Wires are picked from a loose bundle of wires which have been cut to length, prior to feeding to a processing machine such as a grid welding machine. The bundle is laid on a supporting table (23) so that end parts of the wires project freely beyond the table. A lifting beam (18) having a vertical slot (19) is then raised beneath the projecting end parts of the wires so that most of the wires are raised but the others are received one above the other in the slot. A gripper having clamping cheeks (20) is applied from below and grips the lowermost wire in the slot. The gripper is mounted on a carrier (2) which is movable parallel to the wire axes to pull the gripped wire longitudinally out of the slot.