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Anybody found a "best way" or tool/machine design to remove frozen Net Wrap from Round bales?
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<blockquote data-quote="RDFF" data-source="post: 1782251" data-attributes="member: 39018"><p>I'm a "regenerative farmer"... so I'm always tuned into being aware of/concerned about potential negative biological impacts, both for animals, and for the micro-biology of the soil and our environment. I read an article a couple of years ago about a fellow who had made a business out of picking up grocery store compostables and putting them into his compost windrows. He would actually have to physically hand remove the little stickers that they put on each piece of fruit with the UPC label on it... because of the plastic they contain. I thought, "REALLY"? What could THAT possibly do to a compost pile? It's mostly paper!</p><p></p><p>Turns out, the shiny plastic coating on them was enough of a problem for "digestion", that it would literally take up to 3-4 times longer for that compost to finish working, vs. if he removed those labels. He was working really hard to get that message out, specifically to his store's help (which of course has high turnover rates...), to help to reduce his labor involved in removing them... but was having very little success there. <strong><u>Composting is a BIOLOGICAL process, done by worms, microbes and bacteria, etc. It's all about the biology.</u></strong> It's called "micro-plastic toxicity"... and it's a big deal... look it up. It's NOT <u>primarily</u> about plastic bottles being put into landfills, or plastic can holders getting caught around the necks of turtles, per se... but the effect of the chemicals being dumped into the environment as these plastics are breaking down.</p><p></p><p>Now, think about it. What is a cow's gut (or ours, and all animals and living species too, for that matter), other than a highly efficient microbial digestion system? If that small amount of plastic has enough impact that it slows down the digestion process by 3-4 times... WHY would you not pay attention to this, and try to remove from your animal's diet every bit of plastic that you possibly can? It's not that the digestive system can't EVENTUALLY process a limited amount of contaminants... God did design it so that it CAN still function (fearfully and wonderfully made), in spite of our own foolishness (stupidity???, arrogance???, laziness???). But knowing this, and then beyond that just using our common sense, we have to KNOW that feeding plastic, be it ground up or whole, to our cattle (or ourselves) can't be a good thing.</p><p></p><p>Now think further... that plastic that DOES get processed through your cows microbial digestive system (and the system then DOES function less efficiently than it would without its presence), and it recognizes it for the "toxic/unhealthy" contaminant that it is, and for the most part ends up expelling it out the back door as "toxic waste"........ which is deposited onto your pastures/fields. That soil, and the whole environment, functions BIOLOGICALLY, through microbes. And by not removing that plastic, and instead, grinding it up in a processor and feeding it to your cattle, you're actually "feeding it" to all those microbes in the soil too... that you're depending on to feed your cattle (and you) all year long, and for many, many years to come (plastic has a very long half-life)!</p><p></p><p>Seems like a pretty short-sighted step all the way around, to not take the time to remove that contaminant from that food supply!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RDFF, post: 1782251, member: 39018"] I'm a "regenerative farmer"... so I'm always tuned into being aware of/concerned about potential negative biological impacts, both for animals, and for the micro-biology of the soil and our environment. I read an article a couple of years ago about a fellow who had made a business out of picking up grocery store compostables and putting them into his compost windrows. He would actually have to physically hand remove the little stickers that they put on each piece of fruit with the UPC label on it... because of the plastic they contain. I thought, "REALLY"? What could THAT possibly do to a compost pile? It's mostly paper! Turns out, the shiny plastic coating on them was enough of a problem for "digestion", that it would literally take up to 3-4 times longer for that compost to finish working, vs. if he removed those labels. He was working really hard to get that message out, specifically to his store's help (which of course has high turnover rates...), to help to reduce his labor involved in removing them... but was having very little success there. [B][U]Composting is a BIOLOGICAL process, done by worms, microbes and bacteria, etc. It's all about the biology.[/U][/B] It's called "micro-plastic toxicity"... and it's a big deal... look it up. It's NOT [U]primarily[/U] about plastic bottles being put into landfills, or plastic can holders getting caught around the necks of turtles, per se... but the effect of the chemicals being dumped into the environment as these plastics are breaking down. Now, think about it. What is a cow's gut (or ours, and all animals and living species too, for that matter), other than a highly efficient microbial digestion system? If that small amount of plastic has enough impact that it slows down the digestion process by 3-4 times... WHY would you not pay attention to this, and try to remove from your animal's diet every bit of plastic that you possibly can? It's not that the digestive system can't EVENTUALLY process a limited amount of contaminants... God did design it so that it CAN still function (fearfully and wonderfully made), in spite of our own foolishness (stupidity???, arrogance???, laziness???). But knowing this, and then beyond that just using our common sense, we have to KNOW that feeding plastic, be it ground up or whole, to our cattle (or ourselves) can't be a good thing. Now think further... that plastic that DOES get processed through your cows microbial digestive system (and the system then DOES function less efficiently than it would without its presence), and it recognizes it for the "toxic/unhealthy" contaminant that it is, and for the most part ends up expelling it out the back door as "toxic waste"........ which is deposited onto your pastures/fields. That soil, and the whole environment, functions BIOLOGICALLY, through microbes. And by not removing that plastic, and instead, grinding it up in a processor and feeding it to your cattle, you're actually "feeding it" to all those microbes in the soil too... that you're depending on to feed your cattle (and you) all year long, and for many, many years to come (plastic has a very long half-life)! Seems like a pretty short-sighted step all the way around, to not take the time to remove that contaminant from that food supply! [/QUOTE]
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Anybody found a "best way" or tool/machine design to remove frozen Net Wrap from Round bales?
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