Short answer: You can grind hay bales with the net wrap on, and thousands of operations do it every winter with no obvious problems. But it is a real trade-off, not a free lunch. A tub grinder chops the wrap into tiny pieces that mostly pass through cattle, while a bale processor often leaves longer, stringier pieces that are riskier. The plastic also ends up scattered in your fields and feedlot. If you have the labor and time, pulling the net first is the safest choice — and it is non-negotiable before feeding a whole bale in a ring.
"Do I need to take the net wrap off before I grind?" is one of the most argued-about questions in cattle country, and for good reason — both sides have a point. We read through the AgTalk thread on grinding hay with net wrap on and pulled the real-world experience out of it. Below is what actual producers report, why they disagree, and how to decide for your own operation.
The case for leaving the net wrap on
The argument is almost entirely about time and labor. When you are grinding dozens of bales in a single session, stopping to strip wrap off every one is a job in itself.
"I don't take it off when I grind. I grind 60 to 100 bales at a time. I can't imagine taking all that off. It would take 2 guys to keep up with the grinder. My neighbor is the custom grinder in my area and says out of all his customers maybe 2 take it off and he says it's a helluva mess to grind because the bales are all falling apart. If I feed in a bale feeder I take it off."
— Red Cows, SE SD · AgTalk thread 986126
"My last grind was 6 hours, there is no way I would attempt to take all that wrap off. I would go back to sisal twine before I would take wrap off before grinding."
— dakotaboy, Central ND · AgTalk thread 986126
Producers who grind wrap-on argue that a well-running tub grinder reduces the net to confetti, and that the amount of plastic per bale is tiny relative to the feed:
"I've been grinding bales with the net wrap on since net was introduced. Once its ground, you never see it again. A few ounces of wrap on a 1400 pound bale is a very small percentage. I just sold a few 15 year old bred cows that have been eating ground up net wrap their entire lives. It probably depends on how well the hay is ground. A bale processor might not break up the wrap enough. And I would never feed hay in a bale ring without removing the wrap."
— ISUgrad83 · AgTalk thread 986126
There is also a weather reality: when bales are frozen or iced over, the wrap is welded on and the bale falls apart the second you cut it.
"Good luck grinding 40 bales with 1" ice on them."
— 2 Bravo · AgTalk thread 986126
The case for taking it off first
The other camp points out that "you never see it again" is not the same as "it's gone." Ground plastic doesn't digest — it either accumulates in the rumen or ends up in your soil.
"I take the wrapper off my Snickers candy bar before I eat it. Even if it just passes through, I don't want that net wrap in the field wrapping up in all my planter bearings. Net wrap is a great product, but a pain to deal with on the end use stage."
— woodchuck · AgTalk thread 986126
"If you get out your microscope you'll see that plastic in your fields and in your groundwater."
— Red Paint, SW Ohio · AgTalk thread 986126
And the worst-case outcome — net wrap balling up in the rumen — is well documented by producers who have posted dead animals:
"Buddy lost 2 bulls a couple years ago and had them posted both had a ball of netwrap the size of a basketball in their stomache."
— Toepincher, North Dakota · AgTalk thread 986126
We cover that failure mode in depth in cattle eating net wrap: the impaction risk explained. The short version: the danger is highest with long, stringy pieces, which is exactly what an under-powered grind or a bale processor tends to produce.
It depends on your equipment — tub grinder vs bale processor
This is the detail that gets lost in the "always" / "never" shouting. The two main camps are really arguing about two different machines:
- Tub grinder (well-maintained, screened): chops wrap into small fragments. Most producers who grind wrap-on are running these. Risk is lower but not zero.
- Bale processor / unroller: tends to peel and tear the wrap into long ribbons rather than chop it. Even producers who leave wrap on in the grinder pull it before running a processor.
One Nebraska producer who grinds wrap-on still draws that line:
"Same here, never take it off bales we grind, custom grinder comes and does 80 1 ton bales in an hour... We do take it off if using a processor or when feeding a whole bale though."
— farmernelson88, Nebraska · AgTalk thread 986126
If you run a vertical mixer, that is a separate conversation again — read net wrap in a vertical mixer before you assume it chops the same way a tub grinder does. It usually doesn't.
The hidden cost: plastic in the field and in your machinery
Even if every cow stays healthy, ground net wrap doesn't disappear. It blows into fence lines, works into the soil, and — as woodchuck noted — wraps around bearings and axles on the next piece of equipment that rolls through. Picking ground wrap back out of a feedlot is far harder than pulling it off a whole bale once. For disposal options once it is off, see how to dispose of used net wrap.
How to decide for your operation
One producer summed up the honest middle ground better than the absolutists did:
"A lot of variables... Do I think it would be best for maximum POTENTIAL animal health to remove it? Sure that would be best. But that doesn't always match up with productivity/efficiency which is often more important to the bottom line."
— KRM, NC Kansas · AgTalk thread 986126
Run through these questions:
- What machine are you using? Tub grinder with a good screen = lower risk. Processor or unroller = pull the wrap.
- How much wrap is on the bale? Minimal-wrap bales (just enough turns to hold shape) leave less plastic than heavily over-wrapped bales.
- How long is the feeding window? Cattle eating ground wrap from February to mid-April accumulate far less than cattle dry-lotted on it eight months a year.
- Are you feeding a whole bale in a ring? Then there is no debate — always remove the wrap. Every producer in the thread, including the wrap-on grinders, agreed on this.
Removing net wrap faster (if you decide to pull it)
The labor objection is real, but a few habits make it bearable: cut the wrap at the same spot each time, peel with the bale's rotation rather than against it, and keep a dedicated tote or trailer so scraps never hit the ground. Frozen bales are the hard case — see how to remove net wrap safely for cold-weather technique. And if twine-vs-net is still an open question on your place, net wrap vs twine lays out the trade-offs.
FAQ
Will ground-up net wrap kill cattle?
It can, but it is uncommon when the wrap is finely ground in a good tub grinder. The documented deaths almost always involve long pieces — from a processor, an under-powered grind, or scraps left on a whole bale — that ball up in the rumen over weeks or months. Finely chopped fragments mostly pass through.
Is it safe to grind net wrap in a bale processor?
Most producers say no — processors tear the wrap into long ribbons rather than chopping it. Even farmers who grind wrap-on in a tub grinder routinely remove it before running a processor.
Should I switch back to twine to avoid this?
Some do, but twine has the same rumen-impaction risk and is slower to bale with. The wrap-on/wrap-off decision is really about how you grind and feed, not net versus twine.
XES net wrap is built to bale clean and pull off clean — 48" to 67" widths, 680 lb tensile strength, and DLG-certified UV protection so the wrap holds together instead of shredding into the very fragments that cause trouble. See XES net wrap sizes →
Daisy is the growth marketer at XES Bale Nets. She reads farmer forum threads so you can find clear answers faster. Every quote in this post is verbatim with a source link — go read the originals.
Hero image: Round hay bales on a ranch meadow by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
