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Big Bale Elevator Safely Handles Silage Bales
"I built it as a safer way to load big round silage bales into my tub grinder and also remove the net wrap from them," says Matthew Clavin, Rosamond, Ill., about the 30-ft. long, 12-ft. high elevator he built to handle big round bales.
Clavin grinds big bales every day to feed to his dairy herd, which is kept in
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Big Bale Elevator Safely Handles Silage Bales BALE HANDLING Bale Handling (31B) 30-6-19 "I built it as a safer way to load big round silage bales into my tub grinder and also remove the net wrap from them," says Matthew Clavin, Rosamond, Ill., about the 30-ft. long, 12-ft. high elevator he built to handle big round bales.
Clavin grinds big bales every day to feed to his dairy herd, which is kept in confinement. In the past, they used a loader tractor equipped with forks to lift the bales up to the top of the grinder, where someone removed the net wrap.
"It got to be quite dangerous. Also, when removing the covers the loosest hay would start to fall apart, which resulted in a lot of waste," says Clavin.
To solve the problem, he sought out Royal Weber, a well known local welder and innovator. Weber suggested building a 12-ft. high elevator using a 5-ft. wide manure spreader floor chain and flights to move the bales. He also recommended full 12-ft. length framing at the high end of the elevator to keep it stable.
To move bales at the right speed, they mounted a 2 1/2 hp single phase electric motor on the upper left side of the elevator. The motor belt-drives a gearbox that turns at a 450 to 1 ratio.
"Now one man can get into the elevator when it's not moving and remove the bale covers. It's a much safer procedure than before," says Clavin.
The elevator floor is 5 ft. wide and is made from tongue and groove wood. It has sheet metal sides. At the bottom of the elevator is a pair of metal ladders and a platform, which the operator stands on to take the net wrap off the bales. He presses an electric switch to turn the elevator on or off.
"As soon as I cut the net wrap off, the bale starts falling apart onto the conveyor so there's nothing left on the ground. It's not unusual for 200 lbs. of hay to fall off each bale," says Clavin. "But the main reason I built it was for safety. It was dangerous to stand on top of the mixer, 11 ft. up in the air, while cutting off the net wrap.
"I usually load two bales at a time onto the conveyor. It takes about two minutes for the bale to reach the end of the conveyor."
Clavin says he spent about $8,000 to build the elevator.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dairy King Farm, Matthew Clavin, 27245 N. 23rd Ave., Rosamond, Ill. 62083 (ph 217 562-5925; mdclavin@yahoo.com).
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