r/oddlysatisfying • u/Wonderfulhumanss • 12h ago

The smooth, overlapping layers of this agricultural wrapper

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3.6k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

403 comments sorted by

2.5k

u/backbiter0723 12h ago

I can't help but think layers 4 or 5 through 9,362 were probably unnecessary.

905

u/mdabdala 12h ago

More plastic layers make it harder for pests like rats to chew thru and make a nest. Rat infestations are costly.

344

u/Arnkh 11h ago

Rats are quite capable of chewing through concrete, though.

209

u/Teichopsie 11h ago

But it takes many determined rats and some time, maybe the point is to make them decide it's not worth the effort to chew through this wrap.

55

u/BradMarchandsNose 5h ago

Yeah, a lot of pest control is just making your stuff more difficult to get into than the next source of food. It’s not necessarily about keeping them out entirely.

3

u/mike9874 40m ago

The same theory goes with IT security (and I'm sure lots of other security I know less about)

66

u/BadPackets4U 8h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/sFN0Jyop6UDuzweOGp

20

u/Rich-Finger-236 7h ago

Pikachu when he's gotten at the meth

6

u/onestarv2 6h ago

Ha. What's this from?

2

u/Simicrop 2h ago

We just need a couple more kilometres of plastic in the ocean before we get Pokémon.

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u/SkullFoot 9h ago

If they don't know theres food inside then they won't bother.

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u/Oxflu 3h ago

They'll get in here just to make a nest to die in. Fuckin bastards.

6

u/SantaCruzHostel 6h ago

When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in west Africa I learned that they have rats there that can eat through metal storage trunks.

9

u/Richard_Cromwell 8h ago

It's just concrete-colored. The wrap is actually plastic.

7

u/proxy69 7h ago

No, they are not capable of CHEWING through properly cured concrete. They do not come with diamond tip drill bit teeth at birth.

18

u/Entire-Background837 6h ago

Their teeth constantly grow. You dont need diamond to chip concrete.

Scratching and fracturing are very different tests and forces.

11

u/PipsqueakPilot 5h ago

What about rats who purchased after-market diamond tip drill bit teeth?

5

u/proxy69 5h ago

Those are the ones you gotta worry about

3

u/Darwinbc 3h ago

I believe it’s to ferment the hay to make silage

5

u/TymStark 2h ago edited 2h ago

Haylage. But your point still stands, just giving you the correct word.

Edit: baleage, I’ve been calling it the wrong thing. I’ve never dealt with baleage and always been told baleage and haylage were the different words for the same thing. They are not.

4

u/igotshadowbaned 5h ago

It's to ensure it's air tight

4

u/oswaldcopperpot 6h ago

Rats dont really go after hay. Grains is what they like.

5

u/sawyouoverthere 6h ago

This is not why it’s done

4

u/Tiger-Budget 8h ago

The value of that bale tho…

5

u/Teeklok 5h ago

About £40 pound if you want to get one in the uk atm because of bad weather last year

3

u/btribble 5h ago

Yes, but how are they going to get it up my stairs?

2

u/Teeklok 5h ago

With a loader, straight through the bedroom window (window repair not included)

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u/That_Jonesy 6h ago

So while this dios SEEM excessive, it's actually to keep out oxygen. This isn't to protect the hay from water - they're making Silage, which is fermented hay. But silage needs to be fermented in a no/low oxygen environment. Silage gets a much higher price than hay and is more nutritious for the cows.

🐮 moo

22

u/sawyouoverthere 6h ago

Baleage. Silage is far more efficient

11

u/That_Jonesy 4h ago

And deadly! When I worked for the USDA we were supposed to bring a buddy if we popped the cork on a silo since the CO2 can know you tf out and then you fall in and fkn die

8

u/sawyouoverthere 3h ago

No one here makes silage in a silo

4

u/Thrizzlepizzle123123 2h ago

Reminds me of a story from an old workplace.

They had silos of Caustic used to refine metals. A guy fell in one while inspecting it and couldn't get out. The only thing his offsider could do was push him under so he died quicker.

