If you're dreaming of harvesting this year's crop with a new baler, you might want to buy a raffle ticket from the American Forage & Grassland Council (AFGC).
To raise funds for its annual conference and other activities, AFGC is holding a raffle for a New Holland BB940A baler. The machine, which makes 3×3×8' bales, lists for about $78,000.
Only 1,000 tickets — priced at $100 each — will be sold, reports Ron Tombaugh, raffle chairman and owner of Dart Hay Co., Streator, IL.
“If the winner is unable to use the baler, he or she may request a substitute piece of New Holland equipment of the same or lesser value,” says Tombaugh.
Representatives from several organizations have bought tickets, he adds. “If they win, they could take the baler home and host a fund-raising raffle of their own.”
The winning ticket will be drawn June 14 during AFGC's awards banquet in Bloomington, IL. The winner doesn't have to be present, but the prize must be claimed by June 30.
Tombaugh will be selling tickets from the AFGC booth at the Mid-America Alfalfa Expo at the Adams County Fairgrounds in Hastings, NE, on Feb. 1-2, and at Hay & Forage Grower's Hay Business Conference & Expo. That event will be held March 8-9 at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center in Sioux Falls, SD.
For more information, call Tombaugh at 309-531-HAAY or visit www.afgc.org or www.illinoisforage.org. To buy a ticket, make a check out to AFGC or the Illinois Forage and Grassland Council. Mail it to: Ron Tombaugh, 1240 N IL Route 18, Streator, IL 61364. To buy tickets via credit cards, call AFGC at 800-944-2342.