Found this last night. Anyone tried it? I am going to rig one up this week.

Mike

I think I have pretty good and cheap method of moving round bales with a team. I did finally get a bunch of pictures taken off all the steps. It seems like one of those things that is easier to show someone than to describe. I use a sheet of plywood for the stone boat. I sandwiched one end between two pieces of oak 2x8. Then drilled a hole through all of it for a chain to pull by. I use an old trace chain with slip hooks added. I hook this over a ball hitch on the fore cart to pull around. I have a iron spike about 18 inches long that I put in the center of the bale and I have a rope fastened to the spike. The rope has loops tied in it at varying distances that are dropped over the ball hitch. With the spike in the bale and the plywood in position I can drive in the spike and then drop a loop from the rope over the ball hitch and pull the bale up onto the plywood where it sits on one of the flat ends. I take the loop off the ball hitch and go to the end of the plywood with the chain and drop it back on the ball hitch and leave the pin and the rope in the bale. That way when I get to where I want to leave the bale, I just unhook the chain and rehook the rope and can pull the bale back off the plywood. I can do the whole thing without getting off the forecart and it only takes a minute per bale. It's good work for the mules with plenty of backing and slow steady pulling. They have learned the routine well enough that they can pull to the end of the rope and stop just before the bale tips over on the board. I'll try to get the photos organized step by step because it's easier to understand by seeing than it is to describe.

I built one of these some years ago from this very picture. Used it behind a tractor but never a horse. things fell apart in my life and never have had horses again to try it out.