Abstract: The round bale handling apparatus is adapted for mounting on the three-point hitch of a farm tractor and has a vertically swingable, normally fore-and-aft extending boom provided with a crosshead at its outermost end having depending arms that clamp and rotatably support a round bale concentrically by its opposite ends to progressively unroll the bale for feeding the latter as the tractor is advanced. The crosshead can be swung about a vertical axis between a position transverse to the boom and a position disposed substantially alongside the latter such that the bale can be approached and picked up from a number of different directions and within relatively close confines.

Abstract: A variable offset hitch is especially adapted for selectively positioning a semi-mounted implement in a trailing, laterally offset relationship to a towing tractor having a three-point hitch. A pair of laterally spaced mounts, each having a plurality of horizontally spaced, upright lugs, are secured to the forward end of the implement and receive corresponding lift arms of the three-point hitch through the use of respective removable connecting pins having a length sufficient to span the distance between preselected pairs of lugs on each mount. Lateral displacement, in either direction, of the implement relative to its normal operating disposition behind the tractor is determined by the location of the tractor lift arms with regard to selected pairs of the horizontally spaced lugs.