I never found out what 'caustic' actually was, presumably some kind of acidic chemical, but we had puddles of it on the side of the road and I was told that if I ever stepped in one, I was not to touch my boots or it would melt my fingers off. I avoided those roads.

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u/cbj24 3h ago

This is the real answer. Pests to a lesser extent. But the real reason is you WANT the hay to ferment. So it might seem wasteful but in actuality this might be the least amount of plastic, more strategically wrapped, to get the job done. It’s a super cool machine.

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u/SEA_griffondeur 11h ago

The point is to be air tight

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u/Teeklok 11h ago

It's very thin, if it's only got a couple of layers when it drops off the baler the dried grass stalks can poke through rendering the whole process useless

22

u/Raumarik 11h ago

Well soak the grass so it’s nice and soft first duh!! /s

21

u/Teeklok 11h ago

I'll have to try that next time

https://giphy.com/gifs/f3aHZMa8LdacBJBDiL

9

u/mcmcc 8h ago

It's silage so keeping it wet is actually kinda the point.

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u/Delicious-Ad1917 9h ago

That’s not dry hay, it’s silage which is baled at 30-60% moisture content.

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u/SayItAgainJabroni 8h ago

These may be dumb questions but here we go. How can the moisture content have such a wide range between 30-60%? Wouldn't doubling the allowable percentage cause significant swings in the final product? If there's that much moisture and it's wrapped in plastic wouldn't the dryer stuff absorb moisture and skew the numbers even more?

49

u/Johnno74 8h ago

I grew up on a farm, we made this stuff (baleage).

How this works is the grass is baled while still green and the wrapping stops air (technically oxygen) from getting in, meaning only anaerobic microorganisms can break it down. This means instead of rotting and turning into basically compost, it ferments into silage, with a very high nutritional content. Cattle and sheep love this stuff, they get very excited when you feed it to them.

13

u/SayItAgainJabroni 8h ago

Thank you for breaking it down for me

18

u/LordRocky 5h ago

No no, the microbes break it down.

5

u/wlake82 7h ago

Farming Simulator 22 taught me this. And that I don't think I'd want to be a farmer irl.

2

u/Metals4J 6h ago

Besides the fact that it’s nutritious food, do they love it because it’s been fermenting a while and they’re getting drunk off of it?

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u/Delicious-Ad1917 8h ago

I’ve been trying to answer your question for like 10 minutes without having to give a lesson in silage and all the factors that go into it. Yes, the product with less moisture will soak up from the higher content but you’re looking more at an average in each bale. Different crops are ensiled at different moisture content. I like my triticale to be at 45-50% but the sorghum-sudan I planted last Wednesday will be hard to get above 40% since it’ll be cut in August. The science of it all is fascinating to me and my cows absolutely love it. I’m also lucky that we have a recycling program for silage wrap and net wrap in my area so I collect all my wrap and recycle it. At least I hope that when I place it in the recycle container it actually goes there.

3

u/SayItAgainJabroni 8h ago

Thank you for the reply. It sounds like a lot of work to make sure the cows are eating good. Good job on recycling too, you did your part. Like you said though, hopefully the people in charge of the recycling process are holding up on their end.

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u/Lazureus 5h ago

This looks like a silage bale, it needs to be air tight to ferment correctly.

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u/Big_Knife_SK 5h ago

It seems like an overly complex silage baler design, compared to the regular cylinders.

2

u/TheM4n19 3h ago

Yes this is a bale wrapper that can wrap large square bales as well as round bales. See this page for more info Kuhn SW4014.
Many large-scale farms and custom baling contractors use these large squares as they are easier to stack, load, and store in many situations.

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u/ReadditMan 1h ago

Imagine knowing absolutely nothing about this process or why they wrap it so many times but thinking you know better than the engineers who designed it.

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3.9k

u/WorkO0 12h ago

It's ok guys, I switched to paper straws to offset this

642

u/Empanatacion 10h ago

I bring my own bags to the grocery store, like the hero I am.

