Garbage Truck Converted Into Jumbo Hay Baler

1986 - Volume #10, Issue #1, Page #08

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How about this - an obsolete garbage truck converted into a low-cost compactor for pressing hay into jumbo-sized big bales.
"It really works slick for our specialized haying operation," says inventor Peter Robinson, of Nagambie, Vict.
His specialty cash crop is baled oats hay which is sold to horsebreeders. The standing crop, while still green, is cut and tied into bundles with a binder. Individual bundles are compacted in the home-built baler, with the strings left on, into jumbo bales weighing close to 1 ton. The bales are then loaded onto a semi for shipment, or stacked at the farm and stored for future transport.
Individual bales are tied with four 5/8-in. plastic bands. The bands, drawn from spools, are placed in channels across the floor of the empty bale chamber. The garbage truck's original 20-ton, double acting hydraulic ram compacts a chamber full of hay - about 15 ft. in length - to about half that length. The bands are tightened with the bale fully compressed. When the ram is released, the bale expands slightly to its finished size of 5 ft. wide, 5 ft. high and about 9 ft. long.
"Actual compaction is quite rapid and there is no tangling of the hay as with ordinary baling," Robinson told FARM SHOW. He paid $3,000 for the used garbage truck and compactor, plus an additional $1,000 for materials used in making the conversion. He speculates that an inventive farmer could probably convert a used garbage compactor into a fully mechanized "one-man" rig for compacting loose hay into large rectangular bales, or for compacting regular hay bales to half their size to increase the payload for shipping. His labor-intensive operation, using bundled hay pitched in by hand, turns out one big bale every 20 minutes, with half of that time spent on hand tying. "An innovative farmer could probably convert a used garbage compactor into a one-man rig that compacts and automatically ties loose hay at the rate of one bale every few minutes," Robinson speculates.

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Garbage Truck Converted into Jumbo Hay Baler HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Balers (6) 10-1-8 How about this ù an obsolete garbage truck converted into a low-cost compactor for pressing hay into jumbo-sized big bales. "It really works slick for our specialized haying operation," says inventor Peter Robinson, of Nagambie, Vict. His specialty cash crop is baled oats hay which is sold to horsebreeders. The standing crop, while still green, is cut and tied into bundles with a binder. Individual bundles are compacted in the home-built baler, with the strings left on, into jumbo bales weighing close to 1 ton. The bales are then loaded onto a semi for shipment, or stacked at the farm and stored for future transport. Individual bales are tied with four 5/8-in. plastic bands. The bands, drawn from spools, are placed in channels across the floor of the empty bale chamber. The garbage truck's original 20-ton, double acting hydraulic ram compacts a chamber full of hay ù about 15 ft. in length, ù to about half that length. The bands are tightened with the bale fully compressed. When the ram is released, the bale expands slightly to its finished size of 5 ft. wide, 5 ft. high and about 9 ft. long. "Actual compaction is quite rapid and there is no tangling of the hay as with ordinary baling," Robinson told FARM SHOW. He paid $3,000 for the used garbage truck and compactor, plus an additional $1,000 for materials used in making the conversion. He speculates that an inventive farmer could probably convert a used garbage compactor into a fully mechanized "one-man" rig for compacting loose hay into large rectangular bales, or for compacting regular hay bales to half their size to increase the payload for shipping. His labor-intensive operation, using bundled hay pitched in by hand, turns out one big bale every 20 minutes, with half of that time spent on hand tying. "An innovative farmer could probably convert a used garbage compactor into a one-man rig that compacts and automatically ties loose hay at the rate of one bale every few minutes," Robinson speculates.

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