Sod handling apparatus

A sod roll handling apparatus comprising:

• a) a head extending along an axis;
• b) a plurality of sod carriers mounted to the head and operable to pick up and drop corresponding sod rolls, the plurality of sod carriers including a first sod carrier fixed to the head, a second sod carrier movably mounted to the head and translatable along the axis toward and away from the first sod carrier;
• and a third sod carrier movably mounted to the head and translatable along the axis between the first and second sod carriers;
• and
• c) an actuator assembly supported by the head for driving translation of the second and third sod carriers to adjust the plurality of sod carriers between at least one equal spacing configuration, in which the sod carriers are spaced apart from each other by equal offsets, and at least one unequal spacing configuration, in which the sod carriers are spaced apart from each other by unequal offsets.

A method of stacking sod rolls using a sod handling apparatus, comprising:

• a) moving a head of the sod handling apparatus to a sod pick-up location containing a plurality of sod rolls, the head including a first sod carrier, a second sod carrier on a first side of the first sod carrier, and a third sod carrier on an opposing second side of the first sod carrier;
• b) picking up a first sod roll with the first sod carrier, picking up a second sod roll with the second sod carrier, and picking up a third sod roll with the third sod carrier;
• c) moving the head to a sod drop-off location;
• d) depositing the first sod roll from the first sod carrier at the sod drop-off location;
• e) after step (d), translating the second sod carrier inwardly along an axis toward the first sod carrier and translating the third sod carrier inwardly along the axis toward the first sod carrier to reduce a distance between the second and third sod rolls;
• and
• f) depositing the second sod roll and the third sod roll at the sod drop-off location parallel with the first sod roll.