Easy-To-Make Low Cost Hay Spreader

Easy-To-Make Low Cost Hay Spreader BALE HANDLING Bale Handling (31B) 32-3-27 Turning an old manure spreader into a hay spreader was quick and easy. Doing so saved Jack Downey nearly $2,500 and kept his pickup available for other chores. "A bale flaker to mount on my pickup would have cost around $4,000," he says. "Plus it ties up the pickup and limits its use to hauling hay." Instead, Downey picked up a used manure spreader for $1,500. With the help of his grandson Tucker, he turned it into a more than adequate hay spreader. "We pulled the beater off, but left the drag chain on the floor," says Downey. "On the back end we ran two 6-ft. long pieces of 2 by 2-in. angle iron up and a third across the top." The angle iron is bolted to the beater mount holes. That leaves plenty of room for a 4 by 4 by 8-ft. bale to pass through, but if Downey wants to leave part of a bale in the spreader, he just ties a twine across the upright angle irons to hold the flakes in place. "It cost about a third the price of a commercial bale flaker, and it works real well," he says. "With the power take off drive on the apron chain, I can control the unloading speed. The bale moves about three inches at a time, and normally the dry flakes fall off real well." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jack Downey, 11520 S. Washington, Perkins, Okla. 74059 (ph 405 547-2696).

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