OT. High moisture bales

NEKS · Sep 12, 2008

With the weather this year haying has taken way to long. I thought years back they made a bag you could slip over bales and tie for high moisture bales. First question does it work? Second question if it does can you still get the bags? Can call a guy that will wrap them, but he will have to be here when I am ready and he can do 100 bales a hour and where I feed and where the hay is, is miles apart. Thanks

randallinMo · Sep 12, 2008

That was done a few years ago, but very unsuccessfully. You can not exclude enough air out to have proper fermentation and thus lots of spoilage by simply wrapping a bag around the bale. I say wrap the bales with an inline wrapper where you harvest them. You have to haul the bales one way or the other and you'll have more time to haul during the winter.

Mike (WA) · Sep 12, 2008

There was an outfit called "Ag Bag" in Astoria, Oregon that sold individual bags for round bales about 15 years ago. My cousin the dairy farmer tried them- had to hold the bale in the air with a bale spear, put the bag on, put the bale on the stack (couldn't move it after the bag was on), and get the air out of the bag with a vacuum cleaner while tying the end. If it sounds time consuming, you're right. I googled agbag, and came up with an outfit in England and another in Warrenton, Oregon (maybe the original company?), but none mentioned individual bags. They make those long plastic tubes for stuffing silage into, which many farmers still use around here. I think all the round bale silage is wrapped, now.

bob featherstone · Sep 12, 2008

here in southern ontario it seems pretty popular
they have a machine that feeds the large round bales into a never ending plastic sleeve
just drove past a farm that had a pair that stretched a couple hundred feet back into the feild looked like a couple giant caterpilars

Mike (WA) · Sep 12, 2008

Around here, I think it is primarily ordinary chopped silage, fed into the bag from an unloader wagon. Maybe some rounds bales into sleeves, as well, but I haven't noticed them.

Roger in Iowa · Sep 12, 2008

Several years ago I did individual bags. Had excellent results. Baled when hay had rain drops on it. Is difficult to move. Move only when feeding. Did not have to use a vacuum cleaner. Bags puff up but then decline. Silage was excellent. Birds can be a problem by pecking holes in the bags. Use a good weather proof tape to fix holes.

farmer boy · Sep 12, 2008

It works quite well provided that the hay isn't too dry. I wouldn't try to do it with anything but a wrapper of some sort. I don't think it would work to put a bag on becasue you wouldn't be able expell enough oxygen. The cheapest way to do it is probably with a in line wrapper which is most likely what the guy you were talking to had. To answer your question #1-Yes it does work #2- I wouldn't use bags. Haul them to where you want to have it wraped and as long as you do it within a few hours(5) you should be fine.

RodinNS · Sep 12, 2008

It worked OK. Was a lot of work vacuuming the bags out. Wrappers work 200% better. I've got my doubts if you'll find a 6 mil bag anymore. That's 20 years ago...
Individual wrappers were/are more common here. I'm assuming he's talking a tubeline if he's wrapping 100/hour. 40 an hour was the best we ever turned on a trailed Kverneland wrapper. If you go with individual wrap, stand the bales on end, two high if possible. That prevents a lot of bird damage.
We always hauled our bales home before wrapping but it was a long day for us to do 100 bales like that. 200 was doable if we wrapped in the field. Regardless, I'd find some way to do it like that befoer I'd bag them.

Rod

OT. High moisture bales

NEKS

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randallinMo

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Mike (WA)

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bob featherstone

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Mike (WA)

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Roger in Iowa

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farmer boy

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RodinNS

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