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“Mother Bin” Speeds Up Harvest, Saves Money
“No one’s ever built anything like it. The Walkabout Mother Bin will revolutionize the way we harvest grain,” says Dave Hedt, founder and president of USA Kangaroo, LLC, about his company’s giant new 4,000-bu., portable grain bin. It was on display at the recent Husker Harvest show near Grand Island, Neb.
  The Walkabout Mother Bin is a huge trailer designed to be used as portable grain storage in the field. The 58-ft. long, 7-axle unit holds 4,000 bu., has a 22-in. unloading auger, and an unloading rate of up to 900 bu. per min., allowing it to load a semi in only about 2 min. The unit has self-steering front and force steering rear axles.
  Mother Bins were invented in Australia more than 20 years ago. Hedt, an Australian who now lives in S. Dak., recently started a company to build Mother Bins in the U.S. He says they let farmers run harvest at full capacity without holding up any piece of equipment.
  “The key to productivity while harvesting is moving grain away from the combine and away from the field without any piece of equipment having to wait or stop,” says Hedt. “The Mother Bin works by supplying you with 4,000 bu. of in-field storage. Instead of dumping grain into the trucks directly, the cart operator fills the Mother Bin. Trucks are then loaded from it.
  “As a result, grain carts don’t have to wait for a truck, and trucks don’t have to wait for the grain cart to bring more grain from the combine. It reduces the number of trucks needed, and the number of people needed to operate them.
  “In the last 20 years combines have become much bigger as have grain carts and the tractors needed to operate them,” says Hedt. “If the Mother Bin can eliminate trucks from your operation, which we’ve proven time and time again that it can do, there’s an enormous savings.”
  The Mother Bin isn’t just for big farmers, says Hedt. “One of our customers is a 1,500-acre farmer who had owned three trucks because they were often waiting in line at the elevator. Once he bought the Mother Bin he was able to sell 2 of the trucks, yet still harvest all day long without stopping.
  “A Kansas wheat farmer uses his Mother Bin to load and unload grain bags. The Mother Bin sets beside the grain bagger all the time. It lets him keep his grain carts moving while loading the bag and minimizes truck turn-around time while unloading it. Also, his Mother Bin is equipped with scales which lets him weigh the grain leaving the field.”
  The base list price of the Mother Bin is $119,000. A wide variety of optional equipment is available including weigh scales, a vibrator for hard-to-move products such as wet corn, and a remote shutoff system that lets the truck driver load up without getting out of the truck.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Walkabout Developments, 600 Main St., Faulkton, S. Dak. 57438 (ph 605 380-1817; dave@usakangaroo.com; www.usakangaroo.com).


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2017 - Volume #41, Issue #6