Square Bale Hay Twine...sisal or poly

[55deere70]

Which do you guys prefer? We always used sisal and had trouble sometimes with moisture. We switched to 9000 poly and reliability increased noticeably. I also like that it is cheaper and can leave it in the twine box without worrying about the twine rotting on the bottom of the ball.
 

[old]

I use the sisal only with the round bales and the poly with the squares. I do not like trying to pick up a bale and have it stay on the ground or loft floor due to the twine rotting
 

[Longmeadow farm]

I use biodegradable poly twine on round bales that will sit outside. I
am slowly switching to all poly, even for under cover storage as
the bales appear to keep better..I believe poly doesn't stretch as
much. If I were still making small square bales, i'd use poly. You just have to be a bit more vigilant as poly can kill cattle and it creates a mess on the manure spreader beaters.
 

[RayP(MI)]

I use sisal exclusively. Reason is that is biodegradable. We raise sheep for wool, and the plastic twine is nasty to get out of the fleeces. Several years ago we had a renter/farmer who used plastic. Lost a lot of pieces - worked for several years cleaning up his mess. Plastic gets into all kinds of machines, like spreaders, rotating mowers, etc. Plays hob with bearings. At least the sisal breaks down, isn"t so likely to mess up machines. Also a note that many older balers were designed for sisal and don"t play well with plastic.
 

[farmer boy]

Always used 9000 sisal with the 273 baler, because it had trouble tying poly, but when we got the 315, we used a bit of poly, it tied fine, but the thrower kept burning the poly off, so we're back to the expensive sisal. Nicer on the hands anyways, especially with a thrower rack. Round bales have always used 28,000 poly, it's not biodegradable, but if you can be particular about getting every last string off the bale and put it in a place far away from the manure piles and the calves, it's not a huge deal.
 

[j hikemper]

sisal for my farm , plastic if they are being sold out,,.m .ferguson 12 dont care what kinda twine ,, it worx great with either..plastic twine is nice for repairing electric fences , perfect insulator that is good for 2 yrs in the sun , and longer in shade ,,. its good stuf ,except i cringe thinkin a calf mite get a pc of twing haf -hihed at the ankle and ruin a foot.../
 

[Don-Wi]

That's funny. We tried poly in our #12 and it absolutely didn't like it. Could have been the brand tho. We use sisal, ussually 9000 but once in a while we need to use 7200.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 

[cydectin]

Quit using sisal twine due to inconsistent size and price. Running plastic twine 9000 ft. with 130 knot strength and no problems through a Ford 532. Would not go back to sisal.
 

[Dave H (MI)]

I only use twine that biodegrades for all the reasons Ray said below. I have pulled too much of it from festering wounds on the legs of poultry after they got wrapped up in it. Always pulling it out of the ground even now years after it was no longer used. I can look at an end of sisal and judge the quality (too thin) and have great luck with it.
 

[Bret4207]

All poly here. 9000 for the squares, 20,000 for the rounds. I went to poly on the squares because of inconsistency. With new feeder tines and a poly my ancient NH68 works like new. Yes, you have to be more observant about keeping it picked up, but it's worth it to me.
 

[Larry NEIL]

Only plastic 9000 for my Oliver 720. I use an 8 bale drag on the ground accumulator, and if the hay is thin and bales drag a little too long the sisal won't hold up.
As for clean up, if you can't remember to pick bale string, you ain't wewlcome on my place!
Larry NEIL
 

[rankrank1]

[kyhayman]

7200 poly in the square baler and 20,000 poly in
the round. I'll custom apply sisal for a dollar a
roll more and try to put sisal on what Im feeding
since I dont like cutting strings off but I
usually end up feeding my rejects so I cuss and
cut, lol. The 30 percent cost savings and 30
percent more twine make it something I cant afford
not to do. Last year we used 3 pallets of twine,
and I still ended up begging at the farm stores in
October trying to find some. Ended up using 9000
sisal on my last few hundred rounds.
 

[dubv]

Only Sisal, my customers all but demand it, and as posted above,
the plastic twine makes a mess in bearings and getting wrapped up
in equipment. My equipment works better with the sisal, but most
importantly my customers tend to only want sisal around their
animals.
 

[dboll]

There is not a problem with plastic square baler twine laying around unless someone is too lazy to pick it up and dispose of it. Sometimes a little plastic can get left on a round bale if it is froze in.