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Grain cart ?

N

northeast puller 1

Member
I see more and more farmers using grain carts. My question is Why? I know that some fields you could not get a semi to it and even less when muddy.But in the monster fields in the grain belt you can get a truck in of course with only with dry condition.I know you can unload the combine on the fly with one and keep it rolling and may not be able to do that with a semi.It just looks like another costly machine and operator to have when you still need a truck to go to the elevator anyhow. What is the advantages to it as I must be missing something.
 
There are several advantages. First, like you said some fields you can't get a semi into. My uncle has a whole farm he can't get a semi into and an auger wagon is cheaper than the bridge he would have to build to get across the creek. Second is time. In the time it takes to drive a big combine half way across a field, unload, and get back to doing something the combine could have covered alot of ground. A buddy of mine's family coveres around 15,000 acres with two 9770s. They try really hard to keep them rolling as much as they can. Third it can cut out the need for another truck. Even on a two man operation where there is no one to "run" the wagon a combine can more than fill one hopper bottom in the time it takes the other guy to get to the bins and unload or go to town. With out the wagon they would have to have a second truck setting in the field or the combine would be setting around alot.

Last year we had a really wet fall here. Some folks wagoned crops out several miles because any time a truck got off packed gravel it had to be pulled out.

Dave
 
In my case it allows me to keep running. I only have 1 truck and it cannot make a round trip to the elevator in the time it takes to fill the combine. Granted I"m a small operator, but it saves me time with less cost.
 
Friend of ours was driving his combine to the truck to unload-then traded the combine and found out how much each extra hour was costing him. He IMMEDIATELY got a grain cart so he can keep the machine running the corn.
 
Our combine bin holds 300 bushels, we cut another 30 bushels while unloading. Do that twice and you have 660, cart holds 700. Unload that into the waiting semi and combine cuts another 330. Add that to the semi and head for town and the combine never stops. We have a neighbor who's son is an engineer and always figuring. I ask him how many minutes an hour he spends not cutting during a harvest afternoon. From the time you stop cutting wheat, drive to the truck, unload and back to cutting wheat. He says he wastes 15 minutes of every hour.
 
You need to keep the combine moving to get the harvest done. Most times I could do it with two trucks. One setting in the field to fill and one on the road to dump. Can't always get the truck in the field though.

But with insurance and all it is cheaper to have one truck and a cart. You can fill the cart while the truck is gone. Truck gets back and reloaded in about 5 minutes and on the road again.

Cart is cheaper to own and can go to where the combine is to get the grain.

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Two Norwegian bothers are in business farming up in North Dakota.

After figuring all their income and expenses for the year, they find that they are losing $1.50 on every bushel after delivery to the elevator.

It was then they decided to get a bigger truck. :>)

Allan
 
Neighbot had a 7 acre corner field (cut off by a ditch) left last year. Pulled in with the latest greatest Red combine, an 1100 bu grain cart, and had 3 semis there. Plus a pickup pulled up.

Looked kinda funny.

A combine of that size costs many dollars per minute to run. The fella has many thousands of acres to cover.

Combine needs to keep moving. He had an issue with the combine, it sat for 15 minutes allowing allt hat equipment to pull up on the 11 acre field. Generally everytihng is moving, hauling, rolling.

He used to have 2 combines.

Running one combine and a grain cart is cheaper & gets as much done as running the 2 combines used to.

--->Paul
 
We haven't gotten into unloading on the go but just having the cart on the combine's hip when the bin is full is a big deal. Last year we had no choice but to unload on the pavement on some county roads. Traffic was blocked while the cart loaded the truck, but the combine was always going. It was a wet fall and the cart saved us. We hauled some crop out a half mile to the truck. Would have been slow going otherwise. We have a 475 bushel Unverferth now, and with this being the first year having a 9770, a 675 bu cart would be ideal so we can hold 2 bins at a time. For two 9400s it was no problem as it would hold well over 2 bins off them. We also use the cart to load semi's when pulling out of storage. You can have the cart loaded when he gets there and put it on while he loads under the augers. Truck driver's love it, have seen them leave well under 10 minutes when they park under the double augers and we had 2 carts full when they arrived.
 
Everybody has pretty much covered the advantages. In our case the cart cuts about a week off of our harvest season. A week could be the difference between getting harvested or not like last year.
 
Its cheaper to pay someone $10 an hour to run the grain cart than it is to have a $150K combine drive across the field to fill a truck on the road.

Time is money, crops in a field are a depreciating asset - especially when weather threatens.
 
Remember parking wagons in the middle of the field with long rows? You have to back out of the swath, drive cross ways to the wagon, dump, then pick up where you left off. This was eliminated with the grain cart and dumping on the go.
 
I understand the need to keep the combine rolling but those 15 minutes saved on the combine put a full hour on a tractor- from what I have seen its usually a big tracked machine that cost about the same as the combine. No doubt you will get more done per hour/day/ etc with one but I sure wouldnt say its cheaper to run a cart than dump on the ends.
 
The dairy farm where I hung out as a kid has grown. They are now milking around 1100 and have about 1200 acres in corn for silage. They direct chop into trucks, they have about 15 trailer dumps and 10 wheelers. I know that this is different but when they go into soft ground they have a big tractor following behind the trucks, so that if they start to spin they get a nudge so they keep going. They don't stop to switch over to a new truck. The only time they do stop is when they need to take a shot at a bear.
 
Just about have to depending on acreage, time, weather, etc. The cart is typically the cheapest thing in the field and it lets the combine do what it does best non-stop, harvest. A combine sitting doesn't make any money. I like this picture my wife took, 210 bu corn and unloading on the go made that 2188 grunt some.
PA260015.jpg
 
Chances are the guy has that huge tractor already to work the feilds and plant the crops. That cost is already there and if it can get rid of the cost of another combine, the more power to them. JUst because they have a large tractor on a grain cart, doesn't mean that's all that tractor does.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
When the crew harvests the quarter section across the road from mine, they park two semis on the north end of the field. The combine harvests corn on half mile rows to the south end of the field. A grain cart meets the combine on the south end of the field and pulls alongside. The combine empties into the cart on the fly and empties into the cart all the way back to the north end of the field.

The cart then peels off and dumps into one of the trucks while the combine starts south again. When the cart is empty, the tractor and cart head to the south end of the field to meet the combine again.

Hour after hour, the combine never stops. Like someone else said, a combine standing still isn't making you any money. And with combines carrying a price tag of a couple hundred thousand, give or take, you can't afford to have one stand still.
 
Thanks for the info. I new that the pencil was behind it all along But did not think of all the angles of it.Thanks for economics 101 course on it.
 
That keeping the combine going all the time without a stop break does not make sence. When ever I stoped to unload I got up and at least stood just outside the cabe door for a stretch, without that I could not have moved at all at the end of the day. Setting without moving all day is not good on the body.
 
Around here not many folks drive big trucks out in the field, they have gravel driveways they park the trucks in cause some times it's a bit wet. The main reasons for use'n carts are time, money, and convenience. Many folks rip ground every few years if it needs it or not so they don't worry much about compaction.

Thats the way it is here, never been to your house.

Dave
 
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