I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

Colbyt

On 4/20/2010 3:48 PM, Colbyt wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

Colbyt



I've seen it used, in the past 20 years, in the west.

Used to be used here in Idaho years ago
was mostly abandoned when they came out with sisal then plastic twine
cows got "hardware" disease from ingesting scraps of wire
left in the hay

"Colbyt" wrote in message
m...
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the
bale was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and
never seen baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

Colbyt

On 4/20/2010 4:44 PM, Larry Fisk wrote:
Used to be used here in Idaho years ago
was mostly abandoned when they came out with sisal then plastic twine
cows got "hardware" disease from ingesting scraps of wire
left in the hay

wrote in message
m...
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the
bale was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and
never seen baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

Colbyt

First of all, it is not a combine that tied it, it was a baler. Here in
SE Iowa there are a few individuals that still use wire rather than string.

Don

On Apr 20, 3:48*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. *Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. *I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? *Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

Colbyt

chinese straw

In article , "Colbyt" wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

No type of combine uses wire. Combines harvest grain. Hay and straw are baled
with a baler.

Here in central Indiana, at least, it's pretty common to see wire-tied hay.
Don't think I've ever seen wire-tied straw, but then, we always bought our
straw from the same farm, and he had a string baler.

You'll probably get much more detailed answers over at misc.rural.

On Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:18:22 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , "Colbyt" wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

No type of combine uses wire. Combines harvest grain. Hay and straw are baled
with a baler.

Here in central Indiana, at least, it's pretty common to see wire-tied hay.
Don't think I've ever seen wire-tied straw, but then, we always bought our
straw from the same farm, and he had a string baler.

You'll probably get much more detailed answers over at misc.rural.
I would not go so far as to say no type of combine uses wire or
twine. I know of several combines fitted with balers on the straw
outlet that drop baled straw right out of the combine. They didn't
leave the factory that way, but have been operating in the fields that
way for quite a few years.

"IGot2P" wrote in message
...
On 4/20/2010 4:44 PM, Larry Fisk wrote:

First of all, it is not a combine that tied it, it was a baler. Here in SE
Iowa there are a few individuals that still use wire rather than string.

Don


For you and Doug.

I appreciate both the replies.

We don't raise much wheat, oats or the like here. Or if we do it is well
beyond my 40 year ago experiences.

Excuse my ignorance. I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

Two of the replies are close enough to Ky for me to accept that what I
bought from the BORG was not really all than unusual. Just something I had
I had not seem before.

Oh well the wire will come in handy for all sorts of home repairs. -

Colbyt

wrote:
....

I would not go so far as to say no type of combine uses wire or
twine. I know of several combines fitted with balers on the straw
outlet that drop baled straw right out of the combine. They didn't
leave the factory that way, but have been operating in the fields that
way for quite a few years.

Not, exactly, the bales come out of the baler _attached_to_ the walkers
outlet of the combine...so I'll still say the combine doesn't use it.

W/ the advent of cellulosic ethanol and stover-fired generation plants
there's a lot more of this sort of thing altho for those applications
generally small bales aren't the ticket because of transportation so
what they're doing/trying is pulling a 4x6 square baler behind instead
of trying to attach a small square baler.

--

Colbyt wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

Why would they call it "baling wire" for heaven's sake if it wasn't for
baling?

String tie is cheaper but whoever baled those may simply just have a
wire baler or prefers wire just as we have folks who want net wrap and
others that don't on rounds.

SW KS, wheat primarily...

--

Colbyt wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

Colbyt


When I was young I saw them both. Wire lets you pack a tighter bale,
which let you load and store more. Rodents won't cut it, and it won't
deteriorate as plastic can. But it's hard to dispose of, can kill an
animal if ingested, and needs gloves.

Wire costs a lot more. Nixon applied price controls in 1971. By 1974,
the supply was running out, and many balers needed wire. The price tripled.

Lowes has probably found that they can charge an extra 40 cents without
losing sales. With wire, they need less space and bales are less likely
to break.

In article , "Colbyt" wrote:

Excuse my ignorance. I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Nope. They strip the grain, dump it in a hopper, shear the stalks off, and
spew them out the back.

Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

That's often not relevant. Come harvest time, the emphasis is on getting the
grain harvested and on its way to market as quickly as possible. Baling the
straw as the wheat is harvested takes time and manpower away from the much
more important task of harvesting the grain. There's plenty of time to come
back and get the straw later when the wheat is taken care of.

Two of the replies are close enough to Ky for me to accept that what I
bought from the BORG was not really all than unusual. Just something I had
I had not seem before.

Oh well the wire will come in handy for all sorts of home repairs. -

You can buy that wire by the thousand-foot spool at places like TSC.

