"It lets one man wrap a bale without a tractor or other power source," says inventor Roy Sampson, Lumberport, W. Va., about his manually-operated "side winder" bale wrapper that's designed to wrap the outer circumference of 650 to 1,000-lb. round bales.

The two-wheeled unit is made from lightweight aluminum and weighs only 35 lbs. It carries a 30-in. wide roll of plastic and has an arm with a short spear that sticks into the top center of the bale. You simply tie the loose end of the plastic to one of the twine strings and roll the unit around the bale, using a hand-cranked winch to move the roll of plastic down.

"It does as good a job as conventional 3-pt. hydraulic bale wrappers," says Sampson. "I got the idea because I have only a few cows and didn't want to spend the money for a conventional bale wrapper. I've sold about 30 units to local farmers, many of whom use Vermeer 504 and 504C balers that make 4 by 5-ft. bales weighing 600 to 1,000 lbs. apiece. It takes only a little more than one minute to wrap a bale which is faster than you can wrap them with a hydraulically-operated bale wrapper. One person can easily tip a 500-lb. bale up on end, although it may require two people to tip a 1,000-lb. bale."

Sampson says it takes about four passes to completely wrap a bale. There's enough plastic on each roll to wrap 80 to 90 bales. He tips the bale up onto a small wood platform so he can wrap it all the way to the bottom.

Both the vertical shaft and the top arm can be extended 12 in. to use the unit on larger bales. The unit breaks down into two pieces for storage or transport by simply removing three pins -- one from the vertical shaft, one from the extendable arm, and one from the rod that holds the plastic.