"It gets bales off the field quick without the need for a tractor or trailer," says custom baler David Anderson of Burr Oak, Kan., who converted a school bus into an "up and over" big bale hauler.

Anderson says his home-built rig compares favorably with commercial truck-mounted bale haulers.

The patent pending transporter is designed to pick up big square bales in the field, transport them, and stack them. It can load and unload twelve 3 by 3-ft. bales or eight 4 by 4-ft. bales. It can stack 3 by 3-ft. bales six high, and 4 by 4-ft. bales four high.

If you just want to transport the bales and unload them off the back without stacking them, it'll hold fourteen 3 by 3-ft. bales or nine 4 by 4-ft. bales. "I can haul the bales to the edge of the field or wherever I want and unload them quick," says Anderson.

The unit can also be used to retrieve the stacked bales.

The hydraulic-powered unit picks up bales with a pair of loading arms equipped with self-centering clamps. Operation is controlled by seven toggle switches mounted on a console inside the cab. Two cylinders are used to squeeze the clamps, two to raise the loader arms, one to flip the clamp back, and two to raise or lower the deck's tailgate. Power is provided by a hydraulic pump that's direct-driven off the bus engine.

Once a bale is placed on the bed, the clamps release and are returned forward for another bale. The cycle is repeated until a full load of bales are in place on the truck. Then the flatbed over the cab elevates to about 30 degrees, allowing the bales on top to slide back to the end. Once a load is completed, the bales are stacked on their edges instead of on their string sides which keeps the stack more stable. Or, the tailgate can be lowered to allow bales to slide to the ground.

Anderson bought the 1986 Ford 65-passenger bus from the Denver, Colorado, public school system. It was equipped with a diesel engine and an automatic transmission. He cut off the bus behind the cab. Then he cut through the chassis and made a slanted flatbed. He used steel I-beams to build the flatbed, which is permanently mounted at an angle and extends up over the bus's cab. The bales are then pushed back each time Anderson puts another bale on.

"I'm quite proud of it. My friend Darryl McCorkle helped build it," says Anderson. "It took more than a year.

"The bus I used has a diesel engine and automatic transmission. You don't want a manual transmission because the driver would always be riding the clutch.

"I used a bus instead of a truck because used buses are much cheaper. I think the same idea could be used to pick up round bales or high moisture plastic-wrapped bales, because we're not spearing the bales, we're squeezing them."

Anderson notes that the hydraulics were designed by Jamie Ferris of Universal Hydraulics.