Home Built Bale Trailer Cost $200

Home built bale trailer cost $200 HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 13-2-3 "I've seen factory-built bale trailers similar to my home-built rig but they cost thou-sands of dollars. I spent less than $200 in materials to build my bale trailer and it works great," says Bryan Holtkamp, Sedan, Minn., noting that he built the trailer in his spare time with some help from friends. The main frame of the bale hauler was fashioned out of the frame of a wrecked IH school bus frame. The side rails are positioned at a 45? angle to form a "V" to support the bale. At 4-ft. wide, the frame is about 1 ft. narrower center-to-center than the 5-ft. bales he handles. The hitch, hubs and wheels were salvaged from a New Holland mixer-grinder. The U-shaped arch frame at the rear of the trailer was made out of 3 by 4-in. sq. tubing. The bale-carrying rails lower flat to the ground, controlled by a standard hydraulic cylinder at the front of the trailer and header lift cylinders from a Case 800 combine on each wheel. The trailer lifts up to about 2 1/ 2 ft. off the ground. To operate, Holtkamp lowers the rig to the ground and backs under bales. "I've used it for 2 years to group bales in the field and to haul them home. It'll carry four 5-ft. bales. It would have been able to carry 5 bales but the front of the bus was damaged so 5 ft. of frame had to be cut off," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Follow up, Bryan Holtkamp, Rt. 1, Sedan, Minn. 56380 (ph 612 278-3571).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.