Twine Twine Twine

A Pile of Twine and netting after a long Albertan winter

      Living in Alberta has lots of benefits, but then again there are many heart ships. One of these heart ships is the long cold, snowy winters, winters that often last from the beginning of November to the end of April. These long winters call for a lot of feed. Many Albertan farmers feed their livestock hay, wrapped in Bailer twine or bale netting. With such a long feed period there is a large build up of twine or netting. It seems as if no matter how meticulous a farmer is on getting all the strings off the bales they always seem to miss some. These missed strings end up laying in the fields after the snow melts, and cause nothing but trouble. 

Wrecked quad wheel bearings 

        The twin or netting left in a field can have many negative effects. Twine can be tangled in live stocks feet or indigested causing many problems. Many times unwanted twine can get caught in the undercarriages of vehicles and cause much expensive damage.  To the left is a picture of a wrecked wheal bearing  I had to change on our farms quad because some string go caught up in it. luckily I could fix it myself to cut costs. 

           Luckily there are other alternatives to using plastic twine, sisal twine is a natural product that can be used as an alternative. It biodegrades very fast creating a easier twine to deal with. Sadly sisal twine has one draw back, it bio degrades some times two fast causing broken bales. This draw back has been the biggest barrier of on farm use. I would like to hear from you, the reader what you think. I would love to hear input on some great ideas on other alternative bale wrapping techniques, or even ways you think would work well to keep the fields free of twine and netting