LEMBERG, Sask. – Farmers who use a Pattison liquid cart to haul fertilizer behind their seeding equipment may not be aware that it can be converted to a grain cart for harvest.
Rick Pattison, president of Pattison Liquid Systems in Lemberg, said his company built a modular grain hopper a few years ago to fit its CB3200 liquid cart.
“One of the local farmers came in one day and asked if we’d build him a grain cart. We said that wasn’t our business, but then we got talking about it and said, ‘We’re already building the frame, why don’t we build a grain cart that goes onto the wagon?’ ” Pattison said.
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The idea also came from Australia, where Pattison said huge portable bins are filled in the field. The grain is then transferred into land trains, similar to semi trailers, and the bin is moved to another field.
Pattison built the grain hopper unit on a skid that fits on the frame of the CB3200 liquid cart. The cone bottom liquid fertilizer tanks are also built on a skid, which means they come off the cart quickly and easily.
The grain cart can hold 3,200 imperial gallons.
“A big part of the cost of the wagon is in the structure, with the big hubs and spindles, tires and rims and frame,” he said.
“That cart is built to carry roughly 50,000 pounds when loaded. It has 16,000 lb. hubs and spindles on the back and 10,000 lb. hubs and spindles on the front. The frame is made of six inch by 10 inch rectangular steel tubing that’s 0.25 inches thick. At a static weight you could carry more, but for transporting it will handle more than 50,000 lb.”
Pattison said the grain hopper is about 16 feet long, seven feet wide and six feet high. It was possible to make the grain tank out of plastic, much like the cone bottom tanks used on the liquid fertilizer carts, but he used sheet metal for the first one.
“The drawings were done and we could easily make it out of plastic,” he said.
“We would have put a metal skeleton around it, but it was a numbers thing. In order to build a mould to do this, it would have been quite expensive – around $25,000. If we were building a number of them, we could amortize that cost, but we didn’t feel we had enough numbers to do it. It was just as cheap to do it with metal.”
The carts use 30.5 x 32 tires on the back and 23.1 tires on the front. Pattison said a dual wheel package is also available because customers want duals on the back.
“I think we’re about 25 or 26 psi right now (without the duals), so if you put dual wheels on the back, you’ll reduce that. That’s important to a lot of folks. They don’t want to compact their fields too much.”
The original fertilizer cart is designed with four wheels. Two wheels are on the back and Pattison uses a ball and socket on the front.
“It’s a gooseneck on the front; it’s not automotive steering. The front wheels are close coupled together, then there’s a hitch and a ball and socket assembly.”
Pattison said an advantage with a regular grain cart is that it is easier to back up. With a steerable front end on his carts, there’s another pivot point.
“But it works fine. With the swing-away augers and gravity feed carts, you’re driving straight ahead all the time, anyway.”
Pattison said the hopper can accommodate up to about 800 bushels with the single wheels. With duals it could probably go a bit bigger.
“What we’ve done so far is use a slide assembly on the bottom, like a grain trailer, that opens with a crank,” he said.
“You have to unload through the bottom. But if there was interest, we’d put a hydraulic auger on it like a regular grain cart. We drew that up originally, but haven’t had any real reason to go forward with it.”
Setting up a mechanical drive unload auger would be more difficult because of the pivot at the front of the cart.
Pattison said he’s only built one unit so far.
“We use it on our own farm,” he said.
“One year Guy Lafond used it at the Indian Head research station. He had a big barley crop so they used it there for one season. It’s used as a backup on our farm, if we ever need an extra truck. But you could use it to haul from the combines, like a regular grain cart.”
It can also be used on its own at seeding time.
“Once you take the grain cart off the liquid cart wagon and set it on the ground, if you had a hydraulic auger on it you could use it for seed at seeding time. Inoculated or treated seed could be stored in it, ready for the air drill,” he said.
“When we came out with it, we thought it was a great idea and everyone we talked to thought it was a great idea, too. But we haven’t sold any yet.”
For more information, contact Rick Pattison at 866-509-0715.
