Pheasant Bar Saves Wildlife

Pheasant Bar Saves Wildlife TRACTORS Accessories 12-3-9 Iowa farmer Vern Martens, of George, built a "pheasant bar" on the front of his tractor to scare birds away so they don't get cut with the sickle. The device consists of a 7 ft. long, 1/2 in. dia. bar with 3 bright yellow, 28-in. "twist link" chains hanging from it. The chains drag through the hay or grass as Martens pulls a 7 ft. wide mower with his 1954 NAA Ford tractor. "The idea is that the bar and chains will scare away any nesting birds or animals before the mower sickle arrives. Martens welded the chains to the bar. He glen welded a 1 ft. long, stationary pipe vertically on the tractor's grill guard. One end of the 7 ft. bar, curved at a 90? angle, fits into this pipe, which is hinged so that Martens can fold the bar to the side of the tractor after mowing. A locking bracket holds the bar in the folded position, and a rubber tarp strap secures it to the tractor frame. The bar also can be removed from the pipe and stored on the mower or in a shed. If he could do it over again, Martens says he might have bolted, not welded, the pipe and locking bracket to the grill guard. "That would have let me transfer the `pheasant bar' to other tractors." Contact: FARM SHOW Follow-up, Vern Martens, Rt. 1, Ashton, Iowa 51232 (ph 712 475-2682).

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