How many wraps of net you should use?

Net wrapping is quite a reliable way to ensure your bales are in safe and sound to the moment they are consumed. But if you want everything to be done right, you should clearly understand how many wraps of net is enough for each bale. It actually depends on some important factors, described here. Using these recommendations, you can count how much bale net you need to buy to pack your crops considering bale net wrap sizes you are using. It will help you to evaluate fair prices for bale net wrapping, taking into account roll’s length.

Also, we have an online tool that helps farmers to calculate right number of bale net roll that he has to buy for the harvesting. You can use this tool for free here.

How many wraps do you need depending on crop type?

It is obvious, that different crops have different characteristics – density, fractions size, water absorption, sharp parts, etc. Certainly, silage is easier to bale than straw. For example, if you use for the hay as many wraps as for the silage, your bale will definitely collapse. That’s why if you used to use the same number of wraps for all your crops – it’s a big mistake, you should avoid.

Considering our customers’ experience and the recommendations of major manufacturers, we advise everyone to use the following number of net layers.

From 2 to 3 wraps for silage.
From 3 to 4 for most types of hay and cereal grains.
From 4 wraps for straw.

These numbers are minimum recommended for effective bale net wrap cost per one bale. But you still have to make some extra wraps if you have conditions, described below.

How many wrapsdo you need depending on of bale diameter

Numbers of wraps described above are used with standard-like bale diameters. Because bale net wrap rates are accurately determined, and if you want to make some bigger bales, you should add some extra wraps.

When it comes to silage, the optimal diameter is 1.2 meters, and it means you need to add at least half of a wrap for larger sizes.

If we are talking about hay, you should make 1.5-meter haystacks and use one extra wrap for bigger ones.

Straw bales could be maximum near 2.0 meters in diameter, and we do not recommend making it larger. You have to add at least one wrap if you decided to do such “giants”.

Conditions, required extra wrap

Also, there are some conditions that you may take into account if you want your bales to be secure.

If you are stacking very short or dry crops, it means these parts are extremely sharp and can damage the net. And we are not trying to bore you, but you may need to add another extra wrap to be on the safe side.

The same thing with high baler density or high temperatures in the area of storage.

You should consider that any extreme natural conditions will require additional care also, as it means just long term outside storage.

Another one disruptive factor for bale structure is the number of handling operations. If you know that it will be multiple transportations you should take care of extra safety.

And last but not the least is the tough storage conditions, such as stony fields or else.