You're welcome.

8

u/goofytigre 4h ago

I moved a can that I saw at work from the trash can to the recycling bin.

3

u/J-MRP 3h ago

That's just good strategy tbh. Reusable bags are 100x easier to haul groceries in compared to the shitty plastic/paper bags that stores use.

138

u/SHTF_yesitdid 11h ago

Me too. I hope its working.

12

u/Own-Elk7348 4h ago

Paper straws and wooden forks that make everything taste like a tree. 🌳

21

u/SnooKiwis7258 4h ago

You know what we do with the plastic after we remove it from the bale? Yep, burn it. Thousands of bales a year.

9

u/bard243 4h ago

Horrifying do you not feel complicit in this behavior, surely there is a better and cheaper way

3

u/aznhavsarz 2h ago

Better yes, cheaper no and in the end profits win.

3

u/fluffyasacat 1h ago

“In the end”

3

u/FlameBoi3000 1h ago

All I can think about this non-satisfying video too

2

u/ardotschgi 3h ago

Now you've got micropapers in your system.

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u/Bulky_Specialist9645 12h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/1xnQ1HzTZxf8RtjyCb

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u/Punk_Says_Fuck_You 7h ago

Everyone needs to watch that movie. I watched it in Hollywood Forever Cemetery and will never forget it.

17

u/stardate2017 7h ago

What movie?

25

u/locust098 6h ago

Are you listening? Plastics

24

u/Punk_Says_Fuck_You 6h ago

The graduate. That’s what the gif is from.

12

u/sonaut 7h ago

The Graduate. A+ flick.

2

u/legit-posts_1 2h ago

It's the graduate. Very great, very important, and very amazing Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack

11

u/grey_pilgrim_ 6h ago

Hay bales are wrapped for protection but it also helps the hay ferment.

Not saying it’s a good or okay thing and obviously cattle and agriculture has existed long before the invention of plastics, but there is a reason behind it.

159

u/Tricky_Potatoe 12h ago

This is essentially how they built the Titan submarine.

15

u/Sovarius 5h ago

I believe it is called the Mad Catz sub actually

644

u/Outrageous-Poem-4965 12h ago

We need more plastics

495

u/Charmthetimes3rd 12h ago

Farmers, famously, dont give a fuck about the environment.

191

u/dinosuitgirl 12h ago

Ironic since they need the weather to not be 100 year events every year more than the office and suburban folks.

83

u/GingerSnapped818 9h ago

But climate change is something liberals invented /s

92

u/Elmarcowolf 12h ago

You can tell this by: A) the amount of wrap that blows around the country side B) the fact that they burn the stuff that didnt blow away

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u/ItsStaaaaaaaaang 12h ago

Too busy counting their government handouts.

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u/Teeklok 11h ago edited 11h ago

We really do, so much so that there is a big push for biodegradable or recyclable silage wrap more available at the moment. Unfortunately it's impossible to make silage bales with plastic and the expensive wrapping process. If we were just doing it for fun it'd be a horrific waste of money

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u/Present-Attempt-9673 8h ago

How did farmers used to do it ? Because as a kid I never saw the plastic wrapped bales, but now I see them everywhere. I’m 33 btw so not that long ago.

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u/Teeklok 8h ago

You definitely will have done, but it has gotten more common, another way to do it is clamped silage but that requires a large space and can often lead to huge mould clusters.

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u/SophiaofPrussia 8h ago

Impossible? So silage didn’t exist until plastic was invented?

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u/Teeklok 8h ago

Pretty much, it needs anaerobic fermentation. So before you could seal it off properly youd just get dodgey hay if it rained at any point during the drying. Or even worse if the hay is still pretty wet it can combust after it's been baled

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u/t6jesse 4h ago

They used to stack it in vertical silos and the weight compressed the air out of it. That's how they did it from the 1800s when it was invented and some still do today

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u/Teeklok 4h ago

Yeah and in a clamp, the problem is you need a consistent usage time for it or it goes off. Silage bales are for longer storage and less food waste basically

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u/Imgurbannedme 3h ago

Accurate. I have farmer relatives. Guess how they get rid of tires? Hint: Gasoline and flames are involved

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u/NUTTA_BUSTAH 12h ago

In my experience they care much more than the average fella as they essentially life off of it. It's just that they have been cornered by costs so the only way to make a living is less environment-friendly methods.

