Silage bale wrap & net remover

thetiredfarmer

Hi I can't decide between the Tanco bale shear or the Keltec bale slice.
Has anyone used either of them and have you got a preference to one or the other.Do they always cut the whole way through the bale and do they always hold onto the wrap and net.What price are they and are they worth it.

Pacoa

Hi. I bought the tanco bale shear recently for 3500 euro.
No it doesn't always hold the net and wrap but that depends on how well you grip it.
Im still getting the hang of it but sometimes even when I grip the net and plastic it still rips both and they come away with the silage so its not perfect. But it will chop the bale in half no problem and leave the net and plastic on top of the silage and when it works properly its brilliant especially when putting a bale into a round feeder. I've no experience of the keltic one but I'd say that it holds the plastic every time but I rekon it'll hold onto a lot of silage too. They're both the same price I think. Hope that helps.

vanderbadger

think they are both in or around 3 grand, i dont know, have only seen videos of them on internet but to me they look messy, looks like they still hold onto a bit of silage along with the wrap and net so you still need to clean that up and seperate the net from plastic, also if your feeding in a passage you are still going to have to push in silage to barrier, if dropping bales into wagon i suppose they would be handy alright. would like to hear though from someone who has one

Pacoa

Based on my experience so far I wouldn't dream of choping a bale into a diet feeder with the tanco one, not with the feeder going anyway. If the plastic and net comes away I rekon you'd have a days work picking net and wrap out of your feeder.

bogman_bass

Just from looking at the videos, the keltic would seem to be a better design but the tanco looks to be of better quality

vanderbadger

Pacoa wrote: »

Based on my experience so far I wouldn't dream of choping a bale into a diet feeder with the tanco one, not with the feeder going anyway. If the plastic and net comes away I rekon you'd have a days work picking net and wrap out of your feeder.

ya true enough, hadnt thought of that

vanderbadger

Pacoa wrote: »

Hi. I bought the tanco bale shear recently for 3500 euro.
No it doesn't always hold the net and wrap but that depends on how well you grip it.
Im still getting the hang of it but sometimes even when I grip the net and plastic it still rips both and they come away with the silage so its not perfect. But it will chop the bale in half no problem and leave the net and plastic on top of the silage and when it works properly its brilliant especially when putting a bale into a round feeder. I've no experience of the keltic one but I'd say that it holds the plastic every time but I rekon it'll hold onto a lot of silage too. They're both the same price I think. Hope that helps.

is it all round feeders you use Pacoa or do you use it to feed alng a passage at all?

Muckit

What's wrong with just using a knife.....:rolleyes:

vanderbadger

Muckit wrote: »

What's wrong with just using a knife.....:rolleyes:

my bales lie flat so i drive into bale with loader, lift, cut an X on the other end of bale and peel back a bit of plastic, then stand the bale on end and lift off plastic with loader witht he tips of the teeth, when the bale is standing on end its easy walk off nett, its a bit of a pain i suppose but i find its the only way to get nett of completely

leg wax

vanderbadger wrote: »

my bales lie flat so i drive into bale with loader, lift, cut an X on the other end of bale and peel back a bit of plastic, then stand the bale on end and lift off plastic with loader witht he tips of the teeth, when the bale is standing on end its easy walk off nett, its a bit of a pain i suppose but i find its the only way to get nett of completely

why not cut the plastic in a circle on the end,drive in pick up bring to feed place cut/pull off plastic then depending on length of silage either cut net under the bale with a very sharp blade if grass is short , otherwise unravel net while on loader if long. this way you only have to get down off the tractor 1 time per bale.

Pacoa

is it all round feeders you use Pacoa or do you use it to feed alng a passage at all?

Havent put anything indoors yet so just a round feeder for now but passageway when they'll be indoors so things will be easier then.
The reason i got it was that i make all my own bales and i chop them start to finish. Very hard to take off the net without half the bale collapsing on top of the net. Then you have the choping in half too. That makes it alot easier to pike the silage afterwards plus you can close the blade down and use it to push the silage in. Harder to push silage with just a spike.
Im happy overall with it and looking forward to feeding bales this winter instead of dreading it.

reilig

Lads, how many bales per year are ye feeding to justify spending that much money on a wrap and net remover??

I feed about 700 per year. All bales are de-wrapped with a stanley knife and the net unwound off them. They are then split in half in under a minute with a foot operated silage knife. I can feed 8 bales in my 4 bay double shed in less than 45 minutes. I can see the merits of one of them if you were splitting a bale into a diet feeder but do you think that people who buy them to just feed bales in front of a barrier have more money than sense???

