Wes and KM,

You guys had started to build a horse drawn round bale feeder. I just spent the day with what may be a very good place to start. Long story short I sent my 2 coming 5 year old geldings to a ranch in SE MT to be trained. The rancher training them has what can be a wagon or bobsled set up with a round bale loader/unroller. He can set one bale on the sled then carry the 2nd on the arms to where the hay is to be spread. Also I watched him get a bale off of the 2nd tier on the stack. As soon as I can figure out how I will post some of the pictures I took. As a side note I couldn't be happier with the progress of my team. They stand quitely to be harnessed, step over and stand still to be hitched and unhitched. They ease into the load and work very nice. Heck if I get crazy maybe I will try to load some of the video we took.

Have a good night,

Todd

Hey thanks Todd. We'll be looking forward to those pictures. Being able to pack two of them around is what I'm after.
Glad to hear your colts are coming along well. If they get tapped off right you'll have many years of use out of them.

If you need to send your pictures to karim at stargentengineers dot com

I can then post the pictures for you. Either way I look forward to seeing this contraption. KM

looking forward to seeing pictures, Or a video of the bale pickup unroller always intersted if other peoples contraptions they have built or seen or bought. all my stuf is mostly built with what I had on hand at the time.

Can't wait to see those pic's Todd. We still move round bales on plywood, but I'm not getting any younger and those bales are not getting any lighter. Thanks. P.S. Good luck with those geldings.

Ok here goes, go easy on me the video quality isn't what I had hoped for. Not sure what happened it was shot and uploaded as HD video. Also don't be alarmed when it looks like they suddenly start to run. The gentleman to my right is the one training them and he decided we wanted to trot, and they shifted gears faster than I though they would. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZWSxUHqo6g

Todd

Here are the pictures that Todd sent me.

nice video looks like it works good really can see some good ideas in this thanks a lot for sharen

LOL that is the exact same bale unroller that I am going to use. What I want to know is how many batteries is he using? How many bales can he feed before he has to recharge? Makes me want to go work on it some more but dont have time today. Getting inspired again!!!

Thank you Todd NE WY and thank you KM for posting the pix. Will post pix of the progress.



Jim

Jim,

He has 2 12V Interstate batteries. He loads and unrolls 4 bales on a charge. He plugs it in every night.

KM,

Thanks for posting the pictures.

Todd

Now we know for sure It will work for us. May have to run a 7 horse brigs & straten with alternator to keep the batteries charged up not a problem. Thank you for the video & pictures we dont have snow long enough to run sled sure looks good to me.

Wes, this is exactly what we talked about when I was up to your place in December. K.C. I think I would be inclined to just run the hydraulic pump with the gas engine. Similar to a Hydraulic wood splitter. I am intensley jealous of the whole situation.

You're right Jake. And I think I'd spring for the engine on that rig as well. I have to feed at least 8 bales a day so that wouldn't work for me anyway. But that is pretty much what we talked about. Now I need to find just a hell of a deal on a Hydrabed type feeder or find one that's used but not used up.

That or just get a 15 watt solar charger from horible freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96418

its less then $100.00 I have thought about this and 4 batteries, but think that a engine might be cheaper in the long run. I am going to be feeding 6-10 bales a day. I would want an engine with electric start. LOL just hate pulling on a rope.



Jim

I really enjoyed the pictures Tod posted that looks like slick outfit.
I wonder if any one has had any experience feeding round bales with a Baker Hydra-Fork designed for loose hay? I've heard that they will tear a bale apart and load it in about 3 bites. They are usually pulled by a 4 horse team and seems to me that they would be ideal for feeding big bunches of cattle if it really does work.
Thanks
Hugh

I have a system very similar to yours but I'd like to see closer how you made your arms at the rear roll over and back again.
I used an 8 Hp Honda to power ours and it works very well, no issues yet, that way we can use it for any field work like a fore cart.
Mike

I don't think that a solar panel would be a good Idea here, needs direct sunlight and most areas in the winter are to cloudy.

Todd, does he just need to feed 4 bales or is that all it will do? Seems like it should be able to do more than that from my experience with electric/hydraulic systems.

I would be more inclined to use a smaller engine, 3.5 hp-5hp and put some hydraulic accumulators in the system. If you wait on ebay you can pickup up the cylinder types for a decent price. Run the engine while loading, which will not only speed up the loading process(do to the stored energy) but if every thing is sized right, there would be enough stored capacity to unload the bales without starting the motor.

Also if you just run wheels(wont work for skis) you can chain drive the hydraulic pump off of a wheel while driving, store it in an accumulator, and load/unload without ever starting a motor. This is how the whitehorse forecart works.

I tried this before so if the same question shows up twice there is no hiding ignorance. Any how have you had any trouble with the spindles on the trailer with sled runners on it. If they will stand the stress it would be easy to switch from wheels to runners.

This is great sorry I missed it this spring. Now all I have to do is get my hubby out to build it for me! I'm sure he'll have question but great pictures and video!!

Pardon my ignorance, but do you guys store your rounds inside? How do these work when the bale is covered in 4" of ice? I'd love to get one but I don't see then working with bales stored outside and snow covered. Don;t you have to unroll in the opposite direction as they were made?

Bret, I would say that ice is going to cause problems. But around here ice is non existant, only year I can remember having an ice storm is 91. Snow, big deal, brushes off or leave it on, doesn't matter. You are correct that they only unwrap in one direction. When you stack your storage yard, orient the bales so that you don't have to double hook up when the snow is flying and its hard to see. It can be hard to access the wrap direction after they aged, even if they dont have snow on them. But its easy just after they have been baled.

Say I'm loking for a wagon set up like the one picture or blue prints on how to build one. Any Idea's?

Boys, a gas engine will put out some heat on a cold morning while a battery just gets weaker. Sorta nice to be able to warm the fingers.

Do any of you guys have any ideas about a set up like this and being able to carry more than two bales?