Swather Heads Make Super Round Bale Feeders

Swather Heads Make Super Round Bale Feeders SWATHERS Swathers 26-5-26 When he switched to big round bales, Gilbert Lang, Tappen, North Dakota, found his old hay feeding racks weren't sturdy enough to hold the bales. He looked around for materials to make something more substantial and decided to use a couple of Versatile 18-ft. swather headers. "We removed the headers from the swathers and took off the sickles. Then we bolted the two heads together where the sickles had bolted on," he explains. He braced the ends with angle and straight iron to make them more rigid and to make sure the cows couldn't get their heads caught in them. Once he had it together, he set the feeder on an old truck frame. "Between the tie rod ends and the axle, we attached a tongue and then welded a piece of flat iron on top of the axle so you can't turn it too short," he says. The feeder holds three big round bales. It worked so well that Lang made a couple more. One is built from two 14-ft. heads from pull-type Minneapolis Moline swathers, mounted on a toolbar from an Allis Chalmers 10-ft. chisel plow. The other was made from 15-ft. Versatile swather heads. Using the same concept, Lang also made a grain and pellet feeder that has a sling on rollers at the bottom, so it can be cleaned out easily. He also made a loose hay feeder with 9-ft. high sides on it. He says pulling the feeders close together in the pasture also makes a great windbreak. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gilbert Lang, 5323 38th Ave. S.E., Tappen, N. Dak. 58487 (ph 701 754-2695; E-mail: mildred_lang@hotmail.com).

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