Christmas Tree "Baler"

Christmas Tree "Baler" BALERS Balers 28-1-9 Stephen Childs needed a baler for Christmas trees, but he didn't want to spend the money for a commercial model. So the Bliss, N.Y., tree farmer built his own on the frame of an old 1-row corn chopper. "I spent about $200 to build it. A commercial model would've cost about $8,000," says Childs. The baler squeezes trees down so he can wrap strings around them for shipping. He stripped a New Holland 1-row corn chopper down to the frame, wheels, axle and gearbox and narrowed up the axle. He used a cutting torch to shorten the axle. He welded a Ford tractor wheel on back of the frame, then cut a metal cone off an old 3-pt. fertilizer spreader and bolted it to the back of the wheel. A stabilizer bar runs from the top of the cone to the front of the machine. A pto-driven chain that turns on a sprocket at the front of the machine pulls each tree through the cone. As the tree leaves the cone it drops onto a wooden platform that extends the length of the machine. To operate the baler, Childs sticks the tree into the cone butt first, then grabs a hook attached to the drive chain and attaches it to the tree. To activate the chain, he leans on a lever that serves as a belt tightener. As the tree comes through the cone he ties three loops around it. "I can't believe how well it works. The cone squeezes the tree down nice and tight," says Childs. "I use my small Case IH 255 tractor to pull it. We operate a tree farm, but most of our trees are dug for nursery use so we bale only 200 to 500 Christmas trees each year so I couldn't justify a new machine." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Stephen Childs, 6207 Horton Rd., Bliss, N.Y. 14024 (ph 585 322-7615 or 585 786-2251).

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