it does not stack up financially unless you are using lorries into a single store for all the farms, big estate near hear does it they have a single big grainstore and excellent track infrastructure around the farms and i believe it works well. i am dumbfounded when i see two 18 tonne trailers + chaser bin keeping a single combine going, you do not need the chaser!
Are chaser bins/keeping the combine moving really worth it?
- Thread starter JonL
- Start date
- Location
- S.E
As said before chaser works well here. Of course we could run without it but we find it very efficient but only use it when a second trailer is needed. Need a good man on it.
Some of the pros;
Trailer always leaves field full
Always someone in the field to manage breakdowns/movements/losses/motivation etc
Combine doesn't hardly ever wait to unload. Nothing more inefficient than a trailer waiting for a top up and then not emptying the combine tank.
Trailer driver not flat out all day-safety
Larger/older/crawler tractor on the chaser means it stays of the road and only need 1 'grain cart size' machine
Load lorries which we find we do more these days
Less compaction (except in gateways)
Did plan to use ours for bulk fertiliser and seed but haven't yet (seed occasionally)
Works for us. Not critical piece of equipment but surprisingly handy.
Some of the pros;
Trailer always leaves field full
Always someone in the field to manage breakdowns/movements/losses/motivation etc
Combine doesn't hardly ever wait to unload. Nothing more inefficient than a trailer waiting for a top up and then not emptying the combine tank.
Trailer driver not flat out all day-safety
Larger/older/crawler tractor on the chaser means it stays of the road and only need 1 'grain cart size' machine
Load lorries which we find we do more these days
Less compaction (except in gateways)
Did plan to use ours for bulk fertiliser and seed but haven't yet (seed occasionally)
Works for us. Not critical piece of equipment but surprisingly handy.
ollie989898
Member
On this very thread someone just stated they bought a chaser bin for 11K. Bargain.
ollie989898
Member
You're thinking about it the wrong way.
The chaser bin acts as nothing more than an extension of the combine grain tank.
The two 18t tonne trailers have to motor and stay moving throughout the whole day, just as they would do with a forager. The chaser bin just keeps the combine moving.
For people familiar with silaging the use of a chaser bin would be much more readily apparent.
If I had a chaser bin I would still need 2 trailers most of the time. Can’t see what it adds apart from the need for more machinery.
Our combine never stops, it’s a crime!
I can see how they are handy in some situations but I know more people getting rid of them than buying them at the mo.
trailers are the cheapest to own piece of farm equipment by far.
- Location
- Shropshire
I bought A chaser in 2013 after seeing the damage done by the trailers in the soggy 2012 harvest even though our trailers are mainly cargo bib. The chasers tyres run at about 18psi rather than trailers at 45psi plus.
as @ollie989898 says it’s an extension of the combines grain tank. It allows the trailer drivers to have a short break between loads without the stress of side loading to get the trailer full or waiting for a few tons to top up. We have land spread about and the chaser ensures trailers are filled when the they return to store and when moving between fields or blocks the chaser acts as a field bin allowing the combine to move without waiting for a trailer.
as @ollie989898 says it’s an extension of the combines grain tank. It allows the trailer drivers to have a short break between loads without the stress of side loading to get the trailer full or waiting for a few tons to top up. We have land spread about and the chaser ensures trailers are filled when the they return to store and when moving between fields or blocks the chaser acts as a field bin allowing the combine to move without waiting for a trailer.
I experimented with a 16t Horsch chaser a few years ago in a bid to minimise soil damage. We had a lexion 580 and a 16t trailer. The system just didn’t work on our scale/farm. We had 25psi in the tyres which was great for the soil but meant you were slow in the field otherwise it got a terrifying bounce on.....
We also have long fields so if the chaser was loaded at the far end, it would then bounce down the the field and then unload which meant the combine would be waiting. If it had been a trailer it would have been halfway home by then. And no one was keen to drive it, they like the variety of a bit of road work.
We also have long fields so if the chaser was loaded at the far end, it would then bounce down the the field and then unload which meant the combine would be waiting. If it had been a trailer it would have been halfway home by then. And no one was keen to drive it, they like the variety of a bit of road work.
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Neighbour ran a chaser this year. Many I time I drove past and the combine was stopped full and the chaser was full, waiting for a tractor and trailer. I’m sure they are good if that’s where your bottleneck is.
From our days as a haulier, carting from big farms to central stores, chaser bins are very good, particularly if they hold enough to fill a truck in max 2 tips.
If I was running two combines or on a longer haul, at greater scale than we are now, it'd make sense.
14/16t trailers on commercial axles & super singles, pull onto headlands, one tip straight in from the chaser and their gone. Chaser driver in tune with the combine driver, so they're kept going, and field traffic reduced.
Tipping on the move increases our output by about 30% over standing tips on the headland.
One thing lacking on many farms is a decent flap of concrete in front of the dryer to enable cart men to tip and go asap. The key is to keep the wheels turning.
If I was running two combines or on a longer haul, at greater scale than we are now, it'd make sense.
14/16t trailers on commercial axles & super singles, pull onto headlands, one tip straight in from the chaser and their gone. Chaser driver in tune with the combine driver, so they're kept going, and field traffic reduced.
