An eagle-eyed AgriLand reader came across this video (see below) recently. What caught his eye was the way in which a haulier delivering straw brought a miniature telescopic loader on board – to enable him to unload his cargo of big square bales.
The video is four minutes and 50 seconds long; it showcases the antics of ‘Stouten Fourage‘ – a Dutch company that specialises in any and all logistics involving hay, straw and silage.
Forage specialist
The company runs its own trucks and apparently has the capacity to store up to 10,000t of feed at any one time.
If you fast-forward the video, to about two minutes and 50 seconds, you will see the truck park up and a miniature, pivot-steer telescopic loader emerge – seemingly from within the load of straw.
During transport, the pint-sized loader is carried width-ways on the truck just behind the cab. It nestles neatly between the bulkhead and the bales of straw.
Upon arrival at the on-farm destination, a pair of ramps are set in place – enabling the narrow-framed handler to simply drive off the side of the lorry.
Once safely on the ground, telescopic front stub-axles allow the loader’s front wheels to shunt outwards – onto a wider and more stable wheel track (for safer bale handling).
The diminutive loader then sets about the task of unloading the truck’s payload – happily shifting bales in what looks like a sure-footed manner.
Of course, there are many ways to skin a proverbial cat; this is just one of many possible solutions. In any case, it certainly is a novel way of doing things.
