Boots originally designed for smaller augers don’t always work on today’s bigger machines. The new Mega Boot is one solution.
The angle of incline changes as augers become larger, says John Wilke of Wilke Sales in Regina.
“For example, large augers won’t go into the hole at the end of the smaller multi-purpose boot because the angle is different,” he said.
“People need different angles, so we had to come up with a design to handle the large augers, 12 inches to 16 inches and beyond. That’s the new Mega Boot.”
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Wilke said the older generation multi-purpose boot had a sliding lid and an enclosed tube.
The snout or neck would crack and break out of the boot when producers tried to use an auger that was on a steep incline.
“So we came up with an open top boot. There is no lid anymore. The auger just sets right in there. It’s still a square opening, but it’s four inches bigger than the multi-purpose boot and it’s 22 inches deep.”
The base also has a fresh design. Wilke said there’s hardly enough grain in the boot to fill a five gallon pail once augering is complete.
The boot is yellow, built of high molecular density poly plastic and has gone through rigorous testing, Wilke said.
“We wait for a really cold day and then take them up into the hay loft and drop kick them out to the frozen ground. They all stand up.
“About the only thing they don’t stand up to is when people buy them to use as horse troughs in the winter. The horse will give it a good kick when it’s full of ice and that can break it.
“But we’ve heard from customers that ice is no problem in the summer. Guys fill it with ice and beer bottles and they say it works great for that.”
The Mega-Boot is made in Saskatchewan, weighs 37 pounds and costs $245.
For more information, contact John Wilke at 306-586-5711 or visit www.wilkesales.com.
