Next door
Ten minutes east, then a headland that may have been watered
Stock held for Gatton stands at the Forest Hill yard, 24 Forest Hill Fernvale Rd, Forest Hill, about ten minutes east. You can walk the steel, open a door and look at the floor. Distance is not the catch. This ground has been worked and watered for years. Dry, a headland carries a truck. After an irrigation shift the same headland turns to paste.
- Where it is loaded
- Forest Hill yard, a short hop east of town
- What sets the day
- A free unit, a free tray, and whether the headland was watered
- Usual truck
- Tilt bed for a 10ft or 20ft; side loader for a 40ft
The yard
Look at the actual floor
Saturday morning the yard is open through to midday. Ring and come in the morning rather than after lunch. Weekdays are easier if you want someone walking the line with you. Delivery trucks are a weekday job. Choosing a shell on Saturday does not put it on a headland that afternoon.
Country
Vegetable ground, then the range
Gatton is 4343. Forest Hill, where the yard is, is 4342, and a lot of the vegetable ground between them is the same trip. Laidley, Plainland and Hatton Vale are 4341. Grantham is 4347 toward the range, Helidon 4344 at the sandstone cutting, Withcott 4352 before the escarpment. Lawes, between the campus and Forest Hill, needs the road named.
Water
The low corner loses a season of crates
Lockyer Creek has been through this district often enough that people know their own contour. A container does not hold the creek back. It holds your gear at whatever height you set it. If there is a rise, that is where it goes, even when the easy reach for the truck is the low corner. Spend the time on the pad.
Corners
Cultivated ground sinks unevenly
One end of a box often finds softer tilth than the other. The frame twists, the doors stop lining up, and a gap opens that was not there on the day. Sleepers, pavers or a short pad of road base under each corner casting, on ground you have roughly levelled, spread that load. Check them after the next watering.
The yard, the water and the corners
What do I see if I drive out before a farm takes a unit?
The particular box, not a brochure photo. Open the doors, look at the floor and the roof from inside, and say yes or no while it is still sitting there. Ring first so we are not loading the size you came to see.
What decides whether a box can land this week?
Whether the unit and the tray are free, and when that headland last had water. If you irrigated on Monday, Wednesday is often too soon, even when the top looks dry from the road. Tell us the last rain as well.
Is Saturday a realistic time to walk the rows?
Morning, yes, through to midday. Ring first. It is not a full day, and the trucks do not roll to farms on Saturday just because you looked. Choose the shell, then we name a weekday once the ground is ready.
Get a price
Has the block been watered?
Size, the last irrigation or storm, and whether you want to walk the yard at Forest Hill first.
Rather talk? Call us on 0477 410 500, Mon–Fri 7:30am–5pm, Sat 8am–12pm