Keltec demonstrated their model at a local fair near here recently and sold 2 models to 2 farmers who feed no more than 200 bales each per year.

bogman_bass

if you were working off farm and didnt want to stink of silage going into work then it would be well worth it

Muckit

If you only walked into a slatted shed and did nothing, u'd have the smell of silage off ya:rolleyes:

A shower afterwards works for me:D

But I guess if someone needed a bale slice to feed a few cattle, you'd be looking for someone or something to scrub you in the shower

thetiredfarmer

thetiredfarmer wrote: »

Hi I can't decide between the Tanco bale shear or the Keltec bale slice.
Has anyone used either of them and have you got a preference to one or the other.Do they always cut the whole way through the bale and do they always hold onto the wrap and net.What price are they and are they worth it.

Thanks everyone for your opinions I think I will go for the Tanco

de stig

i bought a keltec bale slice. some job for feeding. i feed 22 bales in 25 minutes yesterday morning. dropped all the plastic and net outside the shed seperated it with a fork. there was about a pike of silage left in each bundle made a heap of it and pushed it in with the blade after. i wasn't too sure about the benefits of it until i went to see one working. very well made and never misses a bale. couldn't be more happy with it.

leg wax

de stig wrote: »

i bought a keltec bale slice. some job for feeding. i feed 22 bales in 25 minutes yesterday morning. dropped all the plastic and net outside the shed seperated it with a fork. there was about a pike of silage left in each bundle made a heap of it and pushed it in with the blade after. i wasn't too sure about the benefits of it until i went to see one working. very well made and never misses a bale. couldn't be more happy with it.

you should look at pit silage if you are feeding that much:eek:

de stig

used to do pit silage.i find baleed silage better feeding very little waste

Tora Bora

reilig wrote: »

Lads, how many bales per year are ye feeding to justify spending that much money on a wrap and net remover??

I feed about 700 per year. All bales are de-wrapped with a stanley knife and the net unwound off them. They are then split in half in under a minute with a foot operated silage knife. I can feed 8 bales in my 4 bay double shed in less than 45 minutes. I can see the merits of one of them if you were splitting a bale into a diet feeder but do you think that people who buy them to just feed bales in front of a barrier have more money than sense???

Keltec demonstrated their model at a local fair near here recently and sold 2 models to 2 farmers who feed no more than 200 bales each per year.

You are talking sense there, Reilig. Spending €3k on a machine to take plastic and net off a few hundred bales is overkill. Many of the guys who spend money as easily as that are never slow to complain there is no money in farming.

bogman_bass

Muckit wrote: »

But I guess if someone needed a bale slice to feed a few cattle, you'd be looking for someone to scrub you in the shower

that sounds much more appealing! would it cost you less than 3 grand?

reilig

Tora Bora wrote: »

You are talking sense there, Reilig. Spending €3k on a machine to take plastic and net off a few hundred bales is overkill. Many of the guys who spend money as easily as that are never slow to complain there is no money in farming.

I just think that there are so many other things that I need to spend money on for my farm than spending EUR3k on one of these. They are a luxury rather than a necessity.

Pacoa

I just think that there are so many other things that I need to spend money on for my farm than spending EUR3k on one of these

3.5K or at least thats what i spent, don't know if you can get em cheaper else where.

Spending €3k on a machine to take plastic and net off a few hundred bales is overkill

They don't just take the plastic and the net off, they do split the bale aswell so makeing it earier to feed and pike out, improveing feed out time etc.

PMU

leg wax wrote: »

why not cut the plastic in a circle on the end,drive in pick up bring to feed place cut/pull off plastic then depending on length of silage either cut net under the bale with a very sharp blade if grass is short , otherwise unravel net while on loader if long. this way you only have to get down off the tractor 1 time per bale.

good one ! I feed 60 cows and 20 heifers this way every day,takes about 15 mins. and its cheap

PMU

and I would put the 3.5 grand in my pension fund

reilig

PMU wrote: »

and I would put the 3.5 grand in my pension fund

I had 3.5 grand in my pension fund 2 years ago - now its worth €350. Safer to put it in a bank account or under the matress

Tora Bora

reilig wrote: »

I had 3.5 grand in my pension fund 2 years ago - now its worth €350. Safer to put it in a bank account or under the matress

If you read Morgan Kelly's article in today's Irish Times, you would certainly stress:mad: He is the one guy who has been consistently right about our economic status since before the crash.

reilig

Tora Bora wrote: »

If you read Morgan Kelly's article in today's Irish Times, you would certainly stress:mad: He is the one guy who has been consistently right about our economic status since before the crash.

Frightening stuff Especially when he says:

From here on, for better or worse, we can only rely on the kindness of strangers.

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

I had 3.5 grand in my pension fund 2 years ago - now its worth €350. Safer to put it in a bank account or under the matress

the way things are going I'd opt for the mattress, :rolleyes:

PMU

reilig wrote: »

I had 3.5 grand in my pension fund 2 years ago - now its worth €350. Safer to put it in a bank account or under the matress

a pension is a long term,tax efficent investment.its not going to grow
in the bank or under the mattress.

reilig

PMU wrote: »

a pension is a long term,tax efficent investment.its not going to grow
in the bank or under the mattress.

