A review of: Hay and silage consumables
Contractors who follow best practice and use the latest technology can meet their customers’ demand for high quality silage and hay. In this feature we review some of key products helping farmers and contractors produce and protect top quality feed all year round.
ProAg
ProAg Products is proudly a New Zealand-owned and operated, family-run business specialising in agricultural crop packaging solutions. Born out of frustration with the quality of silage wrap available at the time, ProAg was founded in 2008 with a simple goal: to offer a range of crop packaging products that truly perform under New Zealand conditions. We have field-tested and refined our range to ensure reliability, durability and value for farmers and contractors alike.
As our product range has grown, so too has our team. Today we have experienced Local Reps across the country in the Waikato, Manawatu, Canterbury and Otago/Southland providing expert advice and outstanding service. Our people know contractors value efficiency and reliability and our business is built to deliver exactly that.
To make sure our products are always within easy reach, ProAg dispatches from warehouses in Feilding, Ashburton, Dunedin and Gore, providing quick and efficient delivery nationwide. We take pride in offering a hassle-free experience from order to on-farm use.
Introducing Protect 5
Efficiency and reliability are key factors in the profitability of your business, that’s why Protect 5 is your best choice.
Bringing together advanced technology and precision manufacturing, Protect 5 delivers optimal film performance, maximising roll length at 1800m while maintaining the mechanical strength required for secure bale handling and storage. This high-efficiency wrap is designed to reduce operational downtime through fewer roll changes, enhancing productivity during peak baling periods. Additionally, its extended roll length contributes to lower waste volume as well as reduced transport and disposal costs, delivering sustainability benefits alongside productivity gains.
Produced by a leading European manufacturer renowned for its innovation in agricultural films, Protect 5’s five-layer construction provides outstanding oxygen barrier performance, shielding your feed and protecting feed quality long term. And unlike conventional boxed options, Protect 5 arrives wrapped ready for use because efficiency is part of its design.
Maxxcord Baler Twine – The Knotter-Friendly Choice for High-Density Balers
When it comes to high-density baling, consistency and performance are everything. That’s why Maxxcord has become the trusted choice for contractors and farmers who demand the very best. Engineered with exclusive technology, Maxxcord is the only truly knotter-friendly twine on the market, designed to run smoothly in all high-density large square balers while securing even the heaviest and densest bales with ease.
What sets Maxxcord apart is its unique combination of strength, softness and durability. Unlike traditional twine, Maxxcord’s smoother profile ensures trouble-free knot tying, reducing wear and tear on knotter components and cutting down maintenance costs. Its high-integrity knots are designed not to slip or break, giving operators confidence that every bale stays tightly secured from field to stack. Even under extreme conditions, whether bales are ejected at high speed, dropped, or collected by a chaser, Maxxcord consistently withstands shock loading and maintains bale integrity throughout the entire baling process.
Practicality is built into every detail. Maxxcord’s distinct hi-vis pink colour makes it quick and easy to spot even in low-light or night-time operations. This saves time, reduces operator stress and improves overall efficiency in the field.
For anyone serious about high-density baling, Maxxcord is more than just twine, it’s peace of mind, ensuring stronger knots, smoother operation and higher productivity every season.
Crop Packaging Supplies
Webbline offers an extensive range of high-quality crop packaging consumables designed to deliver the very best protection for silage and baleage. With over 26 years of experience sourcing and testing products, Webbline has refined its offering to suit New Zealand’s unique conditions. Working with premium manufacturers such as Cotesi, Mima Films, and Rani, alongside its own Webbline brand, the company provides solutions that are proven in the field and designed to maximise efficiency and return on investment.
From binding materials like twine and net wrap to silage stack covers and silage bags, Webbline has every base covered. With large stock holdings across branches in Waikato, Manawatū, Canterbury, and Southland, the company ensures farmers and contractors have access to the products they need, backed by the expertise of its product specialists who can guide customers toward the most suitable options for their operations.
Among Webbline’s trusted consumables is Webbline Bale Wrap, which incorporates high puncture and tear resistance with a 70 per cent stretch rating and a superior tack structure. This combination creates an airtight seal, reduces tails, and maintains bale integrity in all weather conditions. With high UV stability, Webbline Bale Wrap is well suited to the demands of New Zealand farming, offering peace of mind that bales are securely protected. The Webbline Supercover Netwrap complements this by providing UV-stabilised, edge-to-edge coverage that ensures baleage and straw remain secure and intact.
Mimarap Film, supplied by Mima Films, is another cornerstone of Webbline’s product range. This triple-layered film is made entirely from virgin raw materials, providing one of the toughest stretch plastics available. Mimarap has been proven on New Zealand farms for more than 25 years and comes with a 12-month guarantee against UV degradation. Farmers can also choose extended rolls, which offer the same puncture resistance as the standard version but deliver 20 per cent more bales per roll, improving efficiency. Net Replacement Film, also part of the Mimarap range, is a more recent development that has become a game changer in baleage production. Its elasticity and strength hold bales together more effectively than net wrap, helping preserve forage quality.
