Hay Guides Help Make Perfect Bales

Hay Guides Help Make Perfect Bales HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 15-3-31 You can make perfectly-shaped round bales with these new front-mount "Hay Guides" without having to drive over the windrow even if your tractor wheels are set narrow, according to Milco, Council Bluffs, Iowa. "Hay Guides" consist of a pair of 55-in. dia. rake wheels mounted on a frame made from 3-in. sq. steel tubing that clamps to the front of your tractor. As you weave from one side of the windrow to the other while pulling a baler, they pile hay higher on the outsides of the windrow. `"They let you make bales that not only have a better shape, but have a greater density with tighter ends," says Fred Miller, owner. "If windrows are too wide, hay usually overpacks the center of the bale. Baler-mounted hay guides work fine but unless the tractor wheels are set in a very wide position, you still have to drive on the windrow. Our front-mount hay guides let you transfer hay to the inside of the tractor wheel without driving on the windrow. Some farmers leave extra-wide windrows on purpose for fast drying, then use the front-mounted guides to narrow the windrow by half when they bale." The frame can be adjusted from side to side depending on tractor wheel spacing, forward or backward depending on tractor length and amount of clearance ahead of the front tires, or vertically depending on height of the tractor frame. Wheel angle can also be adjusted. Each side of the frame is hinged at the front and rear so the rake wheels can move up and down independently on uneven ground. The wheels are raised and lowered by a hydraulic cylinder. Sells for $1,249. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Milco, Rt. 2, Box 156, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503 (ph 712 366-2114).

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