Its not going to grow in a pension in the current economic climate either so its safer to keep it in the bank or under the matress - at least it won't fall in value there.

dryan

PMU wrote: »

good one ! I feed 60 cows and 20 heifers this way every day,takes about 15 mins. and its cheap

Depends on your setup i suppose.
For me, as a part timeer, one of those bale slicers would save me an awful lot of hassel and time over the course of the winter months.

Have a narrow feeding passage and spend more time getting up/down of the tractor while foddering to open strip bales..

Also, with the bale split, i could also see that less silage would be pulled in on the slats as well.

I would be interested in getting one but its way down the priority list right now.

Maybe in a few years i might pick one up second hand for a good price - who knows.

pakalasa

I was told once to always invest wisely in both a good pair of shoes and a good mattress. You'll spend all your life on either one or the other.

mull09

i unfortunately have not got more sense than money but was thinking of buying one of these out of necessity... i am immigrating and my elderly father 78 is bad on his feet and getting weaker..he will not cut down on farming and continues to feed 500 bales each winter... if one of these grabs can avoid him getting down off the tractor to take the net and wrap off and split the bale for him well in my eyes it is a luxury that would be well worth it for him....

however i would like to hear from someone who has used either as if it does not do the job well thats defeating my objective....
from looking at the you tube clips i think the keltec looks to be sure of holding onto the wrap and net, but the tanco looks a more practical for feeding in a narrow passage and for using as a grab after as it seems it could pick and place silage whilst chopping it along the passage or elsewhere??

Any ideas or thoughts ..
ps: had pondered with the mc hale bale splitter to take the work out of him cutting it with a hayknife but that still is €1200 and the plastic wrap/net has still to be dealt with...

Appreciate any help on the issue.........besides the obvious one which ain't happening...well he's a farmer !!

roadtripman

thetiredfarmer wrote: »

Hi I can't decide between the Tanco bale shear or the Keltec bale slice.
Has anyone used either of them and have you got a preference to one or the other.Do they always cut the whole way through the bale and do they always hold onto the wrap and net.What price are they and are they worth it.

I dont have a bale shear but if I was buying one I thing I would go for the tanco because they have a bucket atachment available for their shear

Pacoa

Hi mull09.

I have the tanco bale shear and while i do think it could grip the net and plastic better, i have been getting the hang of it more recently, it just takes a while to get used to it i guess. Along passageways though i don't think it would mater that much as you could always stick the prongs in the net and plastic and remove them that way (after you've choped the bale in two halfs). The bale slice to my mind will just leave the bale in a heap, you might be able to grab it and spread it with the choping part but what put me off it is that it just looks so big and awkward, the tanco folds up nicely so is handier for manoeuvering around i think. I havent used a bale slice so it might be best to demo both if you can. Any questions just ask.

Bitten & Hisses

OK, so I'm obviously not familiar with the respective setup on each poster's farm, but why is there a necessity to split the bale (e.g. with a silage knife) in the first place? I feed bales along a barrier and all I do is bring the bale in on a front loader (grab with sleeves removed, so it works as a spike). I drop the loader and cut the plastic, then tip the bale on its edge. I then remove the plastic and net, separating them for recycling, after this I pick up the bale with the grab (leaving it on the flat side) and move it in to the barrier. As the cows finish the silage closest the barrier, I just push it in with the loader.
While this system may not be perfect, I find that in my case, it means that I can get the maximum silage in to the cows and only need to go opening bales twice a week.

Pacoa

Don't you find they pull a lot of the silage in through the barrier?

Tipp Man

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

OK, so I'm obviously not familiar with the respective setup on each poster's farm, but why is there a necessity to split the bale (e.g. with a silage knife) in the first place? I feed bales along a barrier and all I do is bring the bale in on a front loader (grab with sleeves removed, so it works as a spike). I drop the loader and cut the plastic, then tip the bale on its edge. I then remove the plastic and net, separating them for recycling, after this I pick up the bale with the grab (leaving it on the flat side) and move it in to the barrier. As the cows finish the silage closest the barrier, I just push it in with the loader.
While this system may not be perfect, I find that in my case, it means that I can get the maximum silage in to the cows and only need to go opening bales twice a week.

This is exactly what we are doing for cows and followers, simple cheap and easy

Bitten & Hisses

Pacoa wrote:

Don't you find they pull a lot of the silage in through the barrier?

