From: TJ@noneofyour.business   
      
   On 06/04/2013 10:01 AM, Jim Beard wrote:   
   > On 06/04/2013 08:44 AM, TJ wrote:   
   >   
   >> I use a pretty bright blue-colored poly baling twine these days..   
   >   
   > That piques my curiosity.  In my hay-baling days, high-quality sisal   
   > twine was the best available.  Some preferred wire, but hardware disease   
   > precluded my father from even considering use of it.   
   >   
   Sisal isn't what it used to be. What is? We make hay for sale for   
   horses, 36-inch bales at 55-60 pounds each. That's a little big and   
   heavy compared to some - 45-50 pound bales are more common - but our   
   customers seem to like them. When I was a kid, you could get along with   
   10K foot bales(2 balls/bale) of sisal twine, but it would break just a   
   little too much for sale hay. 9K twine was better, thicker, stronger.   
      
   By the time my brother and I took over the farm, the 9K twine had   
   changed to the point where it was about as thick as the 10K twine used   
   to be, and it was uneven to boot. (Kinda like the way tuna cans hold 5   
   oz. these days, where they used to be 8) So, we went to 7200 twine -   
   same price per bale of twine, less twine. It was uneven too, but at   
   least the thin spots were thick enough to hold.   
      
   Then came a year where a heavy rain flooded out a big twine warehouse in   
   PA, ruining all their sisal twine. Suddenly all we could find for a   
   while was poly, so we used that. We haven't gone back.   
      
   > What are the merits and demerits of the stuff?   
   >   
   > I can comprehend that synthetic might well be cheaper these days, but if   
   > the stuff is durable I would expect it to be hard on the cutter in the   
   > knotter.  Add to that, the stuff would not likely be bio-degradable, so   
   > it would accumulate where you feed. Stretching a bit, might it cause a   
   > mild form of hardware disease? I would expect it to just pass through   
   > rather than collect in the rumen, but expectations do not always match   
   > realities.   
   >   
   The two biggest advantages are that it's cheaper and it's extremely even   
   in thickness, so it actually works better in our old baler than sisal.   
   It's more durable than sisal, but after some ten years of using it I   
   can't say it wears the knotter any faster. It's less... abrasive than   
   the sisal, easier on the fingers. Stretch seems about the same.   
      
   When we feed (we have a few dairy beef animals to eat the hay not good   
   enough to sell) we always pick up the twine, so that's not a problem. I   
   have seen some get away to where the cows eat, but I have yet to see one   
   eat it, and there's been nothing in the manure to indicate they did.   
   It's probably recyclable, but I don't know if there's anybody around   
   that does it. We just fill a bag with the used twine and put it out with   
   the trash/recyclables and let the hauler decide which section of the   
   truck to put it into.   
      
   The stuff just works better for us. We bought ours in February at the NY   
   Farm Show in Syracuse, from a guy from PA who gives us a special show   
   price. Most guys around here who use poly get the orange-colored stuff.   
   Ours is bright blue, which we think looks better against the green hay.   
   It also gives our hay a unique "signature," good for marketing.   
      
   All I know is, people go out of here with pickup loads of hay and come   
   back over and over with smiling faces. It probably isn't the twine, but   
   why mess with what works?   
      
   TJ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)