Forage Chopper Bafffles Solves "Ruined Hay" Problem

Forage Chopper Bafffles Solves "Ruined Hay" Problem HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Accessories 28-2-35 When a field of windrowed hay got rained on, William Olin was faced with a problem. He wanted to use a forage chopper to spread the ruined hay out over the field. However, a conventional deflector would have simply deposited the hay in clumps. The Nineveh, N.Y., farmer solved the problem by mounting a pair of curved metal baffles on the blower spout to spread the chopped material out uniformly. "It took only about two hours to add the baffles," says Olin. The baffles are 12 in. long and 3 in. wide, cut from a circular band of strap metal. They were then cut on a taper, leaving only 2 in. of the 12 in. length at the original width of 3 in. After cutting the baffles he used a hand grinder to smooth the cut edges. The baffles were then welded onto the deflector, dividing it into thirds. The baffles extend 7 in. beyond the end of the deflector. "I've used the modified deflector on both waterlogged hay, and on hay that had been ruined by rain but was already dry when I chopped it back onto the field. In both cases, it worked flawlessly. There was no evidence of the old crop when I made the next cutting," he notes. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, William E. Olin, 336 County Road 26, Nineveh, N.Y. 13813 (ph 607 693-2854).

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