Patent ID: 7871028

Claim:
A chopper unit for chopping a rectangular bale of vegetation, said chopper unit for mounting on a movable lift arm of a transporter unit, comprising: a) a housing having an interior space, a deck with a deck window therein, and a sidewall intersecting the deck and with a sidewall window therein, said deck facing generally upwardly when the chopper unit is in an operating position, b) a bracket attached to the housing for connecting the chopper unit to the movable lift arm of the transporter unit, and allowing the movable arm to lift the chopper unit; c) a chopping chamber within the housing interior space and extending from the deck window to the sidewall window of the housing; d) a rectangular bale hopper for receiving a bale for chopping, said bale hopper mounted on the deck for translation along a predetermined substantially straight line path, said bale hopper extending generally upwardly when the unit is in the operating position, said predetermined path maintaining alignment of the hopper with the deck window; and e) a vegetation cutter mounted at least partially within the chopping chamber and partially projecting through the deck window and into the hopper, for chopping the vegetation forming the bale.