On Apr 20, 7:49*pm, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , "Colbyt" wrote:

Excuse my ignorance. *I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Nope. They strip the grain, dump it in a hopper, shear the stalks off, and
spew them out the back.



Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. *That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

That's often not relevant. Come harvest time, the emphasis is on getting the
grain harvested and on its way to market as quickly as possible. Baling the
straw as the wheat is harvested takes time and manpower away from the much
more important task of harvesting the grain. There's plenty of time to come
back and get the straw later when the wheat is taken care of.

A lot of folks won't bale the straw at all, preferring to turn it
under to improve the soil. I depend on the few who will, for animal
bedding & tree mulch, fortunately I have found a few grain farmers
who will round bail straw. For what it is worth I prefer the string,
the mesh seems to always get caught under the bale & then becomes part
of the ground & takes forever to break down. The wire is handy for
repairs, as a companion for duct tape, but is rare these days.

On Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:44:24 -0600, "Larry Fisk"
wrote:

Used to be used here in Idaho years ago
was mostly abandoned when they came out with sisal then plastic twine
cows got "hardware" disease from ingesting scraps of wire
left in the hay

That's what cow magnets are for, but I guess they don't work all the
time.

"Colbyt" wrote in message
om...
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the
bale was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and
never seen baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

Colbyt

"[SMF]" wrote in message
...
On 4/20/2010 3:48 PM, Colbyt wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the
bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and never
seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

Colbyt



I've seen it used, in the past 20 years, in the west.

Here in Southern Utah, the ranchers used so much of the baling wire that
when they took it off the bales, they tossed it in piles to keep their stock
from becoming entangled in it. I have seen piles of it larger than four
pick up trucks, and ten feet high. At first, I couldn't tell what they
were, so got out of my truck to go investigate. I do not know if they sold
it for scrap, or, like any rancher, didn't throw anything away. On some
ranches, there are four to six of these humungous mounds.

But I, like you, thought that they used twine now instead of wire, probably
for cost considerations, as well as safety for the stock.

Steve

On Apr 20, 4:48*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. *Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. *I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? *Is it a regional thing?

Combines do not make bales.

Commercial operations use wire-tie balers because the wire does not
rot when the bales sit stacked on concrete. Mice and rats do not chew
the wire.

wrote in message
...
On Apr 20, 4:48 pm, "Colbyt"
wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project.
Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old
and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a
youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

Combines do not make bales.

Commercial operations use wire-tie balers because the wire does
not
rot when the bales sit stacked on concrete. Mice and rats do not
chew
the wire.

Also, the plastic of tie string doesn't get into wool.

--
Nonny
Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member
of Congress.... But then I repeat myself.'

-Mark Twain
..

Oh, tractor. I thought you were talking about Janet Reno,
and a bunch of tanks, around a Christian retreat in Waco TX.

"Go destroy the compound, Hal."
"Sounds like a good idea, Dave."

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


wrote in message
...

I do some farming myself. Balers bale hay and straw.
Combines strip
the seed from crops like corn, soybeans and oats. I have
never seen a
combine that can do both, but I only do small scale farming
with old
machinery. Some of the new machines (which cost a million
dollars)
can do anything and everything. Heck, they now have GPS
operated
tractors that are supposed to be able to plant and harvest
crops
without the farmer even steering the thing. I guess they
still
require the farmer to be in the tractor in case something
goes wrong.
Good grief, I'd hate to think of one of these 50 ton
machines losing
control and destroying people, livestock and buildings.

On Apr 20, 4:50*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:
"IGot2P" wrote in message

...

On 4/20/2010 4:44 PM, Larry Fisk wrote:

First of all, it is not a combine that tied it, it was a baler. Here in SE
Iowa there are a few individuals that still use wire rather than string..

Don

For you and Doug.

I appreciate both the replies.

We don't raise much wheat, oats or the like here. *Or if we do it is well
beyond my 40 year ago experiences.

Excuse my ignorance. *I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. *That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

Two of the replies are close enough to Ky for me to accept that what I
bought from the BORG was not really all than unusual. *Just something I had
I had not seem before.

Oh well the wire will come in handy for all sorts of home repairs. *-

Colbyt

Usual practice here in wheat/barley country is for the combine to cut
and thresh the grain. The straw is put out the back of the machine
into 'straw spreaders', just a couple of big whirling blades that
spread it out behind the machine. If the straw is to be baled later,
the straw spreaders may be removed to leave a swath of straw or if
they are not removed then a side delivery rake puts it into swaths for
the baler.

Plastic twine is a real problem. It doesn't deteriorate and thus lays
where you drop it for years. People who run sheep do not want to use
it as it gets in the wool and renders it unsaleable. _Most_ people
using twine tied bales are careful to retrieve the stuff and dispose
of it properly but I had a neighbor that just let it drop and lay
there. His barnyard was pretty much of a 'yellow lawn' from all the
ends stickign out of the mud. I also recently hit a piece at another
farm with my chainsaw which promptly wound up in a big, snarled ball
around the drive sprocket and in the chain. Didn't even try to clear
it until I got home.

