2012 - Volume #BFS, Issue #12, Page #15
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"Unwinder" Turns Big Bales Into Small Ones
You can convert big round bales into small square bales with this new bale “unwinder” from The St. George Company, Paris, Ontario. The Altec 160 bale unwinder is made in France. It can handle bales up to 4 ft. wide and 6 ft. in diameter that weigh up to 2,200 lbs. The St. George Company imports the machines and modifies them so they’ll unwind bales directly over the pickup reel of any small square baler. They added four steel legs to the machine and also added an on-off switch on one side of the machine. The legs put the bale 4 ft. off the ground where it’s high enough to unwind into the baler’s pickup reel. A manual control is used to set the speed at which the bale unwinds.
The bale unwinder is hydraulically operated from the same tractor that’s used to pto-drive the baler. The finished small square bales can be carried away by a bale elevator for stacking or loading.
“Round balers do a much faster job in the field and require less labor. This machine lets you make small bales when you have more time,” says Peter Quail. “It can be used with hay, straw, or silage bales. It doesn’t break up the hay but instead gently unwinds it. The legs are needed only if the baler’s pickup reel is more than 2 ft. off the ground. And when you’re done using the unwinder to make small square bales, you can remove the legs and use it as a normal bale unwinder to deliver feed into bunks or onto pasture ground.”
An optional loader is available for the unwinder that lets you load bales into the machine without a tractor loader. It can also be equipped with spinners on back, allowing you to use the machine to spread straw out up to 22 ft.
Also available is the Altec DT 120 which can turn large square bales - up to 4 by 4 by 8 ft. - into small square bales. The Altec DT 120 can also handle 4-ft. wide round bales.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, The St. George Company Limited, P.O. Box 430, 20 Consolidated Drive, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3T5 (ph 519 442-2046; fax 519 442-7191; email: sales@thestgeorgeco.com; website: www.thestgeorgeco.com).
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