Tipping on the move increases our output by about 30% over standing tips on the headland.
One thing lacking on many farms is a decent flap of concrete in front of the dryer to enable cart men to tip and go asap. The key is to keep the wheels turning.
- Location
- Hertfordshire
What sort of money would a new chaser bin be? We are running 3 artic lorries and have just bought an 8 wheeler so it could potentially work here. But I imagine it is difficult to justify spending ridiculous money on one when cutting 850ha.
Depends how mad you want to go but if you are running lorries it really needs to be able to fill up a lorry in one shot I would expect 80+ for a new one
- Location
- Shropshire
I think mine was about £57k in 2013. It was quite a bit more expensive than the Rytec/Hawe/Richard Western type and it holds 27m3
- Location
- Darlington
I would just go for 15tonner and 2 fills. I wouldn't want 30t + tractor and chaser on my fields.
I would say, dry year, quite good, wet year priceless.
we no longer run a chaser bin
When we did it was very useful, either to fill trucks on long hauls or tractor carts on shorter hauls, it works on the tractor hauls as a buffer, means in field turn around time is much faster often meaning a 1 trailer and 1 chasers man cart crew could cope where x3 trailers would be needed saving a man and tractor
it cost very little to own, was bought for circa 25k (a trade price as it was the first HAWE imported) and we sold it about 10 years later for 19k. - maintenance cost was minimal over that time
what changed was our logistics, we dropped some remote rental land and took on a ring fenced estate contract farm, it was reaching a point where it needed some money spending on it and we wanted to buy a extra high spec grain trailer which the capital funded
in the right situation they are brilliant and if in that situation again I would have another but can’t justify the cost for our current set up and the capital is more flexibly used in a 20t Stewart trailer
When we did it was very useful, either to fill trucks on long hauls or tractor carts on shorter hauls, it works on the tractor hauls as a buffer, means in field turn around time is much faster often meaning a 1 trailer and 1 chasers man cart crew could cope where x3 trailers would be needed saving a man and tractor
it cost very little to own, was bought for circa 25k (a trade price as it was the first HAWE imported) and we sold it about 10 years later for 19k. - maintenance cost was minimal over that time
what changed was our logistics, we dropped some remote rental land and took on a ring fenced estate contract farm, it was reaching a point where it needed some money spending on it and we wanted to buy a extra high spec grain trailer which the capital funded
in the right situation they are brilliant and if in that situation again I would have another but can’t justify the cost for our current set up and the capital is more flexibly used in a 20t Stewart trailer
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How fast does a 40 footer fill its grain tank .?
Only small fry here , 25 ft ,
Smaller trailers on biggest floatations can get under it on a 130 hp , on wide rubber , put one tank full in and go and can get back by time full again ,
Will 2 trailers just taking one tank full and go , keep combine going
Cannot see how a quad track or 15 ton tractor lugging a 30 ton plus chaser around is helping the land
As renoman says , perfect in a dry time or is it
Only small fry here , 25 ft ,
Smaller trailers on biggest floatations can get under it on a 130 hp , on wide rubber , put one tank full in and go and can get back by time full again ,
Will 2 trailers just taking one tank full and go , keep combine going
Cannot see how a quad track or 15 ton tractor lugging a 30 ton plus chaser around is helping the land
As renoman says , perfect in a dry time or is it
5- 10mins to fill in a good crop, a chaser bin buffers to give 2-3 x the window to get back to the field with next cart
our Hawe bin could fill a 20t grain trailer in under 2mins iirc
it was a very efficient way to cart - tractors only cane to the gates, turned around and filled fast, in the yard they tipped open back door so fast ........ they spent 99% of their time on the road which is where a cart tractor should be if running efficiently
we never ran a big tractor on a chaser - a regular cart tractor was always enough, never understood why people insist on sticking quadtracs on them !
i think like a telehandler or quadbike a chaser is one of those things thats hard to understand the usefulness of until you ha e had one
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the other thing that’s changed a lot vs 15-20yrs ago when we had our chaser is trailer tyre tech !
we ran super singles back then as they were the only reliable higher speed long road haul option - you did not want them in a field however
modern michelin cargo bib etc are so much better and good on road and in field so less need to keep trailers out of fields
12m ctf. also a big part of the picture now so again keeping trailers out of the field is less important than it used to be
we ran super singles back then as they were the only reliable higher speed long road haul option - you did not want them in a field however
modern michelin cargo bib etc are so much better and good on road and in field so less need to keep trailers out of fields
12m ctf. also a big part of the picture now so again keeping trailers out of the field is less important than it used to be
- Location
- Shropshire
Lovely view of Highley there, you are spoiling us!
Estate not far from here used to run two 10t trailers on small tractors that way - manual doors on 18" Michelin XP27 wheels. One tip off the combine, shoot back & tip up in the shed. Manager changed. Big shiny. Long 14t root & 16t high sider. Neither holds 2 tips, neither will tip up in the grain shed, both need a big hoss on the front. I struggle to see what he's gained.
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- cultivator horsch telehandler