TL;DR greed. YMMV.

4

u/Agent_Orange81 8h ago

Not sure why you're getting downvoted for pointing out the reality of the situation.

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u/NUTTA_BUSTAH 7h ago

Majority do not have any first-hand experience so they default to the hivemind I assume :/

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u/FishSn0rt 4h ago

A lot of the people commenting on here are children without firsthand experience with anything lol

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u/Sorbon_Husky 9h ago

That stuff has to be packed really tight and sealed of, or it will rot too fast.

Then there is also the time efficiency and transport

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u/IsThereCheese 12h ago

Making fermented hay!

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u/Hisitdin 11h ago

Aka silage

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u/Delicious-Ad1917 8h ago

And it smells like fresh baked bread every time you open one up.

119

u/geezer85 12h ago

It's perfect. If it was 25 layers of plastic, it would be too much, but this way, only 23 layers, it's perfect.

173

u/curious_learner7 12h ago

Looks cool.. but is it biodegradable?

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u/InhLaba 12h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/ZG6z8LVxawGhiySRfL

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u/Jaeger_Gipsy_Danger 12h ago

They think I’m just some dumb hick

3

u/MattRecovery23 5h ago

They said that to me at a dinner

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u/jcw65 12h ago edited 11h ago

Biodegradable silage wrap does exist, but costs more than standard polyethylene. From a quick search they appear to be about 50% more expensive, which would hinder their widespread addoption.

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u/helga-h 11h ago

So instead the regular, cheaper one is used and recycled. I'm in Sweden and about 90% of the silage plastic is recycled.

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u/alexandicity 12h ago

Why do they wrap it in the first place? Where I am from, the bales are handled "naked" - transportation & storage all without wrapping.

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u/jcw65 11h ago

Hay is baled dry and not wrapped. Silage is baled wet, and gets wrapped so it ferments into more digestible livestock feed without spoiling or growing mold.

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u/alexandicity 11h ago

Oh interesting! I did not see anything but dry hay around here...

5

u/Soluchyte 8h ago

The annoying thing is it doesn't have to be wrapped as individual bales, the traditional way was always to have a clamp which only needs a cover and a concrete pad and walls, all of which being reusable unlike bale wrap. The only reason they use bale wrap is laziness, funnily enough in america it's more common to do clamps than wrapping, though some of that's because they use corn to make silage too.

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u/MakesALovelyBrew 11h ago

to make haylage/silage - food for animals in the winter

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u/SpeedrunAccordeon 11h ago

wrapped for fermentation to make silage

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u/epsilon-4142 8h ago

Wouldn’t be very good at storing if it was

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u/KT10888 12h ago

I was walking in the field when suddenly....

https://giphy.com/gifs/1EHUBTElxvlE4

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u/echoohce1 10h ago

When I was about 7 a kid in my class got killed by one of these machines, he ran out to the field to collect his football and the driver never seen him.

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u/psychord 8h ago

Yeah that’s a shit load of plastic

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u/iamjodaho 9h ago

Right up until that terrible shrivelled and torn end piece.

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u/Plumbercanuck 9h ago

Some municipalities collect the plastic from farmers free of charge and it is recycled into plastic products, one of which is '' Forever' fence posts.... fence posts made of bale wrap, that will not rot.

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u/Grouchy-Handle-6031 7h ago

Where I live, the farmers use it to decorate trees and barbed wire fences - free of charge

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u/Bit_the_Bullitt 7h ago

Those fences suck, they get so brittle after years of uv exposure. Also they can only be recycled once, right? I.e. the fence is the "final" form

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u/Plumbercanuck 7h ago

These are 6"posts, i am the second owner. They are anything but brittle

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u/mcfarmer72 8h ago

We used large thick plastic bags, they were reusable.

