On-The-Go Bale Wrap Machine

On-the-Go Bale Wrap Machine HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 14-5-21 The first commercial on-the-go bale wrap-per for big round bales made its debut at the Royal Show. (A year ago FARM SHOW featured the world's first on-the-go bale wrapper built by Pennsylvania farmer Lewis Zimmer-man. It was built strictly for Zimmerman's own use.) "You save money and time by doing two operations at once with the same tractor and, by wrapping immediately, more air is excluded from the bale, making better silage," says Richard Ruston, managing di-rector of the manufacturer, Ruston Engineering Co. The fully automatic bale wrapper is hitched in line directly behind the baler. When the bale is ejected, it triggers a microswitch on the bale wrapper that activates two front stub rollers. They lift the bale off the ground. Then the rollers start to rotate slowly and a wrapping arm applies layers of plastic to the bale. Once the bale is wrapped with a predetermined number of layers, the plastic is automatically cut and the fully-wrapped bale ejected out the back. While the bale is wrapping, the baler forms the next bale. "It runs by itself but the operator has a control box in the cab with indicator lights that show progress of the wrapper. A manual override can be used to keep the bale from being ejected if, for example, you're running downhill. Also, the drawbar on the wrapper is hydraulically steerable with the control box to make it easier to maneuver through gates and to allow the wrapper to be used without the baler," says Ruston. Sells for about $20,000. The company is looking for a North American distributor. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ruston's Engineering Co. Ltd., Brampton Road, Huntingdon PE 18 6BQ (ph 0480 455151; fax 0480 52116).

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