Grain pads - alternatives to concrete?
- Thread starter ajd132
- Start date
alomy75
Member
Perfect year for them too. Is it rock hard? Or would a poorly angled bucket gouge a chunk out?
It has gone extremely hard
We knew you’d be pleased …
Very good
ollie989898
Member
Looks good but chaser bin and some more trucks would be better.
That would be the ideal but just not do-able
whats the cost / process involve ?
Cost about 12k all in, they rip the soil, then mix it with a load of concrete and bash it back down. It’s gone down really hard. They do a lot of tracks for farms like that. I may do some more.
ollie989898
Member
What money are you talking about to have enough trucks in the game to run a big lexion for a day? I suppose driver hours becomes a factor, will the intake allow tipping at night? Your soil stabilised pad might also be a grand place to tip something like sewage if regulations one day demanded this kind of thing.
Don’t think it would really be possible, too many things can go wrong, an accident on the A11 would stop harvest
Massive chaser bin to fill a truck in one go and a massive tractor to pull it would cost the same as two normal tractors and trailers (trailers also don’t depreciate) and we already have normal sized tractors.
im just not convinced it’s cost effective for our business.
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About 30x20m
ollie989898
Member
Fair enough, though I seem to remember Clive(?) I think stating that his chaser bin was eventually sold for what he paid for it, it's a niche purchase though and I take your point about the roads being an issue.
I know some who used 30t chaser bins to lug seed around which seems like a bit of overkill way to try and justify it.
I do know some that make them work really well but they generally are big farms with a large store on site and their own wagons. Couple of big estates nearby do it effectively.
ollie989898
Member
It would be just the kiddie to fill that big fertiliser spreader of yours if you were into bulk AN!
I’ve got a mini one, Richard western drill filler with split hopper. Can hold about 10t of urea. Really useful but of kit.
Suffolk Serf
Member
- Location
- Bury/Thetford
Pretty much every farm and contractor in the USA uses a chaser bin (or "grain cart") and not all are massive. Also pretty much all farms there use trucks for road haulage. What i've seen there is that the chasers, unload the combine at the same point each round, on the way back to the headland where the trucks are parked. Rather than waiting around for the combines tank level light to flash or for the combine driver to shout over the two way. That would be the case in higher yielding crops such as corn (grain maize). What I saw looked pretty efficient (to a pig farmer!).
Similarly, in Australia, all road transport is by truck. And pretty much all farms would use one or two "mother bins" of 100t+ capacity or one or several round "field bins" of 50t or so capacity. Sometimes they would unload the combine, stationary, direct to the field bin, or more often use a chaser bin. You see the round field bins everywhere, even on smaller farms with older kit.
I think where we differ is that we can get away with tractors and trailers flying around on the roads. Certainly in Australia that has been clamped down on.
Similarly, in Australia, all road transport is by truck. And pretty much all farms would use one or two "mother bins" of 100t+ capacity or one or several round "field bins" of 50t or so capacity. Sometimes they would unload the combine, stationary, direct to the field bin, or more often use a chaser bin. You see the round field bins everywhere, even on smaller farms with older kit.
I think where we differ is that we can get away with tractors and trailers flying around on the roads. Certainly in Australia that has been clamped down on.
alomy75
Member
Presumably it’s not treated seed, of course
- Location
- Suffolk
Any idea what the expected lifespan is? Just thinking if it lasts a long time it’s good value but if it only does 5 years it wouldn’t be great?
Suits contracting situations well though.