We didn't use much baling wire though there was always enough around to make temporary fixes. Mostly, we used small "square" bales which were held together with twine. Twine was used in place of wire on temporary repairs with many of those repairs lasting years.
By the time the farm was sold, most of the milking stantions were held together with twine. More than once a truly temporary repair of the belt for the suction motor was made with twine. It would last maybe long enough to milk one cow before a new belt needed to be made. Breaking that belt at night sucked as it meant two milkings using twine. Grandpa never bought a spare belt as he believed it would rot by the time we needed it. Maybe 30 years earlier when he "modernized" from hand milking that was true but by the 70s that wasn't nearly as much of a problem.
