"Air Barn" Dries Bales In Big Bags

Air Barn Dries Bales In Big Bags BALE HANDLING “The whole idea is to force air through a bag to dry bales down It protects bales from the weather and preserves hay quality at an affordable price ” says inventor Owen Brown about this first-of-its-kind “Air Barn” bale bagger
    The new Air Barn is a dry hay storage system that provides superior ventilation resulting in higher hay quality at less cost than is possible with traditional barn storage says the manufacturer GFC Co Pittsfield Ill
    What makes the bagger unique is that bales are pushed into one end of a long “sausage-type” silage bag using a specially designed square bagging frame But instead of shrinking the bag against the bales to keep air out the Air Barn uses a large fan to dry the bales
    “We’re not trying to make haylage We’re trying to dry the hay down by distributing air evenly around it ” says Brown
    The 2-wheeled self-contained bagger can be pulled behind a tractor or pickup to the desired location or simply lifted and hauled with a front-end loader It was developed to handle bales made by the company’s Bale Band-It which is pulled behind a small square baler and is designed to group 21 bales together The machine automatically wraps the bales tightly with steel bands and then ejects the bundle on-the-go However the Air Barn can also handle big square bales and round bales
    The Air Barn system consists of the bagger frame fan fan stand and bag The operator uses a front-end loader to load bales into the loader’s bale chamber and then uses the loader bucket to pull the bagger backward to make room for more bales The process is repeated until the tube is filled and then the finished end of the bag is closed to the desired diameter to control air flow
    A pair of hinged metal side panels on the loader serve as deflectors to help guide the bale into the bag     
    “The initial cost is a lot less than putting up a new building and it’s an expandable system that can be used anywhere as long as there’s electricity All you need to do is add more bags and fans and you can set up storage anywhere you want ” says Brown “We used it for the first time last summer and it worked great We stored 126 Bale Bandit bundles or 2 656 small square bales in each 250-ft long bag The hay is left in the bags until it’s ready to be fed or sold
    “The result is higher quality bales than you get with barn-stored hay In fact the bag actually provides a better environment to dry hay than you get in a traditional barn which results in a higher quality of hay AgriKing a national feed company did tests on our hay and found it was 13 points higher in feed value than the same hay that we put up in a barn ”
    Brown says the machine is designed to use a conventional 12-ft dia silage bag “We’re fastening the bag to a square frame instead of a round one The finished end of the bag is fitted with eyelets spaced 3 ft apart We put a rope through the eyelets and gather the bag together so the fan can blow the bag up ”
    The fan stand is designed to accept either a 12 or 18-in fan “The size will depend on how wet the hay is ” says Brown “With a 12-in fan you’re changing the air every 7 1/2 min and with an 18-in fan every 4 minutes ”
    The Air Barn loader sells for $16 000 plus S&H The fan stand sells for $1 500 plus S&H and the company also sells 12-in dia fans for $600 and 18-in fans for $1 000 The 9-mil plastic bags they use sell for $800     
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup GFC 34273 210th Ave Pittsfield Ill 62363 ph 217 285-6487; owen@balebandit com; www airbarn com

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