[Cob] Straw bales vs ?

[Lance Collins]

Hi PJ,

I'm not a strawbale expert but I have noticed advice on strawbale building 
that says don't buy strawbales from farmers, go to baling contractors.  It 
seems farmers can't be relied on for regular, equally dense bales and are 
more likely to include weeds, seed heads etc.  as they only bale once a 
year.   Regular equally dense bales are necessary if you are not to have 
problems stacking the bales.

Lance

At 01:11 AM 20/07/2004, you wrote:

>I recently contacted a rancher located close to my place in Northern 
>California as he was advertising bales of his first cut alfalfa and other 
>grasses for sale.  When I told him that I wanted to use the bales as a 
>building medium, he said that if that were the case, if I could wait until 
>next year, he would bale up his field clearing (weeds and grasses) and 
>would charge me only for the bailing.  As it is, he is only charging $1.00 
>a bale, provided you go get the bales, which are in the field.