High-Lift Bale-Stacking Loader

High-Lift Bale-Stacking Loader BALE HANDLING Bale Handling (31B) 22-2-19 An Oregon company that specializes in custom manufactured hay handling equipment has come up with a tractor-mounted bale loader that stacks bales in piles up to 17 ft. high. David Steffen recently showed FARM SHOW how the loader mounts on a Deere 3010 tractor. It has a steel frame that bolts to the underside of the tractor and a pair of big steel arms that attach to the 3-pt. hitch. The arms, which extend out over the front of the tractor, are raised or lowered by a pair of hydraulic cylinders. "It lets you stack bales much higher than you can with a conventional front-end loader. Also, the weight of the load is transfered along the entire length of the tractor instead of only on front which greatly reduces stress on the tractor frame," says Steffen. At the front of the loader is a rectangular bale grabber frame equipped with a series of hooks. The grapple hook frame picks up as many as 10 small square bales, two 3 by 3 by 8 mid size bales, or one 4 by 8-ft. big square bale at a time. The frame can be rotated 90 degrees to allow for stacking from either side of the stack. Steffen says the loader requires a minimum 65 hp tractor and can be custom built to fit any tractor brand or model. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Steffen Systems, 8045 State St., Salem, Ore. 97301 (ph 503 399-9941; fax 503 371-4779).

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