The debate: New tandem truck? Semi? Grain cart?
I'd like your help with a grain handling decision. A farmer has two older grain trucks, a five ton tandem and a three ton. The trucks haul grain from the combine to the yard, but this farmer often uses custom truckers — with super Bs — to haul grain to the elevator.
He wonders if this is the best solution. He's looking at three other options:
1. Keep the old gas tandem for field/yard use only and buy a used 500-bushel gravity wagon ($10,000) for the same purpose then custom haul everything out of the yard.
2. Buy a diesel tandem ($50,000) for occasional trips to the elevator and custom haul when you've got large volumes to move at once.
3. Buy a semi ($60,000 plus more maintenance and upkeep) and haul everything myself.
He writes: "The benefit of custom is that 40 tonnes go out of your yard in about an hour and you're done. You are free to do other things and the GST is refundable. Drawbacks can be less flexibility, they want to come when you aren't ready the yard is too wet, etc. and it's expensive.
"To buy a new tandem or semi (over five years) will cost annually about as much as I pay for custom hauling and I will own it after five years. However that doesn't include fuel and time.
"So my conclusion so far is stick with custom until I can save more by going the other route. And just have a satisfactory equipment to get from field to yard."
Your input is appreciated
What else does he need to consider? Is waiting the right solution or should he make the investment sooner than later? Please email your suggestions to me or post a comment on this blog.
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I'd go with option No. 1 with this change....
I'd buy a grain cart, not a gravity wagon because a gravity wagon is slower to unload and I don't think they're built as beefy as a grain cart. I think some gravity wagons come with a a hydraulic auger but most use the gravity chute and a regular auger to load trucks which is still much slower than a grain cart's auger and not nearly as handy for a bunch of different reasons. (And aren't grain wagons used mostly as a tender for air drill tanks??)
To me, the harvest window can be very small, so the most important thing is to get the grain in the bin as quickly as possible (to maintain grades) and from farmers I spoke to over the years, a grain cart is like buying another 2/3 of a combine for a fraction of the price.
This increase in harvest efficiency would easily make up for the increase in cost to custom haul everything because you should, in theory, have higher quality grain year after year if you can get it in the bin faster.
You an also use the grain cart to help fill the semis that come in to do any custom hauling. And, a grain cart makes it much easier to blend grain. How?
I've heard of guys filling their cart with No. 2 wheat and running the auger slowing and sporadically up and down the semi trailer while the auger loads No. 1 wheat from the bin.