Hay Buddy Makes Bale Handling Easy

Hay Buddy Makes Bale Handling Easy HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 19-6-38 An Oklahoma rancher looking for a better way to remove neoprene string from round bales during raw winter weather put together the first "Hay Buddy" and now it almost never leaves his side. Arlie West of Gage, Okla., riveted a sickle section to one side of an extruded aluminum bracket at the end of a wood handle, and a sturdy hook to the other. It worked so well, he and his wife Jackie began manufacturing them in their small shop. "I got tired of taking off my gloves to dig out my pocketknife. I had tried a couple other bale handling tools but nothing ever worked as good as the Hay Buddy," says West. Last winter, West and his wife took a load of Hay Buddy tools on the road and in only 12 days sold 354 of them at co-ops, elevators, and on farms. "Once a farmer gets one in his hand, he's sold," says West. The tool is 13 in. long and weighs just under a pound. West says the chrome sickle blade will stay sharp for a lifetime and the handle is made of treated wood. They sell for $16.75 apiece, or 6 for $100.50; 12 for $195. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Hay Buddy, 214 Mission Road So., Enid, Okla. 73703 (ph 405 234-3363).

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