Peter and others:

As a youth, we bailed, loaded, and transported loads of alfalfa and straw.   The straw often was from crops in very hilly locations, with farmer's roads often following ridge-lines too steep to till and harvest.  I remember many a time watching a truck come down a hill and seeing the ropes crossed from front to bank on top of the loads.  Sisal rope, properly knotted, did the job.
As Peter mentioned, I've noticed that the poly ropes are too slick for many of the knots we used to use.   I also remember all of the tricks we used to really draw down tight the sisal ropes.  
I used to see beehives tied down on pallets using bailing twine.   That's far cheaper than using ratchet straps.  However, where we have problems with vandalism, I strictly use ratchet straps.  I can draw down the web straps so tight, they dent the edges of the wood cover.  But that also makes them hard to get off by novices who don't know how use the ratchet to break the strap free.
Obviously there are good and bad ropes and web straps.  Price is a factor.  However, as good as we were at strapping tall loads of bale - it took skill, and it took periodic checking for stretch.  We never lost a load.  However, there's no way that we could lock down a load with rope as taught as one can with heavy-duty web straps and large ratchets.  I'm not comparing rope to the cheap Harbor Freight straps, I'm comparing rope to the heavy duty commercial straps.  And yes, I know that one can buy really heavy rope, but heavy rope is really hard to pull down tight.
These days I no longer stack and haul bales of hay, and those who do often haul the much larger rectangular and round bales.  Back in the 60s, we weren't doing much high speed freeway travel - there weren't any in most of the state.  Ropes are fine for moving things around off-road, and they serve well for lower speed, back road hauls.  But, when I move bees on my flatbed trailer, I use good quality ratchet straps.  They are quicker to use, don't require any real skill, and are not likely to come apart.
One word of caution, both sisal rope and web strap, when new, tend to stretch, especially if they get wet.  I'm paranoid about stretch on new ropes and straps.  You'll see me doing frequent checks until they are broken in.   I also find that the cheap web straps are subject to UV deterioration.  On the other hand, in the US, for straps to tie colonies down to pallets (I know, its too spendy for many, but worth the cost to protect our research colonies from vandals), I wait until the annual Father's Day sales.  The box stores often sell straps at bargain prices to get one into their store.
There is one skill needed for using ratchet straps in addition to where to place the straps to secure a load.  I really lock down the straps at locations where we have problems.  It's rather funny to watch new employees try to figure out how to release straps that are so tight they can be strummed like violin strings.

Finally, I'm surprised that one can still haul heavy loads, at least on major highways, only using rope tie downs.  I'd be interested in hearing whether that's legal in various states, provinces, countries.  I certainly don't see any semi's running down the interstate with ropes.
Jerry

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html