Spinner Unrolls Big Round Bales

Spinner Unrolls Big Round Bales LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 29-3-43 Unrolling big round bales inside a shed or other tight areas is a pain. That's what prompted Dennis Nebgen to come up with his "vertical spinner". Most bale unrollers work with the bale in the horizontal position. The problem is bales are seldom equally weighted, so the heavy side always spins to the bottom. That problem can be avoided if a bale is in an upright position. "It's designed for smaller operators who want to peel off just so much and leave the rest of the bale until it's needed," explains Nebgen. "We used to peel hay off a bale, and then everything else fell off to the other side. This way you have control of when you want to stop." The spinner consists of a bale spear seated on a hub mounted to a 4-ft. by 5-ft. mainframe. The frame is made from 2 1/2-in. square steel tubing. The hub is heavy duty, constructed with tapered roller bearings to handle the stress of tipping a bale from a horizontal to a vertical position. The 2-in. sq. drop forged steel spear is mounted to the center of the hub and tapered at the bale end. When first attached to the loader arms, the spear is in a vertical position. To load a the bale, the operator tips the bale spinner down to spear the bale. The operator then tilts the spinner frame back down so the bale points up. Once the bale has been carried into the area where it will be used, the spinner can be unhooked from the skid steer. Four stub feet on the framework keep the bale and spinner up off the ground, ready for more material to be peeled away by hand as needed. "The main stress is when you first pick the bale up and flip it up on end," says Nebgen. "The key was finding the right size hub, but there was nothing on the market heavy duty enough to hold a big spear." After some trial and error, Nebgen fabricated what he needed. Since building the first one, he has sold some to neighbors and is retailing them for $650. "One neighbor has even used it for lifting 2,000-lb. silage bales," he says. "And he has no problem spearing even those dense bales." Although his unit was designed with a standard skid steer mounting plate, Nebgen suggests it could just as easily be fitted with quick-attach couplings or standard tractor loader connections. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dennis Nebgen, Route 1, Irvona, Penn. 16656 (ph 814 672-4305; email: dennybob@direc way.com).

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