Low-Cost Way to Handle Big Bales

Low-Cost Way to Handle Big Bales HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 17-4-7 Virgil Hardin, Atoka, Okla., handles big round bales without ever lifting them off the ground. Lets him handle big bales with older small tractors. No need for a high-capacity 3-pt. lift. He bolted a solid rod to the front of his Deere MT tractor, attaching it to the front cultivator mounting bracket. Then he put an old buck rake wheel on either end of the shaft. "I use the wheels to push 1,000-lb. bales up onto the back of my utility trailer. I put 3 bales on the 14-ft. trailer to haul them in from the field or take them to a customer. I put a rope under each bale which lets me roll them off the trailer by myself. I never lift anything except the ramps on back of the trailer, which keep bales from rolling off in transit. You can also use this method to roll out bales to feed cattle," says Hardin. Contact FARM SHOW Followup, Virgil P. Hardin, HC 82, Box 646, Atoka, Okla. 74525 (ph 405 889-3923).

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