Simple Bale Flipper Fits New Holland Stacker

Simple Bale Flipper Fits New Holland Stacker BALE HANDLING Bale Handling (31B) 31-3-16 When snow fell on a third cutting of 800 hay bales, Steve Kuntz and his son, Mark, spent the evening in their Montana farm shop building an attachment for their New Holland stacker that flips bales over. "Our prototype worked the first time out," Mark says. The next day Steve used it to flip 50 acres of small square hay bales in less than four hours. Three years later the father and son have refined the attachment and started the patent process. The technique is simple. The stacker picks up the bale as usual, but instead of bales lining up to be flipped up on the stacker's table, bales move across the machine into a cradle that flips them back onto the ground. "The biggest factor is that you have to cradle that bale just right, so it flips the right way," Mark explains. The BaleCroc, as it's called, mounts with two pins on brackets attached to the stacker so it can quickly be removed. The Kuntzes make a variety of brackets to fit different New Holland models. The BaleCroc can be folded and unfolded by a single person in a matter of seconds and when folded only adds about 10 in. to the stacker's width. Though the bale flipper is heavy duty, one person can lift it. It's best to have two people to mount it, however, Mark says. An angled skid plate prevents the BaleCroc from hooking into the ground. The Kuntzes manufacture the BaleCroc through their business, Bull Mountain Innovations, Inc. The BaleCroc sells for $2,950. To watch the BaleCroc work, check out the video on the website. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Kuntz, BaleCroc, Bull Mountain Innovations, Inc., Ballantine, Montana (ph 406 665-7852; www.balecroc.com).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.