
 
This year I bought the expense green twine the dealer said was premium....wrong! Just went back to TSC brown. Tie
performance about the same. Poly ties better, but I hate the stuff around animals.

Lots of obvious variation in the thickness of the sisal twine coming out of the spool. And both ends of the spool are a
mess making transitions to new twine difficult. If we could find out, we would probably learn that there is only one
twine factory in the world.... making all the twine, in different colors and for different brands.
 
We run Jaguar 9000 through a IH 47 have it set pretty good only misses (on average) around 1-3 in 100-200 bales (pending hay condition)
I think our problem is more wear over twine (don't pull off of knotters right), have a few that snap right next to the knot right out of the chamber(or worse when handling), that is likely twine. Those if we see soon enough they can be tied together with a patch chunk.

If a bale break in same space of field its hay, if seemly constant regardless of field/hay condition: likely machine adjustment, if random think twine or machine.

Check to make sure the twine path is clear(box tension, direction blocks, needles....), a big wad of fuzz(or mud)or a sharp edge someplace can cause unnoticed twine problems. Unnoticed till one breaks anyway and causes a chain reaction(jams, slop, more garbage build up) of bad bales for a spell.
 
Had the same problem over a year ago here. believe it or not found some stuff from south america it was thicker but worked great and was strong.
 
I was told that there was/is a drought or something causing the sisal plant to be too short,causing twine issues.Anyone else hear that? Mark
 
I did a couple years ago and went to 7200
plastic. Haven't had a problem in 3500ish
baled now. Keep thinking about trying 9000,
but when everything is going good, its hard
to change. They say some of the older balers
won't handle plastic, but the nh 311 likes
it.
 
Every now and then we have twine issues. We buy from either tsc or fleet farm. It's the same twine in different packaging to be honest.

Sometimes, we'll get a make of twine that has seemingly random spots that break, and when it switched to the next pair of balls, those problems go away. Last weekend we got some decent twine, as we did about 750 bales in one day and only had 3 break. We did another 300 a couple days before hand and had probably 5 break or untied, and some of that was a bad switchover.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
I changed to 7200 plastic last year on my 336JD. It had NH regular bill hooks and I just tied the plastic to the sisal. It changed over, no problems on either side. Plastic less than half price and maybe one loose bale in 2000. I'll never use sisal again......Ron
 
(quoted from post at 17:29:28 07/24/16) I went thru the knotters on my old NH a couple of years ago. It has performed flawlessly. I always ran Goldcrest 9000 sisal twine and it never missed a knot. Last year I bought some sisal twine from NH and it too performed flawlessly and never missed a knot. I still had some of the NH twine when I started this season and I baled with it and did not have a problem. It was on a Sunday when I ran out so I picked up some twine from TSC. Bad mistake! 2 out of 5 bales wasn't tied and the twine diameter was all over the place. You could see it as it came out. Some places it was flat when it came out. So that Monday I went to the local Co-op and bought some Tytan 9000 sisal twine and that did help quite a bit but it still misses every once in a while. Usually if you make a round if you see one that is busted laying there in the round that you are baling if will bust one close to where one is busted in the previous row. That sounds like it is in the twine to me. I say that because if two busted bales are in close proximity to each other in different windrows that means the twine was in the same spot each time doesn't it? I've checked the knotters, sharpened the knives. When I went thru the I replaced the rollers on the knife arms, new bill hooks, and anything else that seemed worn or out of spec was replaced. Is anybody else having trouble from the twine?

Usually always ran Brazilian gold when TSC had it....last year they didn't and ended up getting the country line brand sisal. Absolute garbage. VERY inconstant sized twine.
 
Yes, I think sisal twine has gotten less quality over the past few years. Inconsistent diameter, thin spots, rats nests.
Unfortunately there are only a few twine mills, and your chances of getting something different by changing brands is
questionable. I have opened three different bales of twines of different brands, to find identical balls with same wrapper inside.
Bought my supply for the summer at TSC this spring with a 10% coupon, hoping to get a bunch of NOS, but don't think I got lucky.
 
I raise sheep for wool, I cannot risk getting plastic twine in the wool. Also is hazardous to animals. Stuck with sisal.
 

I feel bad for those that have to stick with sisal. Plastic cures so many twine issues. I haven't seen good quality sisal in close to 10 years. Of course, with it being twice the price of palstic or more, I wouldn't buy it anyway.
 
for the past 30 years I have bought twine from our local family center, past 10 years or so I have had lots of problems. They did not have any this year, went to the local coop and picked it up -- and lo and behold no problems so far. I think family center twine is the same as TSC, at least it was years ago.
 
Yes, I've had trouble with the cheap twine at TSC and other farm stores.

Best advice is to you is to find a New Holland dealer. Their twine is either branded CNH or is called HOLLAND and is good quality. I had a JD territory rep tell me that if a customer complained of their JD baler missing less than 1 in 25 then it was likely the twine at fault; he said that NH twine was always the best quality available anywhere. Check twine tension (coming from the twine box) to ensure it has proper tension and make sure the wiper arm knife is sharp.

I paid $57 for 2 balls of HOLLAND brand twine at a CNH dealer this summer....not a single problem on my old 24T JD baler in 400 bales so far.

Tyler in IL
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We pulled the 14 t out of storage (haven't used it in 7 years) to bale 2 acres of hay. I put green sisal 9,000 ft green twine and after 4-5 bales I
didn't miss any on 157 bales. We used to use Brazilian gold and that worked well but the local co op stop carrying it and tractor supply just
started carrying it. I am thinking about trying orang line 9,000 ft poly as we have had no problem with it in the Hesston online 4550. The poly
seems to have better consistency over the sisal and I can use the poly to tie things up with out having to worry about it rotting away.
 
(quoted from post at 00:29:46 07/27/16) Yes, I've had trouble with the cheap twine at TSC and other farm stores.

Best advice is to you is to find a New Holland dealer. Their twine is either branded CNH or is called HOLLAND and is good quality. I had a JD territory rep tell me that if a customer complained of their JD baler missing less than 1 in 25 then it was likely the twine at fault; he said that NH twine was always the best quality available anywhere. Check twine tension (coming from the twine box) to ensure it has proper tension and make sure the wiper arm knife is sharp.

I paid $57 for 2 balls of HOLLAND brand twine at a CNH dealer this summer....not a single problem on my old 24T JD baler in 400 bales so far.

Tyler in IL
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I was at the CNH dealer yesterday. The only sisal square baler twine they had was called Tyrite. I had never heard of it. The only sisal that the TSC here carries is the county line garbage. I've called around and checked and nobody has or can get 7200 sisal twine either.
 
Finally found a pic of the twine I'm using, hopefully it will show up OK. Got it from the local JD dealer. Don't think it's quite as good as the New
Holland twine I bought a few years ago, but the price was right at about $42 per two roll pack, so I loaded up. For a time late last summer, TSC
had this same twine. The stuff seems a little stiff and occasionally a bale will break for no apparent reason - probably a thin spot. At the time I
bought this twine, New Holland twine was north of $60 per two pack. Right now if you go to TSC's website, there is an advertisement banner
for $10 off a $50 purchase, so if you can find this twine, it would be in the $42ish range with the discount. Might be worth a try. I use it in both
my JD348 and New Holland 68. It doesn't like to be left out in the twine box though, seems to mold easily and loose strength. I've been pulling
the twine after baling and putting it in a dry building. Once in the barn - OK.

Also is a pic of a bale from our JD348 - nice tight bale using this twine.

Hope this helps.

Good luck,
Bill
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