Harvested crops, such as grass, alfalfa and other crops may be baled to permit large quantities of the crop to be transported and stored in a compacted arrangement for feed or other purposes. Round bales are often used, due to the low cost of storage and packaging equipment. However, there are disadvantages associated with loading and transporting round bales. First, the round cylindrical bales cannot be handled as conveniently as rectangular bales. Second, round bales do not stack as securely as rectangular bales in the loading process, requiring additional strapping to adequately secure round bales compared to rectangular bales. Finally, round bales loaded into a rectangular shaped load have a greater “void” area than a comparable load of rectangular bales, reducing the density or “packing factor” and net weight of the load.
What is needed is a loader or loading system that is configured to load round bales into a closable end of a transport frame of standard size, such as a trailer, commonly referred to as a semi trailer, in a manner that results in an increased packing factor.