Harry K

On Apr 20, 4:50*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:
"IGot2P" wrote in message

...

On 4/20/2010 4:44 PM, Larry Fisk wrote:

First of all, it is not a combine that tied it, it was a baler. Here in SE
Iowa there are a few individuals that still use wire rather than string..

Don

For you and Doug.

I appreciate both the replies.

We don't raise much wheat, oats or the like here. *Or if we do it is well
beyond my 40 year ago experiences.

Excuse my ignorance. *I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. *That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

Two of the replies are close enough to Ky for me to accept that what I
bought from the BORG was not really all than unusual. *Just something I had
I had not seem before.

Oh well the wire will come in handy for all sorts of home repairs. *-

Colbyt

Ooops, forgot.

Now that straw is being used for fuel and building panels, a change in
procedure has occurred. The combine cuts the grain as high as they
can (trying to get just the head and a very short stem), that is
followed by "swathers" that cut the standing stubble right at ground
level and lay it in a swath for the the baler.

Harry K

On Sat, 8 May 2010 07:15:12 -0700 (PDT), Harry K
wrote:

On Apr 20, 4:50*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:
"IGot2P" wrote in message

...

On 4/20/2010 4:44 PM, Larry Fisk wrote:

First of all, it is not a combine that tied it, it was a baler. Here in SE
Iowa there are a few individuals that still use wire rather than string.

Don

For you and Doug.

I appreciate both the replies.

We don't raise much wheat, oats or the like here. *Or if we do it is well
beyond my 40 year ago experiences.

Excuse my ignorance. *I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. *That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

Two of the replies are close enough to Ky for me to accept that what I
bought from the BORG was not really all than unusual. *Just something I had
I had not seem before.

Oh well the wire will come in handy for all sorts of home repairs. *-

Colbyt

Ooops, forgot.

Now that straw is being used for fuel and building panels, a change in
procedure has occurred. The combine cuts the grain as high as they
can (trying to get just the head and a very short stem), that is
followed by "swathers" that cut the standing stubble right at ground
level and lay it in a swath for the the baler.

Or the combine can dump the straw directly into a towed bailer.

On 2010-04-20, Colbyt wrote:
I bought 2 bales of straw at Lowes for a seeding project. Surprise the bale
was bound with baling wire and not string. I am 60 years old and never seen
baling wire used and I worked on the farms a lot as a youngster.

What type of modern combine uses wire? Is it a regional thing?

I am curious.

I'm your age and I was seeing baling wire used as teen in CA. I'm no
baling expert, not having spent time on a farm since I was a kid, but
I know I've never been without a roll in my tool box in over 45 yrs.
You can still get a roll in almost any automotive store. I hadda dig
out that roll and jury-rig something as recently as a yr ago. Don't
leave home without it!

nb

"notbob" wrote in message
...
On 2010-04-20, Colbyt wrote:


I'm your age and I was seeing baling wire used as teen in CA.
I'm no
baling expert, not having spent time on a farm since I was a
kid, but
I know I've never been without a roll in my tool box in over 45
yrs.
You can still get a roll in almost any automotive store. I
hadda dig
out that roll and jury-rig something as recently as a yr ago.
Don't
leave home without it!

Bailing wire is the old farmer's version of duct tape. It's
properly disposed of by placing it over a fence post, after
breaking open the bail. grin

the straw disperser. I saw a guy who walked into one when it
was whirling. It flattened him like he'd been hit by a truck. No
lasting damage, but he claimed that he never had to part his hair
again.


--
Nonny
On most days,
it's just not worth
the effort of chewing
through the restraints..

On May 8, 7:45*am, "
wrote:
On Sat, 8 May 2010 07:15:12 -0700 (PDT), Harry K
wrote:





On Apr 20, 4:50*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:
"IGot2P" wrote in message

om...

On 4/20/2010 4:44 PM, Larry Fisk wrote:

First of all, it is not a combine that tied it, it was a baler. Here in SE
Iowa there are a few individuals that still use wire rather than string.

Don

For you and Doug.

I appreciate both the replies.

We don't raise much wheat, oats or the like here. *Or if we do it is well
beyond my 40 year ago experiences.

Excuse my ignorance. *I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. *That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

Two of the replies are close enough to Ky for me to accept that what I
bought from the BORG was not really all than unusual. *Just something I had
I had not seem before.

Oh well the wire will come in handy for all sorts of home repairs. *-

Colbyt

Ooops, forgot.

