Bale Wrappers and Balage

individual wrapped medium squares eat up a lot of plastic, and lots of it to burn or get rid of later, make em the right length and stack 2 high across the tuber, and tube em, uses a lot less wrap, tubers use less wrap cause yer not wrapping the bale ends each time if yer gonna move individual wrapped bales, you will need a squeeze to carry em to avoid poking holes in the wrap, and yer gonna have to move em sooner or later a hole in a tube will likely damage about 1 to 3 bales, depending on how long it is till you get to that spot in the tube as for easier to get holes in, that is all dependant on how much wrap ya put on each bale with either option, and is totally up to you, wrap quality also has a big affect, as does kids and animals playing on them, or blowing snow and rocks on them

this is what we see a lot of around here www.tubeline.ca

Jim

One of the biggest factors you need to watch with bales is the variability in your feed. If your fields have varying degrees of quality throughout the field, it is much easier to have a very high quality bale, and then a low quality bale.... And you're opening these Christmas presents every day, and trying to keep milk steady. We always found that there could be some wild swings in production from day to day from that factor. I guess if you go with bales, then you roll with it. I suppose even in the tower silo, there is some of that going on too, but with the bunker, everything is so spread out that feed quality remains fairly consistent. That's something you may want to consider. Mabey if you sat down and did the math on it, you'll find that the investment in silos will pay you in the long haul, even though you don't have so much money tied up in equipment with the baler/wrapper. I know where I'm at, our numbers are dropping by ~5% a year, so there is no shortage of good used equipment out there either. One farm in my area just switched from a bunker silo to 2 concrete stave silos, which they bought used. Had a dealer tear down and move them. So far they seem happy, and the cost wasn't huge. I'm facing the same decision with the milking system and barn, fairly soon. I know what it's like to look for a good answer, and not see one....

Rod

We wrap most all of our hay now and it is a very good substitute for silage. I am very much into the fact that if you make good quality feed, you need less of it and your animals will be healthier and grow faster.

That said we use a trailing wrapper. They both have their good and bad. The trailing wrapper uses more plastic and is slower bales per hour than the tube wrapper, but it tends to keep the bales better, ensiles the feed much better, and each bale is its own intead of getting a hole in the tube and spoiling several bales. Also it is much easier to transport the bales after they are wrapped with a hugger and a wagon and not break the plastic, the tuber has no way to move the bales after they are wrapped.

I also think that the bales take up less space individually wrapped as you can stack them two or three high in an area instead of having them all along a fence somewhere.

The tuber is faster and uses less plastic, but tends to get more holes because of the less plastic. Splits develop where the bales meet and there is more oxygen in the tube to burn so it does not ensile as good as the individual bales do.

Bottom line to wrapping, just like anything, you get what you pay for and the time you put into it. If you want good quality feed, and put the time and money into it, the trailer wrapper is the best. If you want speed and less plastic expense, and can tolerate some bale loss, the tuber is better.

You can see which way I lean, I like the Vermeer 3500 hay wrapper, and I really do not like the tubers. I know a lot of people tube hay, and it is cheaper to do that way, but I dont think they are getting the quality they think they are.

Just my 2 cents, I think it is the best way to make hay, no matter what you use.

The Vermeer 3500 is a McHale 991B.

Jim