Steve Greenslade got to work when a customer told him that what he really needed was a grain bag roller.
The owner of Greenslades Northern Welding Ltd. in Hanna, Alta., has spent the last couple of months taking the idea to prototype, patent and product.
Last week he attended the Western Canada Farm Progress Show in Regina for the first time.
There, the Poor-Boy Bag Roller caught the attention of the judges, who named it one of a dozen innovations worthy of recognition under the show’s revamped inventions program.
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“I wasn’t prepared for what happened,” Greenslade said a day later.
The Poor-Boy is half the price of other rollers because it does not use a power take-off or hydraulics.
It is made mainly from used oilfield tubing and can be pulled with an all-terrain vehicle.
The operator backs the roller over the end of the grain bag, manually winds the end of the bag on to the spool and drives forward. The bag rolls up onto the cone-shaped interior of the spool.
When it’s completely rolled, the operator can remove the wheel from the spool and pull off the bag.
Greenslade said the heavier the bag, the easier it is to roll, and some farmers may have to place a tire on the end of the bag to weigh it down.
He estimated it takes a minute to 90 seconds to load a bag, depending on the length.
He is working on establishing a recycling program to remanufacture the bags into other saleable products.
Many recyclers won’t take the bags because they aren’t easy to clean.
“We can handle the dirt,” Greenslade said. “We’re also looking at baler twine.”
He said the patenting process was interesting because he is essentially recreating the wheel.
He has dealers in Trochu, Alta., and Assiniboia, Sask., and anticipates the roller will become more popular. Communities don’t want the bags in their landfills and farmers want to be environmentally responsible.
The Saskatchewan government announced this spring it would fund up to six pilot projects to examine collection and recycling practices.
The Moose Jaw River Water Stewardship organization operates two collection sites in the south.
Greenslade, who has 400 cows, also brought his X-Box Feeder to the show. He said he has permission from Microsoft to use the name, which is better known as the name of the computer software company’s video game player.
