I've fed hay and removed net wrap both ways, with the bale on the spear and with the bale set on end on the ground.

I make large 5 x almost 6 ft bales to reduce the number of times I need to start a tractor in a Wisconsin winter.  With a 6 ft dia bale held a foot or so off of the ground it is not easy to get that wrap over the 7 ft+ high byt 5 ft wide top of the bale even though I'm 6'1" tall.  Maybe the spear method works on smaller bales. I've found it much faster and easier to just set the 5x6 bale down on end, unwrap it by walking around the bale 2 or 3 times, then set the bale ring over the top of the unwrapped bale. Especially in soft ground or snow, it is almost  impossible to remove cover edge wrap this way.

I put the plastic spacers on the end of each roll and use the edge to edge JD net wrap.

I have tried a couple other brands of net wrap but they didn't seem to seal or hold up as well as the JD. I really don't like dangling ends of wrap hanging off of a bale, especially going through the wrapper.