For third-generation farmer Tyler Knight, creating the best bale of hay is about making a product that he can be proud of — a better bale for his customers and for himself. In order to do that, Knight — who operates a 100-head cow-calf beef operation and custom hay business in Lowry City, Missouri — knew he needed to find the best netwrap for round balers.

“I got started [farming] with my grandfather,” Knight said. “When I took over, I wanted to be more competitive in custom harvesting.” To do that, he decided to switch from using twine to wrap bales to using netwrap.

Making the switch to netwrap improved his bales, but he found that he wasn’t using the best netwrap for round bales.

Knight doesn’t own a baler in the Vermeer lineup and wasn’t seeing the results he wanted with competitive netwrap. “The baler I have has its own netwrap that is recommended to use. …I stuck with that and continued to stick with that even though I was continuously having bale loss. I was having close to 10-20 percent loss of my hay bales from the rippage,” Knight said.

When putting up 2,500-5,000 bales a year, Knight’s losses were really starting to add up as he knew he couldn’t charge his customers for the ripped bales. He contacted his baler manufacturer to inspect his baler several times, but they couldn’t find an explanation for the ripped bales.

With no solution from his manufacturer’s team and his profit margins hanging in the balance, he did something a little out of the box — he called a Vermeer Maintenance Tech.

Knight reaches out to Vermeer for help

“I ended up calling Vermeer and they came out in order to troubleshoot my baler, even though it wasn’t a Vermeer,” Knight said.

The Vermeer Maintenance Tech arrived to assess the situation and immediately saw a solution. “I drove down the road and I saw the bales sitting there and I thought to myself, ‘he needs some of our Vermeer® Net’ before I even got out of the truck,” the Vermeer Maintenance Tech said. “With that being said, I still needed to see his baler and make sure there wasn’t something that was causing the netwrap he had to malfunction.”

Sure enough, nothing was wrong with the baler.

“[The Vermeer Maintenance Tech] recommended that I try a demo roll of Vermeer Net to see how that worked out,” Knight said. “So, I used a small demo roll of Vermeer Net and baled 50 bales that day — didn’t miss one.”

With not a tear in sight, Knight placed another call to Vermeer the next day and ordered two full rolls of Vermeer Net.

Knight finds Vermeer Net to be the best netwrap for round bales

“I ended up doing 347 bales in one day [with Vermeer Net] and I didn’t miss one bale,” Knight said. “After that, I was a pretty firm believer. Since then I’ve ordered 10 more rolls of Vermeer Net — haven’t had one miss yet.”

The Vermeer Maintenance Tech was glad to help find a solution to Knight’s problem. In fact, he said he gets similar calls all the time. “We’ve had several people reach out with situations similar to Tyler’s — [the solution] has been as simple as putting Vermeer Net in their baler,” the Vermeer Maintenance Tech said. “Vermeer Net is made of material designed for superior strength. In my experience, it’s reliable and helps keep the bale tight.”

Now that he’s found the best netwrap for making round bales for his customers, Knight says he’s been hearing nothing but positive feedback.

“You can produce a nice tight bale — you’re able to keep a bale longer than a year with less spoilage,” Knight said. “My customers have found that they’re able to keep hay over a lot better and it’s more efficient for their operations.”

And that’s why Tyler Knight switched to Vermeer Net.

To hear why others switched to Vermeer, click here.

To learn more about Vermeer Net, find a dealer near you.

Information noted above was gathered from a third party who was advised his/her experience might be featured in marketing materials. This article contains third-party observations, advice or experiences that do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Vermeer Corporation, its affiliates or its dealers. Individual results may vary based on care and operation of machine and crop and field conditions, which may adversely affect performance. Vermeer Corporation reserves the right to make changes in engineering, design and specifications; add improvements; or discontinue manufacturing at any time without notice or obligation. Equipment shown is for illustrative purposes only and may display optional accessories or components specific to their global region. Vermeer, the Vermeer logo, Equipped to Do More and the Black, White, Green bale wrap color scheme (Vermeer Net) are trademarks of Vermeer Manufacturing Company in the U.S. and/or other countries. Please contact your local Vermeer dealer for more information on machine specifications. © 2020 Vermeer Corporation. All Rights Reserved.