Economical way to haul grain?

Josh in Pa · Sep 30, 2012

How do you guys move grain? I move mine about 8 miles to the elevator at harvest. I don't have my own bins. I use an old truck that holds 200 bushels, or a bin wagon that holds about the same behind a 3/4 ton pickup. The line at the elevator is frequently 2 hours. I need a better way. How big of a tractor does it take to pull 2 wagons? It is a pretty hilly 8 miles. I don't really want another truck, because of license, insurance, and upkeep. What do you guys think? Should I think about building my own bins and haul/hire the hauling after harvest is done?
Josh

rufus80 · Sep 30, 2012

How big of wagons?

sd pete · Sep 30, 2012

Build the bins. This opens marketing options up also

Mark-Mi · Sep 30, 2012

Hook the wagon behind the truck.
You did not say how many bushels you had to haul on a average year. That would make a big difference in the answers.

Paul from MI · Sep 30, 2012

If you have barn room look at getting more wagons, maybe storing the last of your crop in the wagons inside. Wagons are the cheapest way and 8 miles doesn't take long pulling them with your truck.

Mike (WA) · Sep 30, 2012

Older semis are pretty cheap, especially if you're not expecting them to stand up to year around use.

Don't know anything about licensing- can you get a cheap "Farm" license on a semi?

Josh in Pa · Sep 30, 2012

This year I will haul around 4000 bushels. I have about 6000 bushels to shell on the other side of town, but have a custom operator do it now, because it is too much to haul.
Josh

Bob Bancroft · Sep 30, 2012

PA hills? Wagons are asking for trouble. I would build bin(s). Then, even if you haul it all to the same place, harvest will have been expedited immensely. Then, why not haul it yourself at your own pace later on, rather than hire it?

NY 986 · Sep 30, 2012

How much volume overall? Is it taking too much time away from running the combine? Are you always trying to finish in poor weather (snow)? Try lining up a custom hauler and see if you can get references to be assured of reliability. Grain systems on the farm are nice but may not always be the best use of money if money is at a premium for you. You could up the wagon size but that may requiring upping the tractor size to safely handle it on the hills.

RGMartin · Sep 30, 2012

You can get an "exempt" sticker up to 55,000 in PA that isn't much hassle(no inspection etc). Old tandems aren't much more expensive than a couple wagons.

My truck needs a rear axle bearing at the moment, I have been hauling 14-16000 pounds behind a 9,000 pound 85 Hp tractor on these PA hills, all I want. 2 of the hills require a 6.5mph climb, and the steering starts to feel lighter than I'd like.

Bill(Wis) · Sep 30, 2012

Elevators are fairly close by where I am including an ethanol plant. No waiting at the ethanol plant. Dump and go. Trucks available almost anyplace and for each load of 1100 bushels I shell out about $125-150. I couldn't buy half of a tire on one of those rigs for that. Soybeans this year. Might have 15 loads. I don't need the headaches of owning a truck and then it would be just me working alone. We have no problem storing grain at the elevators. Very reasonable storage rates. Corn next year. Different story. Lots more loads but still think I'm way ahead to hire someone else to do it. Frees up a lot of my time.

ihman73 · Sep 30, 2012

I'd see if you can get a custom hauler, we work with a guy that hauls flatbed stuff too and if he doesn't have any other grain he will leave his trailer for us to fill. We have 2 grain carts and those plus the hopper on the combine makes a trailer load for when we are running. We have 2 straight trucks to haul to our bins and a load to the local elevator if needed, but send most of it 30-40 miles to river terminals as the difference in price will pay for the trucking.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 30, 2012

There isn't a cheap way in dollars. So you must farm enough to spread those dollars over more bushels or it will never be cheap.

For you small scale, I'd hire it harvested and hauled to town. Bins are also expensive per bushel when building so small, and there is no resale value on little bins.

Hire it harvested and hauled.

urbancase · Sep 30, 2012

i have 3 wagons set up on a 2470 case,2-330 bu wagons and 1-275 bu wagon taged all 3 together and dump at my bin. i would put the money i a bin with a drying floor. then you can run and dump when you want and sell when you need to.

David G · Sep 30, 2012

Yup, I would hire it harvested and hauled. The price for hauling is not that much and they will sit in the line for you.

flying belgian · Sep 30, 2012

You can't expect that truck to sit in line without additional pay. That driver has to make a living too.

big jt · Sep 30, 2012

Another thought.

Get enough wagons to make a semi load and a 10 inch truck auger. Then hire a semi to haul when you have the wagons full.

A auger wagon would be another idea but that would take a big tractor and you are trying to avoid that.

jt

David G · Oct 1, 2012

Part of the cost.

Ken Macfarlane · Oct 1, 2012

Small bins are scrap price around here. BTO's don't want to bother with them. If they have a big auger you can sometime use it as a crane to lift them and set on a trailer. Getting off is your problem though.

Not grain but I've often thought about building enough wagons to hold all my hay going for delivery to customers. My problem is the buildings to keep it dry get very $$$.

cd1 · Oct 1, 2012

I deal with an elevator that has a fleet of trailers, they will just bring out a semi trailer and drop it wherever you want, call when its full and they swap it out for an empty one. It's a reasonable cost and not really anything to go wrong on my part. I'd like to be set up to haul more for the heck of it but it just doesn't make sense.

Economical way to haul grain?

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