America carrying them. Having sold the company in 2005 to HCC, Inc., a 100-year-old manufacturer of ag equipment, Ackerman, remains instrumental in new product development and improvement, as a consultant. All beds are ranch-built and ranchtested, meaning any issues encountered with the beds are worked out prior to ever being offered to customers. Though HydraBed has been in business for three decades, the present day version of the bed does not differ much from the original. The company speculates that many of the original 60 beds built in 1983 are in still in operation; outliving the original pickups they were mounted on. “The bed is functionally and structurally very similar to what it was in 1983,” said Jay Russell, the General Manager for HydraBed. “When Galen built the original bed in 1979 he used and tested it through the winter of 1980, finding any failures that were then fixed. It’s a heavy piece of equipment that was built around him using it.” As a result of superior craftsmanship and proven performance, the HydraBed comes with a strong rancher-to-rancher warranty including lifetime bale arm coverage. “There’s not a whole lot of maintenance that goes along with this bed,” Russell said. “As long as it has continued to be used throughout the years there are only a few pins and 36 | Ranch House Journal
cylinders that may need to be replaced. equipment that will leave an impact on Structurally it’s a very sound piece of the way you work. equipment.” The ability to pick up and load Installing the HydraBed on your bales with hydraulic arms that you three-quarter or one ton pickup can control with your fingertips, in as prepares it for a range of farm and little as four seconds, simplifies feeding ranch jobs. The bale handler is flushand allows a single person to do the mounted, live-hydraulic powered and job with only one piece of equipment. completely integrated into the flatbed. Unrolling spinners at the ends of the This means that your flatbed is still arms allow the friction of the ground fully able to carry to unroll the bales other loads and as you drive. The All beds are ranchpull a gooseneck mechanical free float trailer. feature compensates built and ranch-tested, The HydraBed for uneven ground meaning any issues with and irregular bales, was built out of a need. the beds are worked out protecting the truck When the idea and operator from prior to ever being offered impact. This spreads was originally thought up, your hay out so it’s not to a customer. the only truckall in one place where mounted bale cattle bed down on it, resulting in a lot less feed waste. The operator has his choice of controls when buying the bed, the most common being manual pushpull cables to operate the hydraulic valves. A wireless remote is also offered. As the livestock industry has changed and progressed throughout the handlers on the market had to be years, the versatility of the HydraBed bolted onto a flatbed which meant has proven beneficial to many tying up a pickup and turning it into a ranchers. When large square bales dedicated feed truck. It’s not affordable became popular, the HydraBed could for everyone to have a pickup handle them. dedicated solely to feeding, which lead “The arms of the bed pivot, which to the HydraBed being built. allows for a large grip range,” Russell This bed is a way to turn your said. “When large square bales became flatbed into a multi-use piece of more common in the late 1990s it was