Grain bucket dilemma ....

[cousinjack]

Got a bit of a decision to make regarding our grain handling, and some opinions would be appreciated....

We grow about 6-700 tonnes of cereal each year.. not a huge amount..
My apprentice has just finished his apprenticeship and immediately upped sticks and left, causing me to re-think my staffing requirements.. going to go down the route of no employed staff, and try to be more efficient with what I can do and leave the rest to contractors..

Anyway, currently we have a 1.5m bucket for grain.. for various reasons I won't go into, I can't sell it to release the cash..

Should I go for a bigger bucket on the handler to reduce loading times at the busy time of the year? Also, an option, we have a Volvo L90c loading shovel on the farm for loading sand, gravel and lime... does anyone make aftermarket quick hitches for this type of machine and would it be worth getting a huge (say 5t) bucket for that??

Bearing in mind that we don't do a massive tonnage, but it all goes out at harvest, when we are busy.
Also any big bucket for the loading shovel would need to be a toe tip to get over the lorries... so I'm guessing that'd work out too expensive...

Do I just stick with what I've got????

Thoughts please...


CJ

 

[ACEngineering]

Got a bit of a decision to make regarding our grain handling, and some opinions would be appreciated....

We grow about 6-700 tonnes of cereal each year.. not a huge amount..
My apprentice has just finished his apprenticeship and immediately upped sticks and left, causing me to re-think my staffing requirements.. going to go down the route of no employed staff, and try to be more efficient with what I can do and leave the rest to contractors..

Anyway, currently we have a 1.5m bucket for grain.. for various reasons I won't go into, I can't sell it to release the cash..

Should I go for a bigger bucket on the handler to reduce loading times at the busy time of the year? Also, an option, we have a Volvo L90c loading shovel on the farm for loading sand, gravel and lime... does anyone make aftermarket quick hitches for this type of machine and would it be worth getting a huge (say 5t) bucket for that??

Bearing in mind that we don't do a massive tonnage, but it all goes out at harvest, when we are busy.
Also any big bucket for the loading shovel would need to be a toe tip to get over the lorries... so I'm guessing that'd work out too expensive...

Do I just stick with what I've got????

Thoughts please...


CJ

at a guess a really big toe tip is 6k plus easy. then your quick hitch probably another £1200-1500ish? so I doubt that is going to stack up.

can the handler cope with a 2.5cube bucket or a 3 cube? Ball park prices depending on spec and delivery cost etc £1500 to £1800

 

[quattro]

There was a big toe tip in Cambridge dec sale might b worth a call

 

[cousinjack]

I like the idea of loading an attic in 6 buckets

.... wallop... done !!

Driver would be like... I've only just put my tacho on 'rest'

 

[cousinjack]

^ artic *

 

[Nearly]

@Alf

 

[Fergieman]

What size handler?

Will it handle a 3m bucket?

 

[Clive]

at a guess a really big toe tip is 6k plus easy. then your quick hitch probably another £1200-1500ish? so I doubt that is going to stack up.

can the handler cope with a 2.5cube bucket or a 3 cube? Ball park prices depending on spec and delivery cost etc £1500 to £1800

high spec toe tips can get well north of 10K

 

[cousinjack]

high spec toe tips can get well north of 10K

Oooffff..

 

[cousinjack]

Jcb 525-67
And cat th62

 

[cousinjack]

Or, do I go with a wider, standard bucket for the loading shovel? As it is at the moment I can just reach over artics to tip... but the base of the bucket wouldn't want to be any longer.... and I guess a quick hitch would add a bit too ???

 

[Clive]

Or, do I go with a wider, standard bucket for the loading shovel? As it is at the moment I can just reach over artics to tip... but the base of the bucket wouldn't want to be any longer.... and I guess a quick hitch would add a bit too ???

toe tips seriously down rate what weight you can lift due to extra weight of the bucket and more forward, mobile center of gravity, The new clam shell buckets address those issues a bit.

 

[cousinjack]

Clam seems a good idea.... dear I would imagine?

 

[Clive]

Clam seems a good idea.... dear I would imagine?

similar to toe tips I think

 

[bovrill]

How long does it take you to load a lorry with what you've got? If you'r only loading 20 to 25 lorries over the year, would shaving a few minutes off each load really be worth a big outlay to do the same job? I went from a 30cwt bucket to a 19cwt a couple of years ago, and the tiny bit of time extra it takes can easily be saved by not chatting to the driver about the weather, the traffic, and the state of the elevator at the mill for so long!
When you hear drivers talk about getting loaded last week with a 4" auger for an hour and a half, or queuing for three hours at the dock to tip, I'm quite happy knowing I've not spent thousands getting him to someone else's delay ten minutes earlier.

 

[dusty]

We've got a 6 cube Toetip with quickhitch brackets on it we,d sell only been used on compost be around £5000 if any interest

 

[Rob Holmes]

Just thinking outside the box here....

• Have you got a 3rd party grain store locally which could store your grain long term?
• Could you use a reliable, local haulier, who can send the same one or two drivers which could load themselves?
• What about setting up a high output elevator with 10 ton hopper, load hopper before lorry arrives and keep topped up and because you wont need to extend/retract handler will result in quicker cycles, i believe @B&B Pig Man had this type of setup

 

[PSQ]

Anyway, currently we have a 1.5m bucket for grain.. for various reasons I won't go into, I can't sell it to release the cash..

Greedy boards on the existing bucket.

Our JCB 526s carries 1.8t of wheat per load (measured), which will be C. 2.4 m3. Depending on the geometry of your existing bucket you could potentially increase the volume by welding on £30 worth of guillotined steel. Been there, done it.

 

[B&B Pig Man]

Just thinking outside the box here....

• Have you got a 3rd party grain store locally which could store your grain long term?
• Could you use a reliable, local haulier, who can send the same one or two drivers which could load themselves?
• What about setting up a high output elevator with 10 ton hopper, load hopper before lorry arrives and keep topped up and because you wont need to extend/retract handler will result in quicker cycles, i believe @B&B Pig Man had this type of setup

Yeah - 10 tonne hopper, 8” auger. 20-25 mins to fill a lorry.

 

[Alf]

@Alf

Thanks , but I sold mine