Combine Hauls Both Grain And Hay To Cattle

Combine Hauls Both Grain And Hay To Cattle COMBINES Conversions 27-5-19 For only $350 and a couple days of work, Dwight Shiels put together a machine that hauls bales and grain to livestock. The Stoughton, Sask., inventor modified a 1963 430 Cockshutt combine by replacing the header with a 3-pt. hitch bale fork. "A pipe inside a pipe mounts in place of the header. Support arms extend up to the top of the bale lifter," he explains. "The combine's hydraulic cylinders attach to ears that are welded in the middle of the fork frame and there are arms on the bottom of the carrier that also mount to the combine." Both the top and bottom arms and the hydraulic cylinders are pinned so they swivel. Shiels moved the combine ladder from the side to the front of the unit to make it narrower for passing through gates. The rig will lift 1,800-lb. bales 18 to 24 in. off the ground with no problem. "It's great for moving bales in the field," he says. "It's got good visibility and with all the weight on the big wheels, you can go faster without worrying about breaking your axles." When feeding livestock, Shiels hauls grain in the combine hopper and unloads it directly into his feedbunks. "I've used the unit in 8 inches to a foot of mud with no problem," he says. When he started the project, it took him about a day to get the combine running, since it had been sitting unused in a shed for 10 to 15 years. Shiels says it took another day to make the modifications. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dwight Shiels, Box 544, Stoughton, Sask., Canada S0G 4T0 (ph 306 457-2423).

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