Video! Yay!
Years ago, the guys started working on building a bale feeder. They bought a flatbed trailer and started designing.
Now, you know how we feed the cows EVERY DAY in the winter. It takes two guys… One to drive the tractor and one to pitch the hay off the trailer with a pitchfork. It’s a good aerobic activity! When I did it… the driver just had to keep going around and around and around because my pitchfork muscles were fairly weak! Yes, we had a bale feeder that Johnny used, but it ground the hay. There was a lot of loss in the snow and mud plus you had to keep running back to the haystack for more bales.
The guys were going to build a better feeder!
(But what about round bales, some of you may be asking? They’re easy to feed with just a pickup! True, but Vernon’s never been a fan. He likes the big square bales with the tighter compression to keep moisture out. Plus you can stack square bales, so there’s no loss with dirt/mud except for the bottom bales)
Anyway… I finally videoed the result of hours of welding and planning and disassembling and reassembling and research (how big of a hydraulic motor do we need???) and, well, lots of thinking! Things continue to be tweaked. Even today, Vernon was down there “tying” the two flakers together with a chain so that when one turns, so does the other.
This winter has been nice, and frozen bales aren’t a problem. Usually, if they’re iced up too bad, we have to take an axe to them to break the flakes apart. (Please know that I’m saying “we” without meaning “I”. I use an axe only on wood!) But having power to the flakers will help with iced up bales.
It’s great that we can haul 6 bales at once, which saves trips back to the stackyard, which saves rutting the roads, plus time.
Vernon already has in mind some modifications for the “next” one…
If you’ve read this and are VERY CONFUSED, go watch the video, and then come back and reread! Still confused? Ask questions… I love questions!
Bale Feeder from Carol Greet on Vimeo.
All rights to this idea and video belong to Greet Ranch, Inc.
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What does it weigh? What size bales are you feeding? I love seeing the tings men come up with. Noting better then having a welder to make life easier!
Wow, really cool and very impressive. I just love their ingenuity and capabilities, that seem limitless! I, too, got a kick out of the little smile he gave you with a twinkle in his eyes! “Yeah, Mom!”
I know… I couldn’t edit that out!!!!
What a superb piece of Yankee engineering! Congratulations to Vernon and the boys! Their invention is amazing and I really enjoyed the video. What a labor of love to create this time saving machine. Lots of luck with it.
A great video Carol. What an incredible bale feeder. Clever guys you have.
This is just such a neat video! Love everything about it – the ingenuity, the cool toothy contraption (if I may call it that), the de- or un-confusing (may I make up “English” words?) explanation by the Designer/Developer/Builder himself (OK, one of them), the clever little flag thingy, that “Yeah” that made me crack up, and the cow/heifer who seemed to keep her options open for maybe an even better smelling bale (do you think they’ll learn to get their noses out of the way of a dropping bale?). Anyway, great fun, thanks very much, Carol, and a niiice Sunday/Valentine’s Day to you all!
Cool idea! It always amazes me when folks can think up something new and then execute it!
Oh, and Happy Anniversary!
What a great job they did. No matter how long it took, it is now a time saver and only a one man job.
Nice!!
very cool!!
Farmers are so flippin’ smart it just makes me smile… Oh, that brings up a question for me. Out your way it would be ranchers not farmers. What is the difference between being a farmer or being a rancher? And as long as I’m here…you guys grow some great looking hay!