Hand-Feed Mini Baler Makes 2-Lb Hay Bales

Hand-Feed Mini Baler makes 2-Lb Hay bales AG WORLD Ag World 12-6-18 A pair of Iowa farmers are turning back the clock and making hay the way it was made in the 1930's, using a "hand-feed", home-built replica baler that produces miniature bales. Albert Uitermarkt and Walter Slycord, Oskaloosa, Iowa, demonstrated the hand-built baler at farm shows and thresher's reunions this fall. A 1/5 scale model produces 2 lb. bales of hay or straw measuring 14 in. long, 5 in. wide, and 7 in. high. They sell the bales for$2 a piece and Asgrow Seed Co. sponsored the farm show demonstrations. "People buy the bales as decorations for Halloween or Christmas nativity scenes," says Uitermarkt. "They put little animals or pumpkins or stalks of corn on the bales. Hay and straw bales seem to sell equally well." Uitennarkt, a retired mechanic, built the baler two years ago using an "Ann Arbor" stationary hay baler, built in the 1930's, as a model. The baler was fashioned from flat 3/16 in. metal. The only tools used were a welder, hacksaw and surface grinder. "Many farmers over 50 years old tell me they used to make bales like this. It takes two men to operate this miniature baler, but years ago it took a crew of at least six - two men to tie and block the bale, two men to stand on the ground and pitch hay onto the platform, one man to stand on the platform and pitch hay into the chamber, and one man to carry bales away. They quit making these balers in the late 1930's." The baler is powered by a 15 hp 4 cylinder upright in-line air-cooled Wisconsin engine mounted on a cart. During demonstrations, Uitermarkt hand feeds hay or straw into the baler chamber. The vertical plunger, an oak board with a metal 18-in. long claw, pushes the materialdown. Another horizontal plunger pushes hay through the chute. Wood blocks separate the bales as they go through the bale chute. The baler is equipped with tabs that are attached to the bale. When the tabs strike clangers inside a bell mounted on the bale chute, Uitermarkt knows he must put another block in the bale chute. "The distance between the bell and the wood block in the chamber determines bale length," notes Uitermarkt. Two grooves run the length of each block. When the bell sounds, Slycord inserts awire through each groove, back through the groove in the block on the other end of the bale and through a loop on one end of the wire. He uses pliers to twist and tie each wire together, then snips off the ends of the wires. A lever sets bale tension. "We can make 40 bales per hour," notes Uitermarkt, who also builta "wire maker" table to fashion the loops on the wires. Uitermarkt, who spent about 500 hours to build the big baler, says he has no plans to build the balers commercially but is willing to let people look at it and take measurements. Last summer Uitermarkt and lycord built a second, smaller hand-feed baler that's also modeled after the 1930's "Ann Arbor" baler. It makes bales just4 in. long, 11/2 in. wide and 2 in. high and is powered by an electric windshield wiper motor from a junked car. The men use grass from their yards and straw chopped up by a lawn mower in the "super mini" baler. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Albert Uitermarkt, 1510 S. Second, Oskaloosa, Iowa 52577 (ph 515 673-4547

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.