Tractor Tire Handler Makes Covering Silos Easier

Tractor Tire Handler Makes Covering Silos Easier TRACTORS Tires/Wheels 27-4-16 Dunville, Ontario dairy farmer Oscar Vander Heide was tired of the time and labor it took to handle tires he used to hold down the cover on his bunk silo. So he came up with what he calls the Tire Rack, a three-pronged fork that fits on a front-end loader and holds 40 to 46 tires at once. "I'd been laying those tires out by hand for nine years," he says. "I decided there had to be an easier way. I finally went to the shop and came up with something I could use." Vander Heide made 10 different prototypes before settling on a final design. It worked so well neighbors and others who saw it wanted one, too. "People said I should patent it, so I did," he says. "I talked with a couple of manufacturers about building and marketing them, but couldn't find anyone who was interested. I decided I could do it myself." So now, when he's not tending to his 80 cows or producing crops, he's in his shop with his son making Tire Racks, which sell for $749 (Canadian). Vander Heide's Tire Rack fits quick tach brackets. "We can drive out onto the plastic, lower the rack, and back up to place the tires on it. The rack is designed so you can also use it to retrieve the tires." Contact: Farm Show Followup, Oscar Vander Heide, 882 Regional Road 3, RR 9, Dunville, Ontario, Canada N1A 2W8 (ph 905 774-4970).

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