Rani brings further innovation with its range of bale packaging products. RaniWrap uses advanced oxygen barrier technology to safeguard the nutritional value and quality of forage crops by reducing the risk of spoilage, mould, and nutrient loss. UV stabilisation adds to its durability under New Zealand’s tough weather conditions. For large-scale farmers and contractors, RaniWrap Xtra Easy Pack provides longer roll lengths, enabling more bales to be wrapped per roll, reducing the need for frequent roll changes, and boosting hourly throughput. To complement this, RaniBind is a high-performance net replacement film that provides secure and uniform bale coverage. Made from the same material as RaniWrap, it eliminates the need to separate materials at recycling time, saving farmers valuable time.
Rani also produces the RaniSil02 Green/Grey Silage Covers, which are up to 100 times more effective at keeping out oxygen compared to standard polythene film. These covers combine the benefits of a combination cover into a single product, making them the thickest oxygen barrier silage covers currently available. Using a single product makes covering stacks easier while ensuring effective preservation through an uncompromised oxygen barrier.
Cotesi products are another mainstay of Webbline’s crop packaging offering. Their X-Pand Netwrap, with its double weft construction, can withstand higher bale pressures, providing improved crop protection and reducing bale damage during handling and transport. Webbline also stocks Cotesi’s extensive range of baling twine, suitable for a wide variety of square balers and crops, giving farmers and contractors the confidence that their packaging consumables will perform consistently under pressure.
Together, these products demonstrate Webbline’s commitment to delivering proven, reliable solutions that protect forage quality and make farming operations more efficient. By partnering with world-leading brands and refining its offering over decades, Webbline ensures that New Zealand farmers and contractors can trust their bales will be well protected, season after season.
Pioneer
When it comes to silage inoculants, not all products are created equal, so using a quality Pioneer inoculant this season will ensure you get the best out of your silage. When harvesting pasture or forage crops, silage inoculants ensure the retention of nutrients and, therefore, a better product for your animals.
With the ever-increasing variability of our seasons, whether that be prolonged dry periods or continuous days of high rainfall, silage plays an important role in feeding animals. Most of the hard work has already been done in terms of growing and harvesting the crop, so it makes sense to invest in a high-quality inoculant to complete the silage-making process—especially one that is backed by animal performance data showing the increase in milk or meat your animals can produce.
Due to the losses that occur during fermentation, silage is always slightly lower in quality than the material that was ensiled. The amount of dry matter, nutrients and feed energy lost in the silage stack is largely determined by the speed and quality of fermentation.
The speed and quality of the fermentation are influenced by the number and type of fermentation bacteria that are present. Pioneer inoculants provide large numbers of the most efficient bacterial strains, which outcompete the naturally occurring bacteria and dominate the fermentation, reducing losses and maximising silage quality.
It can be difficult to separate good inoculants from those that aren’t, as product labels typically list just the basic genus and species information, such as Lactobacillus plantarum. There is an enormous difference between L. plantarum strains and their effectiveness to convert plant sugars into acid, so it’s important to know that the strain you are applying will deliver a desired outcome over and above an untreated control.
The strains in Pioneer inoculants have undergone years of testing and are patented, ensuring they will deliver a difference. Pioneer has been developing silage inoculants since 1978 and was the first to commercialise an inoculant containing L. buchneri in 2000. It is that bacterial strain that ensures silage stacks remain cooler for longer and reduces the growth of yeasts and moulds.
Using an inoculant this season is an investment, so be sure to ask for information on both fermentation and aerobic stability as well as animal performance data. Don’t just rely on overseas data, as our growing environment, including ambient temperatures and humidity, differs significantly from that of other countries. Therefore, ensure the inoculant you purchase is suitable for New Zealand conditions.
Inoculants are living organisms, so it’s important that every bottle contains live and viable bacteria. Pioneer inoculants are produced and packaged by a system that meets ISO9001:2000 quality standards. This ensures that in every bottle you get the right numbers of the correct strains of live bacteria, in the right proportions.
Pioneer offers a range of silage inoculants suitable for every crop or pasture you ensile. They contain different bacterial strains designed for different plant sugars. It is these crop-specific products that deliver the greatest return on investment.
Pioneer brand 1127 inoculant
1127 contains crop-specific lactic acid bacteria selected specifically for pasture silage. Independent research results show that when used on pasture silage, 1127 improves dry matter recovery by more than 2.9 per cent.* Animal performance trials have demonstrated an extra 30 litres of milk or 81 gm higher average daily beef liveweight gain per wet tonne of 1127 treated pasture silage ensiled, compared with untreated silage.*
Pioneer brand 11H50 inoculant
11H50 is a silage inoculant for lucerne that contains bacteria specifically selected to best use plant-available sugars. It maximises fermentation quality, silage digestibility and animal performance. In a trial conducted at the Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Research Centre at Lethbridge, lucerne silage inoculated with 11H50 fed to lambs had higher dry matter digestibility than untreated lucerne silage.
Pioneer brand 1174 inoculant
1174 is a lower-cost multi-crop inoculant that improves silage quality and reduces losses (including shrinkage) as silage is made. Using 1174 increases dry matter recovery by an average of 2.1 per cent and improves fibre digestibility, so animals can get more nutrients from silage.*
For more information on Pioneer inoculants and to find the best inoculant for your scenario, visit the Pioneer website: pioneer.co.nz or speak to your local Area Manager.
The trial data on which these figures are based is available on request.