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Home-Built Silage Bale Handler
When Bob Zimmerman of East Earl, Pa.,g started making silage bales years ago, there wasn't anything on the market that could move the bales without puncturing the plastic. He solved the problem by building his own 3-pt. silage bale clamp.
It consists of a pair of 12-in. high, 44-in. long steel arms that are opene
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Home-Built Silage Bale Handler BALE HANDLING Bale Handling (31B) 22-6-6 When Bob Zimmerman of East Earl, Pa.,g started making silage bales years ago, there wasn't anything on the market that could move the bales without puncturing the plastic. He solved the problem by building his own 3-pt. silage bale clamp.
It consists of a pair of 12-in. high, 44-in. long steel arms that are opened or closed by a hydraulic cylinder. The arms are welded to a steel frame equipped with two lengths of steel tubing that slide in or out of a pair of 4-in. dia. pipes mounted crosswise behind the tractor. To load the bale Zimmerman opens the arms and lowers them to the ground, then backs up until the bale is completely inside the arms. Then he shuts the arms to "clamp" the bale and raises the 3-pt.
"I've used it a lot over the years and have hauled a lot of bales with it," says Zimmerman. "The arms are round and flat so they won't puncture the plastic. I use it to haul bales from the field to my yard. I also use it in my custom baling and æon-the-go' bale wrapping business and let the customer mount the clamp on his tractor. I pull the æonthe-go' bale wrap machine (see FARM SHOW'S Vol. 13, No. 5) behind the baler and load and wrap bales in one operation, then drop them on a 5-ft. wide, 6-ft. long section of canvas that's bolted behind the bale wrap machine and drags along the ground. The bale is pulled along on the canvas for a short distance, then rolls off. I leave the bales in the field for the customer to pick up and haul wherever he wants.
"I used 1/4-in. thick sheet metal to make the arms and bent them on a press. A 2-in. flange welded on top of the arms adds strength. I also welded lengths of exhaust tubing around the bottom, end, and back half of the top part of each arm so there aren't any sharp edges that could puncture the bale.. The arms can be moved about 2 ft. in or out.
"I built the 3-pt. from scrap metal and welded the pair of 4-in. dia. steel pipes to it. A pair of safety chains keep the arms from accidentally falling out of the pipes."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bob Zimmerman, 251 Weaverland Valley Rd., East Earl, Pa. 17519 (ph 717 445-8532).
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