If you have spent any time at all around a farm, chances are that you have seen big round bales of hay or silage wrapped in a plastic sheet or net to keep the contents contained.
This forage plastic or net wrap is both a blessing and a curse on the farm – while it is incredibly helpful for tying up hay and forage, it has a nasty habit of getting stuck in fences, raveled around machinery at the wrong time, ingested by livestock and blowing down the road.
The best way to stay ahead of the forage plastic is simply to make an effort to keep it cleaned up – especially in the wintertime when you are feeding a lot of hay.
One of the main reasons to keep the forage plastics cleaned up on your farm or ranch is that it makes your whole property more aesthetically appealing.
When Ozarks Farm and Neighbor asked Eldon Cole, livestock specialist for the University of Missouri Extension, why he thought it was important to keep forage plastics picked up on the farm, he said, “I guess I like things to be neat and orderly and we sure see a lot of net wrap and white plastic scattered up and down the roads. It’s especially prevalent in the rural roads.”
To really keep your forage plastics under control, they should be picked up immediately after you open a bale of hay or silage in order to keep the wind from carrying it off – but that leads to the question, what do you do with the forage plastic once you have it corralled?
As far as responsibly disposing of the bale wrap goes, Cole said there are few options.
“I’ve searched for recycling facilities to no avail,” he explained. “They claim it’s too dirty and uneconomical to try and clean. Thus, no one seems to think it’s worth the trouble.”
Some farmers and ranchers have resorted to burning the forage plastic in order to keep it from piling up after they clean it from their fields.
“Some landfills will accept it but we know it doesn’t break down readily,” Cole added.
There is some speculation in the farming industry about the forage plastic manufacturers stepping up to help create a solution for disposal of the material.
“I think dealers who sell it should be partially responsible for recovering it. They could set up large containers for farmers to deposit it in,” Cole said. “Maybe favorite coffee stops, stockyards or farm supply stores could serve as a deposit location. I’m not sure what they’d do with it but maybe it would help keep it off the highways.”
In Australia, there is a company helping do just that.
Plasback is a recycling company dedicated to keeping the plastic associated with modern farming out of the fields and waterways, and from being ingested by livestock and wildlife. Plasback sells trademarked bins and green plastic liners for farmers to roll up and place their forage wraps in. They can then drop their plastics at a local transfer station for recycling by Plasback.
“A solution is long overdue,” Cole said of netting in the United States.
But with the persistence of farmers and ranchers who are making environmentally responsible choices on their property, a solution to the forage plastic problem is bound to come along.
In the meantime, keeping the plastics picked up and in a secure place makes an enormous difference.
