Baling wire, otherwise known as bale wire, farm wire, haywire, or soft wire, is a type of

wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

used in agriculture and industry for many uses such as mending fences or manually binding rectangular bales of hay,

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry wikt:stalk, stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the crop yield, yield by weight of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, ry ...

, or cut grass. It is also used in many non-agricultural applications, such as banding together corrugated cardboard, paper, textiles, aluminum and other materials that are processed in the

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

industry.

Terminology and description

Baling wire is also known as bale wire, farm wire, haywire, or soft wire, is a type of

Uses

Baling wire is used in agriculture and industry for many uses, including mending fences or manually binding rectangular bales of hay,

, or cut grass. It is also used in many non-agricultural applications such as banding together corrugated cardboard, paper, textiles, aluminum and other materials that are processed in the

industry. In the United States, Australia, and around the world, baling wire was used in mechanical hay

baler A baler or hay baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop (such as hay, cotton, flax straw, salt marsh hay, or silage) into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store. Often, bales are config ...

s pulled behind a tractor. The automated balers used a wire twister that first cut then twisted the ends of the wire such that the bale kept its shape after the baler had pressed the hay into a tight rectangular bale. These hay balers were in common use until the late 1980s. When the hay was fed to livestock the wire was cut and often hung in bundles or stored in barrels or metal drums around the farm. Farmers used the soft wire for temporary repairs of a wide variety of objects on the farm, such as fences, leather horse harnesses, head stalls and bridles, or as pins to keep castellated nuts in place on the tractor. Even small screwdrivers could be made by cutting a short length of wire and looping one end for grip. The other end was then flattened and shaped to make a screwdriver. Baling wire is sometimes used in an informal, make-do manner as an easy fix. It is frequently referred to as one of the basic repair materials Typical uses include supporting loose

muffler A muffler (North American and Australian English) or silencer (British English) is a device for reducing the noise emitted by the exhaust of an internal combustion engine—especially a noise-deadening device forming part of the exhaust syst ...

s and patching chain-link fences.

Slang

Baling wire is also known as "haywire", from which several slang terms have arisen. The term "to go haywire", meaning to go wrong or behave unpredictably, arose either from the wire's tendency to become entangled if improperly handled, or from the wire's use to fix anything in an ''

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

'' manner.

References

Wire {{agri-stub

Terminology and description

Uses

Slang

See also

References