A Grain Cart Built For Rice Production
31 Jul 246m 12s

Matt Miles talks about the unique challenges involved in handling rice: its abrasive husks make it very tough to get rice through the combines and grain carts while taking a big toll on farming equipment. Precisely why Matt is trialing a grain cart specifically designed to handle the rigors of rice production.

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00:00 The challenges of handling rice, that's what we're talking about coming at you from rice country here at Matt Miles Field Day 2024 in McGee, Arkansas, 00:07 the delta part of Arkansas. You're the only rice producer in extreme ag. I've learned a lot about rice since I joined this group. 00:14 You said it's a very difficult product 'cause your favorite product to crop to raise. But it's also the hardest one to handle 00:20 because once it's there a combine, it's hard on a combine. It's hard to move, it's hard to get down the road. 00:25 That's what we're talking about today. Tell me about that. 'cause most people up in grain country where I'm from, corn, 00:30 soybeans, even wheat. Yeah. You go out there, you combine it, stick it in a grain cart running, 00:34 offload it to the semi done. Well what we call it more, we, we use the term abrasive. So, so the, the husk on rice, it's got silica in it, 00:42 which is kind like we were talking about earlier, like sandblast, you know, like sand. And so you just take sandpaper. 00:48 What do you do with sandpaper? You smooth stuff up. That's right. That's right. And if you keep sanding on it, it's gonna wear a hole in it. 00:53 Yep. Well that's where rice has got, it's got have steep angles to be able to move. And it also has to have extended wear packages on, 01:00 on the products we use. Whether it's grain beans, grain carts, combines or whatever. Well the 01:04 One that came to a light was about a week or two ago. You talked about used combines that came outta rice country. They're they're, they're used 01:10 and I didn't even know why that would mean. So like just the moving parts, the head, what are we talking about? 01:14 Well, anywhere that the rice goes. So you take the combine and you take the auger that, that, that you know, 01:20 brings the grain up to the top of the tank. Yeah. You know that auger will sometimes have to replace that in one year. 01:25 You know, if it's heavy in rice corners on your grain bin, you know, on my loop system all the corners will wear out. 01:30 It's just a highly abrasive product that that will mess up metal. Alright, So speaking of metal, we're here with David Ky, 01:37 he is the territory manager for Demco. And this grain cart here has some features that make it more beneficial, 01:43 I should say efficient, usable. In rice country. You sell these all over the delta Down here in Rice country. When 01:50 We first started selling Demco, we wanted to make sure that it was not a, just a grain, like a soybeans and corn grain cart. 01:58 Yeah. It had to be something that could also handle rice. And so we did some prototyping 02:02 and we worked in Arkansas to make sure that this cart would handle rice. And several of the things that we learned when we did 02:08 that was is we this, if you look at this cart, it has a lot very steep angle. Yeah. We're coming down from the front. 02:14 We're on more than a 45 degree angle down to there. And you showed me that and I'm like okay, that seems excessive 02:20 because a normal grain cart just goes like this. And that's because let's talk about the, why do I need this much slope? So 02:25 As Matt was saying, not only does it have the silica, they also have burrs and those burrs in the rice make it. My father used to say it's like trying 02:32 to push a rope up a hill. Yeah. The rice, it either all goes or doesn't go. It doesn't want to slide it. 02:38 There's no, it's not, there's no smoothness to a rice seed when it's going through it. What's interesting is the average person 02:43 that says when I have sushi, I don't know what he is talking about. It's still got a husk type of right 02:48 On the That's right. And it's actually got the brown brown on it. So by the time it gets to sushi, you know it's been milled. 02:53 The brown's been took off. The hole's been took off. If you take a a handful of corn, corn and a handful of rice and squeeze it and turn it over 03:00 and let it go, most of your rices is gonna still stick there. If it's on the hu it's just that sticky or abrasive or and 03:07 Hybrid. And as we've made the move to hybrid rice, it's become even worse. Yeah, Okay. Probably 30% the 03:12 Quantity that you're running through, you can't be climbing in there with a shovel and trying to shovel the stuff out. 03:16 Then this is the Chrome package. Chrome plus. And that's because you told me that flights. So we take our, we take our normal ultra flight auger, 03:25 which is a Demco feature that we offer on all our carts where if you look at the actual profile of the auger itself, we have a molded lip on the outside. 03:34 Yep. We take our standard ultra flight, which has got 68% of the three-eighths material out on the outside 03:40 and we have these chrome plated. Okay. And you might say, well that chrome plate doesn't look like the chrome on my semi. 03:46 It's not that kind of chrome. It's the same chrome but they don't, it's not been polished. Okay. After this machine has been running for a year 03:51 or two, you can already see how it's starting to get the shine right here. It's shining up. And 03:56 And why do I need that? Is it because the, why would a normal auger that's not chrome plated be a problem 04:01 for rice? I guess I'll ask Matt first. Well that just wears out faster. Oh, okay. Because, so you'll be able, because 04:06 The silica and the stickiness of it, Again, take sandpaper and rub it on something long enough, it starts to, 04:11 and it's gonna go away, wears It down. They've done testing on the chrome 04:14 where they've just run it in nothing but glass beads like a sandblasting material. And by the time the chrome starts to wear, 04:22 they're usually at a point where they have to replace the other auger. Okay. Is this matter to you? 04:26 Oh yeah, absolutely. I matters 'cause You're not replacing the auger. Right. I mean it's extended wear. 04:30 Got it. One other thing about rice that you said is probably the biggest feature you're going across ground that might still have 04:36 some moisture to it. The tracks. Yeah. Yeah. So see the, the majority of the rice that we produce is now zero grade. 04:43 Yep. So that field is, it's gonna be wet or muddy 60% of the time and it's lifetime. You know, so the tracks enable you to get in there, 04:51 not make the huge rut you can get in there. Well sometimes you can't get in there period. Right. You can go just about any condition with these tracks and, 04:59 and harvest your rice and not, not have to do $30 an acre worth of tillage. That's right. When you come out of there. Alright. 05:05 And this is a very advanced track system. You know, you see the reservoirs where the oil is, I haven't seen that down here. It's 05:11 got, it's got an oil reservoir where the bearings are versus grease I guess then you know, right away there's lubricant 05:16 In there. Yeah. Well yeah, David can tell you more about the, but they've really advanced these tracks from years past. 05:21 The other thing, that's another key component on the ground pressure of running a track. The way this part is set up, we're moving the, 05:30 we're putting positive tongue weight on this machine. So you're sharing some of the weight of this part onto the hitch of the tractor 05:35 and sharing it across those wheels. Oh yeah. Because obviously even of course rice doesn't weigh a lot, 05:40 but you fill this thing full and Weight. Oh yeah. You got a lot of weight and, 05:43 and the thing is, the tracks work, you know, just as good for the soybeans and corn now they need it 05:48 as much in the sand of your ground. No, but you don't have to go pull these off and get a rubber tire, you know, 05:53 a rubber tire to go on there. You can use this universally for, for anything. And it's less compaction. 05:58 Always great stuff if you aren't able to attend any of our field days at Extreme Mag Pharma, hundreds and hundreds of videos just like this 06:04 as well as the cutting the curve podcast. Till next time, thanks for being here. I'm Damien Mason.

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