Owen Yandell of Havana, Ark., absolutely loves the round bale unroller he invented.

"It is the cheapest, the simplest, and the best bale unroller I have ever seen," he says.

Yandell uses a center spike on his tractor's bucket to spear and carry bales to the feeding or bedding area. However, by welding a base for another spike on the bottom, left side of the bucket wall, he can easily unroll the bales.

"The spike sticks out to the left of the loader," Yandell says. "Once you set the bale down with your center spike, you back your tractor up, turning just to the right of the bale until you are in line to spear it in the center with the side spike when you move forward again. With a little downward pressure from the spike, the bale starts unrolling as you move ahead. If you come to a wet spot, you can lift the bale up and set it down again where it's dry, or if you want to unroll only part of a bale, just lift it up and take it somewhere else."

The unrolling spike is held on with a single bolt, so removing it for other farm work is a quick and simple task. The base sticks out about 4 in. and doesn't get in the way at all when you're doing other jobs.

"To keep the bale on the bale spike when unrolling in a forward direction, you will learn to constantly go a little bit to the left -- this will keep the bale from coming off your spike," he points out. "Using this system, I can unroll a bale in a minute's time. It took less than 30 min. of welding time to have it ready to use."

Yandell insists that his system is "surprisingly easy."

"After you've done it two or three times, it's absolutely no problem to get the spike centered in the bale," he says. "Try it -- you'll like it, and you'll be amazed what a simple unrolling solution it is. The only potential problem is that you've got to be conscious that there's a spike sticking out there three or four feet to the left, so you don't want to hit anything with it -- for example, when going through a gate."