Made in TF Country: Handling Big hay bales

Back in the 1970’s, Bob Lynch had an idea; several ideas, in fact. Which was not too surprising. As a mechanical engineer, ideas were Lynch’s stock in trade.

One notion Bob Lynch had was to start building big bale handling equipment on his farm in Christian County, just north of Ozark, Mo. In 1978, he remodeled an existing dairy barn into a factory to produce the equipment. Lynch’s two sons, Robert and Tom, expressed a desire to do machine work. In 1979, the family (Bob Lynch, his wife and the two boys) incorporated the business as Tri-L Manufacturing, Inc.

“We started with a simple, straight-forward marketing strategy,” said Robert Lynch, now president of the company. “We went around the country, asking other farmers what kind of equipment they needed.”

Farmers responded with requests for bale-handling spikes for tractor front-end loaders and buckets, truck spikes and similar equipment—mainstays of Tri-L products yet today.    For the past several years, Robert Lynch and his wife, Robin, have run the company.

In the 33 years since Bob Lynch’s idea took root in that remodeled milk barn, the firm has expanded to more than 13,000 square feet of production facility. The product line has grown to include a variety of equipment, from post pullers to three-point-hitch field cultivators.

“Tri-L equipment sells throughout the U.S. and Canada, although most is sold here in the midcontinent U.S.,” said Robert Lynch. “Much of it is used in some way to handle big hay bales and is therefore weather-related to some extent; it depends on the hay prospects.”

An average workforce of 15 skilled technicians—machinists, welders, assemblers, painters and office staff—each take responsibility for his or her own area of expertise.

“We need people with good skills and we’re fortunate to have them here,” Lynch added. “Our employees are the reason we have continually provided the most efficient, innovative equipment possible.

“Over the years, we’ve stayed versatile all the way through, from idea to finished product,” he added. “We are always trying to improve existing products and add new products to the line-up. Improving the product and the service is one of our chief concerns. Our products sell through implement dealers and farm supply outlets. More and more, we are building specialty equipment for farm implement companies. And, we are expanding to meet the needs of suburban landowners as well.”

MFA has handled Tri-L equipment—especially big-bale spears and bale unrollers—for more than a decade.

“Tri-L equipment fits the operations of many of our farmer-members,” said Ben Murray, manager of the MFA Farm Supply Division. “We have pretty rigid specifications for products sold through MFA.

“First, the product must be top quality. Secondly, the product must be a good value. It doesn’t have to be the cheapest nor necessarily the most expensive, but it must represent good value received for the member’s dollar,” Murray added. “And thirdly, the supplier company must have a program that meshes well with the MFA system. Tri-L fills the bill on all three counts.”

Tri-L plans to continue their tradition of excellence with innovative designs and superior products.

“And we try to be a good neighbor not just in this region but throughout,” said Robert Lynch. “We also try to be good competitors. We don’t play those games some manufacturers engage in; we have a mutual respect with our competitors in this same line.”

For more information on Tri-L Manufacturing and its growing line of products, contact www.tri-l.com or call toll-free (800)759-4159.