If you’re looking for a quick way to get large numbers of round bales off the field and into the barn, using just one person and one machine, the choice is fairly limited. Ritchie has a self-loading unit that can take 20 bales at a time, and Rhoco can handle 12 at a time.

But there’s now a new kid on the block in the form of the TRB2000 self-loading round bale collector from Canadian company Anderson.

The firm has been making these units since 2005, says Stephen Gillman from Anderson’s new UK importer Arcusin UK. The biggest machine collects 20 4ft bales or 17 5ft bales, but there’s also a 17-bale machine and a 10-bale one.

An extendable arm on one side of the trailer lifts the bale up and deposits it on the trailer deck. The bale then rolls down a slight transverse slope to come to rest at the other side of the trailer.

The second bale is lifted up and allowed to roll next to it. To load the top row, the arm lifts the bale as normal but, once it’s reached 45deg, extends to allow the bale to be neatly placed on top of the existing two bales. Once that’s happened, the rack at the front of the machine then pushes all three bales backwards. This continues until all 20 bales are loaded.

Unloading simply involves tipping the front of the deck to 35deg, at which point all the bales slide off. Cost of the TRB2000 is expected to be about £28,000.

Mr Gillman says that he will also be importing Anderson’s in-line bale which allows a whole row of bales to be wrapped in one large sausage. An example of each machine will be on the Arcusin UK stand at Lamma.