Mini Bale Sideline Business

Mini Bale Sideline Business BALE HANDLING With help from his wife Chelsea and a neighbor Travis Kleine can bale up to 120 mini bales an hour that sell for $5 apiece It’s one of several on-farm enterprises that keep the Kleine family’s small farm profitable in Heron Lake Minn Kleine’s father-in-law had the Amish-built mini baler in a shed but hadn’t had the time to use it It makes 11 by 18-in bales 9 in long that weigh 10 lbs each “I saw it and thought I’d try to see if I could do anything with it I had seen articles in FARM SHOW about mini baling ” Kleine says He purchased big round straw bales from neighbors and then had to figure out how to unroll them for rebaling Instead of purchasing an expensive unroller Kleine made his own from a manure spreader “I took the beaters off and welded spikes to the apron chain ” he explains The unit is stationary and bales are placed in the spreader and the unroller is powered by tractor hydraulics The unrolled hay feeds into a hopper above the baler pickup and is tied with plastic twine One large round bale makes about 120 mini bales Kleine spends much of his spare time in late spring and summer baling straw harvested the year before in order to be ready for late summer orders Most of the straw bales are sold as fall decorations When he started five years ago Kleine marketed to local garden centers and farm supply stores Currently his biggest contract is 6 000 bales for Menard’s which are individually bagged and picked up in early August Other customers include orchards farm produce stands and other agritourism businesses In addition Kleine bales grass hay which is sold as feed to pet centers and people with guinea pigs and rabbits When he can find barley straw to purchase he bales it to sell for algae control in ponds The bales are sacked and sunk in the water and provide a non-chemical alternative to reducing algae growth Finding barley straw can be difficult Kleine notes He fills orders of any size and bales can be shipped Straw and hay bales sell for $5 and barley bales when available sell for $9 Along with raising Great Pyrenees dogs and Icelandic sheep selling eggs and broiler chickens and working other ag-related jobs Kleine says mini-baling is a way for his family to “farm” without a lot of acreage Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Travis Kleine 38458 380th St Heron Lake Minn 56137 ph 507 828-4093; kleinescountryfarm@yahoo com; www kleinescountryfarm com

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