History

2000:

The first Mil-Stak clamp is built and put to use on a New Holland® 1075 wagon in Fruitland, Idaho.

2001:

The clamp gathers interest in the community and with the encouragement of friends and neighbors, Leland and Ken decide to go into production. In 2001, Mil-Stak sold 9 of the model 1000 clamps and despite problems, the clamp was well received by the customers.

2002:

In February of 2002, Leland and Ken had their own booth at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA. During this year they sold 28 clamps, some to high use areas, stacking as many as 35,000 3×4 (1500 lb) bales per year. This caused metal fatigue in several areas. Once again, improvements were made as they upgraded materials and reinforced key parts of the clamp.

2002-2006:

Annual sales continued to rise as more people saw the simplicity of the Mil-Stak clamp and the large square bales became more common. The Mil-Stak clamp product line was revised to include clamps to handle 3×3 bales, 3×4 bales, and an adjustable model to handle both.

2007:

The prototype Mil-Stak pull-type wagon was put to the test for the 2007 hay season. The PT/2000 used a version of the Mil-Stak clamp and could be set up to haul 4×4 bales in addition to the 3×3 and 3×4 sizes.

2008:

The 2008 New Holland® bale wagon left the factory Mil-Stak ready.

2009:

By 2009 New Holland® added software to their wagon to automate the Mil-Stak clamp. Now the operator only had to clamp each bale before the New Holland® computer took over and completed the process of setting the bales on the first table and moving them to the stack bed.