tying bales for use with bale bed

[LCP]

We've always been a sisal twin outfit, but last year I bought a bale bed and have had a change of heart. I bought some net wrapped alfalfa and found it to hold together much better than sisal when I pick them up with the bale bed. However, our baler does not have a net wrap attachment. I'm wondering if plastic twine would work as well with the bale bed as the net wrap does. I would only put it on those bales I intend to feed with the pickup. Not sure if its worth the expense to trade balers to get netwrap, if I'm only going to use it on less than half of my hay.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Plastic twine would OK. If you don't like that there is always next year to go for net wrap.

 

[Soapweed]

The solar degradable works very well, and doesn't make as bad of a mess as plastic twine, if you miss picking up some of it now and then. The net wrap is much easier to get off than twine, which is a major reason we like it. Baling in the summer time goes much faster with net wrap also. In certain haying conditions, I would venture to say that one baler with net wrap can bale as much as two balers using conventional twine tie.

A neighbor showed me a neat trick just last week. He uses a rubber tarp strap that is the same width as his bale bed. This rubber strap is secured horizontally just behind the full-width tool box. After removing the net wrap from bales being fed, the net wrap is tucked under this tarp strap until it can be removed from the pickup. It works very well, and keeps the inside of the pickup cleaner.

 

[LazyWP]

After I moved to mud country, I can keep 14 bales worth of net wrap under the tire chains, which you have to keep handy for the mud! :devil2: When it rains, which we need BAD right now.

 

[Silver]

We made a lot of bales with net wrap last summer and are regretting it now. If we are to continue to use it we will need to store our hay in a different manner. If uncovered the bales must not touch or they freeze to each other causing a minor disaster when they are separated. Snow should not sit on these bales or the freeze thaw action causes the net wrap to be glued to a 3" thick layer of hay. I think the only way we could use it is to stack and cover with a hay tarp. Possibly stacking on end and covering with a horizontal bale. Either way, what seems like such a great idea suddenly turns into extra work

 

[LCP]

The more I've been thinking about this (and looking at baler prices) I think I'm leaning towards plastic twine. I've got a quarter of oats & peas I plan to hay this summer, half of which I plan to sell. I think I would be better off renting a baler with net wrap to do that work and just put plastic or clearfield twine on whatever I plan to use with the bale bed.