Not really. Yes, they pull in a bit but nothing to get excited about. Then again, I find the chopped silage bales disintegrate fairly easily at the barrier. The barriers are the locking type too, which I think stop the cattle pulling in too much.

mull09

i'm looking at a demo of the tanco tomorrow hopefully....
that latter system of pushing the bale in to the barrier is fine but it involves getting up and down off the tractor a bit, this is just what i'm trying to cut out for my elderly father!!

Irishmale

I just use my silage grab, works a treat. Opened 400 plus bales with it this year, works with dry, wet, hard or soft silage bales.

You grab the bale on its round side as low to the ground as the grab will let you leaving the grab open until you get to the barrier.
Hold it about 3-4 foot off the ground.
Close the grab and wait until the bottom of the bale drops to the ground.
Drive forward a yard until the half of the bale on the ground rolls over.
Open the grab and let the rest of the bale fall out.
If the bale is heavy and wet its best to give the half of the bale on the ground nearest the tractors wrap a little tug with the spikes.
You are left with the bale in two halves with the plastic and wrap sitting on top.
When all the bales are out just grab the plastic in one hand and wrap in another and pull.
Easy out.


Ill make a vid and put it up tomorrow or the next day.

lakill Farm

i dont even have a loader .

Atilathehun

lakill Farm wrote: »

i dont even have a loader .

I saw one of those Tanco yokes in operation recently. It does the job I must say, BUT, it is seriously heavy looking. Not something in my opinion to stick on a 100hp tractor. You would want heavy, heavy duty loader / tractor. Then again, I dont have a loader, so maybe I'm imagining things:rolleyes:

Irishmale

My silage grab will then cut blocks of silage from a pit, which a tanco cannot do. It also only cost me 1400 new.

jerdee

the lazy way pick bale turn it up use prong on bale handler to cut plastic and net put it aside for storage in diesel tank cut in half proceed to feed out bale by unrolling it with one prong sideways along passageway then turn around and pick out plastic put it in bin and net also then i get down with my clean boots and f..k off to work ten mins five bales done .ps don t have a fork as bobcat does this too in evening time.

Drawinhard!!

I feed over 500 bales every winter. Use aan old bale handler to lift bales in leave on there end then cut plastic around d bottom then cut from the top down pull it of and leave it aside unwind the net and leave aside into the tractor and pick up bale again leaving the bottom wrap on the ground . Bales are all in the yard so no time wasted. Its a skillful operation not to catch the plastic underneath but after a few youd do it in your sleep . Cheap, fast , easy thanks

Indubitable

For opening bales, We cut off the plastic and leave the net on then lift the bale using the front loader. Once the bale is in the air, we unwind the net. The bales are chopped so it normally just falls apart then, if not, split the bale using a hydraulic bale fork.

Alibaba

Indubitable wrote: »

For opening bales, We cut off the plastic and leave the net on then lift the bale using the front loader. Once the bale is in the air, we unwind the net. The bales are chopped so it normally just falls apart then, if not, split the bale using a hydraulic bale fork.

I do the exact same. I just open the plastic on the ground without cutting the net. Then lift the bale with the front loader. Once the bale is in the air run the knife just a little underneath and take off the net. And then distribute the bale . Cheap and easy.

Farmer Pudsey

I bought a Bridgeway bale unwinder it not good at that as it leaves bale in a heap however now i use it to feed if you go into bale from side take it over in front of barrier turn bale onto end and repeat with however many you need to feed . Get down off tractor cut around bottom of bale slice up side with Stanley knife (disposable type) and remove plastic then unwind netting.Hop back up on tractor push in bales or tip on flat and push in.

When they are chopped cattle pull in very little bridgeway is also handy if you need to break one up for any reason also handy to bed sheds with straw back into shed and unwind. Also it is handy to push silage in next day I often use anothe bale to push in broken bales. I would not buy it to unwind bales however it is very handy used like this as you only have to up and down off tractor once

Donegal09

Pacoa wrote: »

Based on my experience so far I wouldn't dream of choping a bale into a diet feeder with the tanco one, not with the feeder going anyway. If the plastic and net comes away I rekon you'd have a days work picking net and wrap out of your feeder.

Feeding nearly 40 bales a week through the diet feeder using the tanco bale shear :P Don't have to get out of the tractor once, it all depends how good you are on it, and if your loader can reach high enough ! Ours is into an auger type feeder and it works brilliantly, just drive over to the trailer then and let the plastic out into it, no mess, no knife and no plastic in the silage ! Although if it isn't picked up the correct way and the wrap/net isn't grabbed properly it can be a bit harder.

simx

seem to be a good yolk anyway,i know the lad that thought up the idea that tanco bought the patent off,if you are thinking about one i think its a few hundred less buying off him than off tanco,was told exact prices but cant remember off hand and he is a gentleman,lives just outside ballyragget,co.kilkenny uniqueinventions is his companys name,no point in making up tanco for the same thing:D