Apparatus and process for applying a cover, to a round hay bale

Abstract

To protect a round bale of hay from moisture, the bale is engaged by a machine attached to the three point hitch of a conventional farm tractor and then elevated with the hitch. An impervious strip, which is supplied on a roll, is attached at its end to the bale near one end of the bale, and then the machine rotates the bale, causing the strip material to pay off of the roll and wrap around the bale. The roll, which is on a dispenser, is maneuvered along the bale such that the strip wraps spirally around the bale with some overlap between adjacent convolutions of the strip. This forms a sleeve-like cover around the bale for the entire length of the bale. The machine includes a frame which connects to the three point hitch of the tractor and has a horizontal bearing in which a spear shaft rotates. The shaft is quite long and solid, so that as it rotates it may be driven into the bale from one end of the bale. Thus, when the three point hitch elevates the frame, the bale, which is impaled on the frame, rises off of the ground. The spear shaft is connected through a sprocket and chain drive to a power take off on the tractor, so that when the power take off is energized, the spear shaft rotates. The spear shaft carries a disk having spikes which project generally axially from it into the end of the bale. Thus the rotation of the spear shaft and disk is imparted to the bale. The machine may be provided with a track which supports a carriage to which the dispenser is attached, thus guiding the roll along the side of the bale as the strip pays off of the roll.