Auburn (AL) farmer Charles Mitchell's Homemade Pickup Hitch-Mounted Bale Spear utilizes a winch (not hydraulics) to lift and move round bales weighing up to 1,250 pounds. Two bolts fix the winch to the flat side of a reversible hitch ball in the truck's bed, the ball secured by a spring-loaded pin that's pulled out for reversing and spring-retracted to lock it in. The spear attaches to flanges welded on either end of 30-inch-long, 4- by 4-inch heavy-wall tubing; a solid-steel shank welded to the center but opposite side of the tubing slips into the truck's receiver hitch. The winch cable runs through a pulley attached to the top of a 4-foot-long, 3- by 3-inch tube and back to an anchor on the truck bed, the tube pinned 8 inches from its bottom to top link mounting flanges on back of the spear. Mitchell controls the spear's position from the cab by releasing or taking up the winch cable, which keeps the bale raised; he can also secure the bale with a safety chain. To keep the spear from flopping forward when empty, Mitchell attaches a heavy spring to the bottom of the spear and the safety slots on the receiver hitch. He reports that it takes him less than five minutes to mount or dismount the bale carrier from his truck.