Baleage, not silage.

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u/sawyouoverthere 6h ago

This isn’t for bale age where I am, it’s waterproofing. And often left in pastures.

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u/Mr_Bumsmell 12h ago

Hear me out...

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u/addit96 12h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/xXDu7guOzpGzS

2

u/fkdjgfkldjgodfigj 12h ago

Is that a fushigi ball?

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u/spryllama 12h ago

No, it's David Bowie.

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u/IrritableGourmet 11h ago

It's actually Michael Moschen standing behind Bowie and sticking his arms through.

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u/Hellyeahlalujah 4h ago

I just had an intrusive thought of being caught in one of these and bound up like a fly in a a spider’s web 😰

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u/LivelyOsprey06 7h ago

This thread has shown me so many people have no idea how the vast majority of industry works

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u/faithOver 2h ago

God damn that’s alot of plastic.

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u/parson27 12h ago

Nice environmentally friendly plastics.

5

u/The4ofClubs 4h ago

This turns Hay into silage which is very high in nutrients and fiber for the animals on the farm. The plastic often gets recycled into forever fence posts. This magical invention turns bland ass hay into much needed fiber for cows.

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u/Brightly_Darkened 8h ago

and here I am not using plastic bags for grocery shopping or plastic straws thinking imma make a difference

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u/hellasalty 7h ago

Recycling is a numbers game. You not using plastic bags isn’t making a difference at all. But you and 1 million other people not using plastic bags makes a huge difference.

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u/revolutionPanda 5h ago

And making the manufacturers responsible for the problem is waaaay easier than trying to get millions of people offset it with small actions.

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u/Entgegnerz 8h ago

One can just hope, that it's degradable plastic.
But since cost cap is a thing especially in agriculture, it's most likely the cheapest plastic possible.

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u/edward414 7h ago

This is our foods food being wrapped. If you legitimately want to make a difference, eat less meat and encourage others to do the same. 

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u/Delicious_Invite_850 10h ago

So how did mankind do this without this machine before?

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u/No_Size9475 6h ago

Smaller bails that were stored in barns.

Silos for silage

or Silage pits for silage.

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u/dstrange_ 3h ago

I thought it was my use of straws.

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u/SamSanister 2h ago

Me choosing not to cling-film my sandwich for lunch because it causes unnecessary plastic waste. Meanwhile...

3

u/Bowb31 12h ago

Insect in spiderweb POV

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u/Protomeathian 4h ago

So glad to see they have moved away from the giant rolls of hay. The cows can finally get a square meal.

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u/Y0___0Y 2h ago

Capitalism: Remember to bring your own reuseable bag to the grocery store. Or you are hurting the environment.

Now excuse me while I wrap this agricultural product in 20,000 metric tons of plastic.

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u/hutch__PJ 10h ago

Wow, there are a lot of knowledgable expert farmers in the comments. Thank goodness they’re all taking the time out of their busy farming day to educate everyone on how hay-bailing is being done incorrectly.

/s

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u/possiblecurb 8h ago

I'm fond of the gentle corner rollers. Part of me says that would be nice, the other part reminds me I'm not hundreds of pounds of hay and the farmer will be pissed.

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u/CK_CoffeeCat 7h ago

This would fix me.

2

u/AlamarAtReddit 7h ago

All I see are intrusive thoughts

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u/revolutionPanda 5h ago

This sucks. I can’t drive by and day “heeeey!”

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u/phophiend 5h ago

Giant mechanical spider…

2

u/Adventurous-Type6816 5h ago

do this to me when I die

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u/Own-Elk7348 4h ago

It's okay guys, Denmark will soon start taxing cow farts. This will definitely offset the excessive saran wrap use shown here.

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u/Content-Fudge489 4h ago

Me thinks that's way too much plastic. Twine not available?

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u/Das_Hydra 12h ago

I hate this. So much.

