Telephone Pole Bale Trailer

Telephone pole bale trailer HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 17-1-7 J.J. Granstrom, Holstein, Neb., used the running gear from an old live bottom silage wagon to build a "telephone pole" round bale trailer. Granstrom unbolted the wagon axles and used a 15-ft. long double strength "reach" to lengthen the wagon. He then bolted two 35-ft. telephone poles to the inside of the box uprights. The trailer will hold six round bales. "It's a very simple, cheap way to haul bales and it took only a half day to build," says Granstrom. "We stack bales end to end and can load them two at a time with our front-end loader which really works fast. We can pull a loaded trailer at 35 to 40 mph and an empty trailer at 55 mph. Normally we push straw bales off by hand, but to unload alfalfa bales we usually need a tractor. The poles are about 30 in. apart. It's somewhat clumsy to pull, but it's light enough that if necessary we can lift the trailer by hand or with a front-end loader in order to turn in tight places. Used telephone poles are widely available from power companies for 30 to 40 cents per foot. "There are 8 or 10 of these types of trailers built by other farmers in our area. One neighbor mounted telephone poles on an old anhydrous ammonia running gear equipped with coil springs. It probably works even better than our trailer because it's spring-loaded and equipped with flotation tires." Granstrom drilled holes through each pole and used redi bolts to fasten them to the uprights. He used a length of channel iron to lengthen the wagon tongue. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, JJ. Granstrom, Box 176, Holstein, Neb. 68950 (ph 402 756-5893).

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