Now that straw is being used for fuel and building panels, a change in
procedure has occurred. *The combine cuts the grain as high as they
can (trying to get just the head and a very short stem), *that is
followed by "swathers" that cut the standing stubble right at ground
level and lay it in a swath for the the baler.

Or the combine can dump the straw directly into a towed bailer.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

true, I just haven't seen that out here. The current practice where
straw is baled seems to be 'leave high stubble and swath it'.

Harry K

On Sat, 8 May 2010 21:37:40 -0700 (PDT), Harry K
wrote:

On May 8, 7:45*am, "
wrote:
On Sat, 8 May 2010 07:15:12 -0700 (PDT), Harry K
wrote:





On Apr 20, 4:50*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:
"IGot2P" wrote in message

om...

On 4/20/2010 4:44 PM, Larry Fisk wrote:

First of all, it is not a combine that tied it, it was a baler. Here in SE
Iowa there are a few individuals that still use wire rather than string.

Don

For you and Doug.

I appreciate both the replies.

We don't raise much wheat, oats or the like here. *Or if we do it is well
beyond my 40 year ago experiences.

Excuse my ignorance. *I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. *That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

Two of the replies are close enough to Ky for me to accept that what I
bought from the BORG was not really all than unusual. *Just something I had
I had not seem before.

Oh well the wire will come in handy for all sorts of home repairs. *-

Colbyt

Ooops, forgot.

Now that straw is being used for fuel and building panels, a change in
procedure has occurred. *The combine cuts the grain as high as they
can (trying to get just the head and a very short stem), *that is
followed by "swathers" that cut the standing stubble right at ground
level and lay it in a swath for the the baler.

Or the combine can dump the straw directly into a towed bailer.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

true, I just haven't seen that out here. The current practice where
straw is baled seems to be 'leave high stubble and swath it'.

Some examples, in case anyone is interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RWGrpZP37A
http://hoursnotmiles.com/2010/agco-c...r-combination/

On Sun, 09 May 2010 08:52:35 -0500, "
wrote:

On Sat, 8 May 2010 21:37:40 -0700 (PDT), Harry K
wrote:

On May 8, 7:45Â*am, "
wrote:
On Sat, 8 May 2010 07:15:12 -0700 (PDT), Harry K
wrote:





On Apr 20, 4:50Â*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:
"IGot2P" wrote in message

om...

On 4/20/2010 4:44 PM, Larry Fisk wrote:

First of all, it is not a combine that tied it, it was a baler. Here in SE
Iowa there are a few individuals that still use wire rather than string.

Don

For you and Doug.

I appreciate both the replies.

We don't raise much wheat, oats or the like here. Â*Or if we do it is well
beyond my 40 year ago experiences.

Excuse my ignorance. Â*I thought combines stripped the seed from the harvest
and then baled the straw; an all in one process.

Do they discard the straw which is then baled by a different baler? A
regular hay baler. Â*That seems somewhat more labor intensive than I would
have thought modern farm machines would be.

Two of the replies are close enough to Ky for me to accept that what I
bought from the BORG was not really all than unusual. Â*Just something I had
I had not seem before.

Oh well the wire will come in handy for all sorts of home repairs. Â*-

Colbyt

Ooops, forgot.

Now that straw is being used for fuel and building panels, a change in
procedure has occurred. Â*The combine cuts the grain as high as they
can (trying to get just the head and a very short stem), Â*that is
followed by "swathers" that cut the standing stubble right at ground
level and lay it in a swath for the the baler.

Or the combine can dump the straw directly into a towed bailer.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

true, I just haven't seen that out here. The current practice where
straw is baled seems to be 'leave high stubble and swath it'.

Some examples, in case anyone is interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RWGrpZP37A
http://hoursnotmiles.com/2010/agco-c...r-combination/
Reist Welding and Manufacturing in Elmira Ontario (they were Hesson
dealers at the time) were mounting balers to the back (mounted right
to the combine frame) of White and Massey combines back in the late
sixties/early seventies. I think they did a couple John deere units as
well, but I'm not sure (I worked for a White dealer at the time)This
was before the big bales were common - and it would spit roughly 70 lb
bales of straw out the back like water-melon seeds.

wrote in message
...
Reist Welding and Manufacturing in Elmira Ontario (they were Hesson
dealers at the time) were mounting balers to the back (mounted right
to the combine frame) of White and Massey combines back in the late
sixties/early seventies. I think they did a couple John deere units as
well, but I'm not sure (I worked for a White dealer at the time)This
was before the big bales were common - and it would spit roughly 70 lb
bales of straw out the back like water-melon seeds.

Since the last time I was on a farm to see this done, late 60's, that makes
me not feel like a complete MO.

I am willing to admit that it might have been a baler towed by a combine but
I swear standing wheat went in the front, seed was loaded to a hopper and
bales were pooped out the back.

So, thanks for your post.

Colbyt