Questions about wrapping hay

We have about 40 brood cows and sell calves at wiening. I am considering buying a bale wrapper and try and take the weather out of the picture when we make hay. I know that it is a big investment for a small herd. Any pros or cons? Tube wrapper or single wrapper. I have ample equipment to handle either one.

Save the money on the wrapper and get spell-check.

We looked at getting some wraped a couple years ago wasnt worth getting the contractor back to chop it for silage so we baled it with our baler and the cost to get it wraped per bale was near the same to to chop it bulk per ton and put it in a pit. Plus you have all that plastic to get rid of and if a bird or mouse eats a hole in it doesnt take long to spoil a bale. So we just ended up letting ti dry and makeing hay out of it.

(quoted from post at 17:41:15 05/16/12) Save the money on the wrapper and get spell-check.

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Go teach an English class.

I bought a wrapper about ten years ago for taht same reason. Used it two or three years, with mixed results. Stinkin stuff to work with, and then you have to get rid of a lot of plastic. Cows always seemed to be so-so with the product. I sold it about three years ago, and amjust getting rid of the last bales. We're burning them. The mushroom houses don't want them.

Since the spelling police aren't helpful, if you aren't selling the balage, the tube type use quite a bit less plastic and generally the machine is a bit cheaper around here. Once you have wrapped, you can't move the tube until you are feeding it out. I've not handled them before, but it looks easy to open up a bale then seal the tube back up tight.

Individual wrapped bales use a lot of plastic, but they can be sold and moved if needed if you have a squeeze. You have to be careful moving them because if the wrap holes you can get spoilage.

I've never seen them, but I've seen reference on forums to bags you can put bales in and vacuum them down tight. Aren't used here.

Will your round baler do silage? Some won't.

I have wrapped hay many times. I like the end product. I prefer the tube line wrapper. It is faster to use and uses much less plastic. I usually rent an Anderson brand wrapper.

You do need to pay attention to what you are doing. Some hints to that may help:

1) Wrap the hay as fast as possible after baling.( For high moisture hay/silage bales) The longer it sets the more air is in the bale and you will have a lower quality product when done. We usually had them wrapped within 2-3 hours after baling. Got rained out once and had to wait 24 hours to get it done. The hay had white mold in the finished bales. Too long between baling and sealing.

2) Make sure the hay is not too dry. Over 30% moisture will work fine. If the hay is between 20-30% moisture it may ensilage and it may not.

3) You can wrap dry hay after it goes through the heat/curing process. I do this often. Usually wait 2-3 three weeks after baling. It is nice to have dry hay that has zero spoilage and the mesh is not frozen to the ground. I just feed up some that was three years old that I had wrapped as dry hay. Looked like it was last years hay. You also don't need to wrap it with as much plastic either. I usually just use about 1 1/2 wraps on the dry hay. Just enough so it stays together. I wrap 200-300 corn stalk bales each fall. I then have good bedding the next summer. Also it is nice if we have had a freezing rain. The mesh wrap will freeze down and tear when you go to move a bale. This is a real Pain with shredded bales.

With a name like that you have nothing to say except worry about spelling.

You could move to western Nebraska. We never get any weather. (waiting for rain)

I had a single wrapper and it did just what you said, took the wheather out of the picture. I'd mow in the morning, let it wilt down, then bale and wrap. You definetly don't want it to get too dry, or let it set too long. WE'd like to get it wrapped in less than three hours after baleing. I do think a tube wrapper is quicker. Two guys wrapping a spin wrapper was handier, but after doing small squares for most of my life, even two people was a godsend.

Balage is very popular for smaller farms here in the northeast. When you compare the investment to haylage with a silo, forage harvester, wagons, etc it doesnt look so bad. Individual wrapped bales are nicer if you have surplus to sell or small fields scattered about like I do. Yes, the plastic disposal can be a problem, but the biggest mistake I see people make is not planning ahead at feeding time. Be sure to keep some bales close by for periods of bad weather. You dont want your only hay left to be in a difficult field to access when the snow is but deep to a tall indian.

I bale mine dry, and wrap, with slip on bale bonnets, and then place in a row. Not as weatherproof, as tube wrapping, but cheap enough to pay for the bonnets. It takes about 5 minutes/bale, to knock the bale over, and pull the oprah skirt down over the bale!

A vet in Vermont tested some wrapped hay after some horses died after eating the hay.There was botulism present in the hay.There have just been several horses killed here from the same cause.Cattle can eat the same hay with out problems.