Horse-Drawn Big Bale Hauler

Horse-Drawn Big Bale Hauler HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 19-4-18 Jack and Steven Gunter, of Val Marie, Sask., combined new technology with old to come up with a horse-drawn round bale handler for feeding cattle. The Gunters use two Belgian horses to pull a wagon fitted with a commercial bale handler designed to slide into a pickup box. It'll load and haul up to two bales at a time, then unroll them or drop them directly into a bale feeder. "Using horses eliminates wear and tear on our pickup and saves fuel," says Jack. The Gunters used 8 by 1 1/2-in. steel tubing to build a frame that they mounted on the running gear of a new Deere 700 wagon. Then they bolted the "Bale Master" bale handler to that frame (Bale Master is built by Mike's Welding, Rt. 1, Sundre, Alberta, Canada TOM 1XO ph 403 638-2393). A pair of telescoping arms are used to lift bales onto the wagon. A hydraulic motor powered by a 13 hp electric-start Honda engine provides hydraulics to the bale arms. The engine and controls are mounted inside a home-built cab on front of the wagon. "It works as well as any tractor or 1 pickup-mounted bale handler," says Gunter. "We use it to feed about 10 bales every day to our 300 cows. The telescoping arms let us load or unload both bales without having to move the horses. The bale handler weighs 950 lbs. and is balanced by the weight of the cab in front. When we unload a bale off the back of the wagon, the front wheels jiggle a little but the front end doesn't raise up. The arms can lift 2,700 lbs. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jack R. Gunter, Box 201, Val Marie, Sask., Canada SON 2T0 (ph 306 298-4434).

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