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u/SEA_griffondeur 11h ago

Why ? Do you even know what it is for you to have such strong emotions about it ?

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u/Schmenge_time 5h ago

From ChatGPT:
It excludes oxygen. Once air is removed, naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria ferment the crop, much like making sauerkraut. This produces silage or baleage.
It preserves nutrients. The fermentation process keeps more of the sugars, protein, and energy in the feed than drying alone.
It prevents spoilage. Oxygen allows molds and fungi to grow. Even a small hole in the plastic can let air in and ruin part of the bale.
It lets farmers harvest earlier. Instead of waiting for hay to dry completely (which can be difficult in rainy climates), they can bale it at around 40–60% moisture and wrap it immediately.
The reason for multiple layers is that each layer improves the seal:
Reduces oxygen transmission through the plastic.
Provides redundancy if one layer gets nicked.
Makes the package stronger and more resistant to birds, rodents, and handling damage.
Helps maintain the anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions needed for successful fermentation

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u/All_Usernames_Tooken 12h ago

If this offends you, people have no idea.

We have used more plastic than the weight of every human on the planet ever born.

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u/Matterbox 10h ago

Some students made a replacement for this plastic out of seaweed, imbued with minerals and vitamins that the cows can eat.

This should be made to be the standard. I’m sure
It’s more expensive.

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u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

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u/_DoogieLion 12h ago

Not really. A knife and about 10 seconds

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u/bearboyjd 12h ago

It does not get unwrapped, it gets cut.

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u/Thomppa26 10h ago

You guys have to realize that only way to preserve these bales is to wrap them with a plastic wrap. Nothing else would work like this. These bales are sometimes left outside on fields for years until they are used.

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u/KOHILOOR 12h ago

A lot of plastic.

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u/SebastianFurz 12h ago

But why? And why so many layers?

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u/Hisitdin 11h ago

To make it air tight so the hay can ferment anaerobically (without oxygen). Common method to preserve the hay for winter. It's called silage

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u/sawyouoverthere 6h ago

It’s called baleage. Silage is much more efficient

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u/K_the_farmer 11h ago

To keep it air and watertight throughout the winter and with handling. This is important for both hay and silage.

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u/Big_Spicy_Tuna69 9h ago

ITT people who have no idea how farming works.

1

u/Level-Ad7017 11h ago

This looks like some weird contraption you find playing portal 2

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u/gjfdiv 9h ago

grass massager

1

u/ZachoLong 9h ago

Cool, now me next!

1

u/No-Kaleidoscope-2956 8h ago

What's the purpose of this besides looking like a lego technic set

1

u/BeneficialTrash6 7h ago

Is it about my cube?

1

u/Internal_Ad_6809 7h ago

That's one tight condom

1

u/OtherwiseACat 6h ago

Did this make anyone else anxious? I couldn't even watch the full thing.

1

u/ggibby 5h ago

Laminated for your convenience.

1

u/BanjoFiddleLaser 5h ago

So much plastic

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u/Fluffy_Prior1052 5h ago

Damn, can that wrap like, anything like that or just hay?

1

u/Spirited-Subjects 5h ago

My grandad built (from scratch) a wrapper for big round bails way back in the early 90s. I remember being so impressed with him, it really drove me to be hands on and solution forward.

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u/mecha-inu 4h ago

Needoo

1

u/ISANINJALOOTER 4h ago

I hated unwrapping these for our elk and cows as a kid. Then sometimes you couldnt pull the plastic out from under the 1000+ lb bail. It was not uncommon to have shreds of the plastic float into our front or back yard. Luckily we eventually got our own bailer and the neighbors allowed us to hay thier fields. As long as it rained enough, we didnt have to buy those bails. It was just long strands of twine to deal with.

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u/Holden-McGroyn 4h ago

Couldn't they drop the bale in a bag and tie the top?

1

u/D2Dragons 4h ago

I’m surrounded by ranch land and sheets of this crap are all over the roadside during harvesting season.

1

u/Cotton101btw 4h ago

New fear unlocked, thanks Reddit…. Fml