Front End Loader Hog Mover

Front end loader hog mover HOG EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Hog Equipment & Ideas (351) 14-2-6 A homebuilt crate mounted on a front end loader lets LeRoy Kooiker, Rock Rapids, Iowa, lift nursery pigs up to the second floor of his nursery barn or over a fence into a pasture filled with A-frame hog houses. The crate, 4 ft. wide, 7 ft. long and 3 ft. high, holds three sows or 25 40-lb. pigs. "The loader lets us lift the crate much higher than we could with a 3-pt. mounted crate," says Kooiker, who has used the crate for the past eight years. "We needed it to lift pigs up to the second floor of our barn, which we converted for hog production. But it's so handy for lifting over fences that we'd use it even if we didn't have a second floor nursery." The front side of the crate is equipped with two 18-in. wide wood panels which raise up to move pigs in and out. The floor is made from wood, the sides are made from light gauge 1-in. tubing, and the frame is made from 2 by 3-in. by 1/8-in. tubing. Kooiker built a special bracket on the crate that adapts to his Westendorf Quick-Tach loader, allowing him to mount the crate without getting out of the tractor cab. The loader fits into two holes in the bracket. A stationary pin in the top hole is lifted up to release the bracket from the loader. For more information, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: FARM SHOW Followup, LeRoy Kooiker, Rt. 2, Box 129, Rock Rapids, Iowa 51246 (ph 712 472-3094).

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