baling twine - which is best??

This question is distantly related to tractor talk - so I thought it might be OK to post it here. I'm NEW to trying to get a hay crop in, so I don't really know which twine would be best for my round baler AND for my purposes. I'm sort of leaning toward plastic twine that is NOT biodegradeable because I might store my hay for a year or so - or until someone offers to buy it. I've met those who SWEAR BY sisal twine and SWEAR AT plastic twine. I would really like to get a number of opinions (and reasons) from a large cross section of hay farmers. Please chime in. THANKS !!

FredT

Each product has a place. You will see more sisal north of Kansas. Something about feeding round bales when it's cold and not wanting to get out of the tractor cab. It degrades which is nice.
Biodegradeable starts to degrade once it is exposed to sunlight, but has qualities like plastic when being used.
Plastic, you have two types. Slit-film and monafilament. Slit-film is a sheet of plastic, cut into strips and twisted. Monafilament looks like a bunch of fishing line put together.
Now, plastic will hold up longer, but you have to get it up, out of the field. If you go back and cut that area and shred, you are going to replace seals in gear boxes. It just finds its way to those places.
Personally, if I had the option between all of them, I would use net wrap.
Why?
Once you have a full bale, the full bale rotates in the chamber maybe 29 times. If using net wrap, 2 times. Some think this just saves time in the field, but it extends the life of the baler. A baler that has baled 5 twine bales has baled around 100 net wrap bales when you start thinking about full bale rotations.
Some other folks may have different comments.

I use plastic, & hate the stuff.

Started using the biodegradable plastic (Clearfield is the brand here) last year. Still waiting for it to degrade, doesn't seem like it falls aapert very rapidly.

--->Paul

you mentioned maybe selling it,if so hands down net wrap period,only way I have them done. haul and store much better than the other.
Yes it can be a pain to get off to feed if thats the case but if storing longer term and selling its the only way to go. In fact trying to sell string wrapped in this area,only way to get it done is give them away. they just simply don't handle as well when shipping

I prefer sisal twine, the plastics never go away, not to mention they are made with petroleum.

for round bales I would go for net wrap -
next choice would be the 20000 foot plastic - spread the wraps out -
of course i spend the time to take the twine off the bale and pick it up -
but if you plan on loading round bales - the wrap is much nicer

Read all the replies. I use "Hay Maker" RB140 twine. Have no use for net. Net was made so the new balers could make a fair looking bale. If you have to give away hay because the package looks bad then that is a poor job of baling, a poor job of tieing,or a poor quality of baler. As far as wearing out a baler I still have a JD 430 with over 60,000 bales through it. It owes me nothing. I also have a Vemeer with over 20,000 bales baled. I make a 4x5 #1000 bale that is round, firm and looks good. I will not get into the enviromental issues,when the roads are full of campers and boats going to the lake. I use what works.

Sisal breaks down, but not overnight. Storing for year or more isn't a problem, particularly if it is stored inside out of the sun and weather. But even laying down in the field, Sisal doesn't break down and go away even by next year. It's still quite capable of balling itself up in a mower or such. So don't fear exploding bails because of rotted string. By the time the string rots, the bail has as well.

Have always used sisal, but started wrapping bales in plastic last year and found that the strings are get preserved, but are really hard to pull in frozen hay and sisal keeps breaking. I bought some plastic twine this year, but I've had a hard time keeping the twines from coming off while transporting bales. It just doesn't stick in place like sisal and I have to wrap twine many more times at the the start and finish of each bale. I think I will go back to sisal.

For a round baler, and if storing outside as well as selling down the raod, go with plastic. Nobody around here uses anything but plastic on rounds. Small squares is another thing.

Can ussually tell who uses what by weather or not there's plastic twine wrapped around the front spindle on the tractors. Atleast with small squares...

Donovan from Wisconsin

Last year our neighbor baled our first cutting of hay and used sisal twine.

These round bales were on the ground less than a week.

The moisture from the ground caused the sisal twine to break.

I bought 140 sisal twine for the KRONE 260 round baler.

The rolers would not pull/feed the sisal twine.

Returned the sisal twine to TSC and got 140 plastic twine.

Plastic twine feeds with no problem.

Since plastice twine does not 'bio-degrade', Nancy gives the used plastic twine to my cousin.

My cousin Anna braids the plastic twine and 'crochets' it into a sun hat.

Sorry, I don't have a picture of either Anna or the hat.

Hope this helps.

Fred,
If your baler can handle it net wrap is the best answer, keeps the whole bale tight to shed water when storing outside. JAMES, I have my own old Deeres and #5 so I'll vote for a picture of Anna, alright her hat too.

Thanks, guys. As you have probably figured out - I am NOT a farmer, just a small town boy, moved to the country, (disabled), and trying to make the best use of the time that remains. ALL of the replies have made sense - and I thank you for that. Also, I've heard MOST of these replies & reasons before - and they ALL also make sense. So I'm kinda "between a rock and a hard place" with the decision about which to use. As I see it now, there are really only TWO reasons (for me) NOT to use plastic. 1.) It's made of petroleum - a VERY valid consideration, and 2.) many farmers hate plastic because it "doesn't go away".... I asked a farmer who mentioned that: "Well, what about sisal? It doesn't go away either." - and he said something like this: "The cows eat it anyway & it doesn't seem to hurt them."..... Oh well, how can I argue with THAT logic?!!
So I guess what I should do is get some experience "under my belt"... I think I'll continue with the sisal & see how that does. I'll probably also ask some buyers if they would prefer sisal or plastic. After that I should have a better idea of which way to go.
THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL THE INPUT. I APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH !!!

FredT