“Otter Claw” Clears Out Beaver Dams

“Otter Claw” Clears Out Beaver Dams MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Earth Movers The Otter Tail County highway maintenance department in Minnesota routinely spends a large amount of time and energy clearing beaver dams blocking culverts “We’re always ripping into them with shovels and rakes ” says Dennis Bosek “It’s dirty hard work and we needed a way to get those jobs done easier and quicker so we came up with the Otter Claw ” Together the team of Brody Bakken and Bosek built most of their invention in the county’s Fergus Falls shop The 15-ft long 4 by 6-in A500 metal tubing arm mounts to a normal skid steer plate with hydraulic hook-ups A large grapple made from A36 steel is run by hydraulics and hangs at the end of the arm on a large pin A knuckle swivel allows it to turn 360 degrees and swing left right forward and back to access culverts from any direction “You can open and close it pull it back or push it in ” Bosek says “As long as you can get close enough you can clean out any congested area in just a few minutes ” He says if he were to build another Otter Claw he wouldn’t change anything other than adding a telescopic function to the arm Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Dennis Bosek Otter Tail County Highway Department 520 Fir Ave W Fergus Falls Minn 56537 ph 218-998-8000; www ottertailcountymn us

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