Bungie Cord "Bale Garter"

Bungie Cord "Bale Garter" BALE HANDLING Bale Handling (31B) 28-3-35 "We feed round bales one at a time to cattle inside our barn during winter, but between feedings we like to keep the bales covered with plastic. I came up with a bungie cord bale garter that keeps the plastic tight around the bale as it gets smaller," says Boyd Crouse, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. A 42-in. length of bungie cord is fitted with a metal hook at each end. One end of the cord is hooked onto a rope with a 1 1/4-in. dia. lock washer attached to it at both ends. Eight 7/8-in. dia. lock washers, pressed flat, are braided into the rope at 12-in. intervals. The rope is 9 ft. long. The result is an elastic cord about 12 1/2 ft. long which can encircle the covered bale and securely hold the plastic bag in place. As the bale gets smaller in diameter, the open hook at the end of the bungie cord can be hooked into any of the small washers along the length of the cord. He braided three cords of poly baler twine into a rope, melting down the ends to secure the washers. "We had been securing the bag with a length of baler twine. However, it can be quite a job to retie the twine with enough tension to keep the covering from blowing off the bale. I decided there had to be a better way," says Crouse. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Boyd R. Crouse, RR 3, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada B0J 2C0 (ph 902 634-3468).

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