Newbie wanting to know how to maximize profit of old farm scrap

I'm sure this has been asked 100 times so sorry ahead of time for my newbie questions.

I am doing some clean up around the farm and want to make sure i maximize the profit of each load as the nearest scrap yard to me is 45 miles away.

i have two 75,000 bushel grain bins, 10 feeders out of old hog buildings, a 12 row ripper, a field cultivator, and four augers. what is the best way to break all this stuff down, especially the augers? and will the ridges in the tin from the grain bins effect what i will get for it or should i do my best to flatten them out?

any help is much appreciated. thanks!

Sounds to me like most all of this is tin and iron (steel), and if that's the case you might check with the yard about bringing you a roll-off dumpster. That way you can cut up the scrap and separate anything alum. or stainless and throw the rest in the roll-off and let them haul it in. Some yards don't charge for the service cause that way they know their getting all your scrap. Just a thought,,,

Hello Jake :) Welcome to SMF :) You'll find lots of threads here about breaking down 75,000 bushel grain bins, old hog feeders, 12 row rippers, and field cultivators. I think there's also a few threads about four augers :) First thing would be "more than scrap". Are they still usable to others who use these things, and if so, where will you find these people? Nearby maybe? Are any of them old enough to be considered "vintage"? Maybe on an antique tractor forum you could find people looking for even some parts of them. Do you have tools, wrenches, hammers, and torches? If not, you might need some soon ; ) If you decide scrapping is the only resort, you'll need tools, know how(for dismantling and transporting to a yard) , and a magnet (to distinguish ordinary metal from non-ferrous(generally the more valuable one, if properly separated). Then you'll want to discuss with your yard where their particular distinctions lay(i.e. some places consider 1/4" thickness, my local yards only require 1/8) as for as short iron(pieces under 36"/3ft, at a better price) than "long iron"(over 3 ft). If it's easily separated, you'll do better to make separate stacks, and deliver the light/long iron separately from your short/heavy/cast iron, as well as to separate any non-ferrous metals(aluminum, copper, brass, stainless steel etc). Also electric motors should be separated, and in many cases even broken down to better maximize your return :)

ya might start by doing a little home work. read the forum search the archives we all did. we wernt born with this info. We had to do a little work for it. contrary to popular beliefe scrap aint free and easy you have to work for it.

Olddude was youngdude when he read his first post. Now he's full of knowledge and sharing his wisdom with all of us. Thank you Olddude!

jake- I also live on a farm and have some random stuff laying around. You should definatly find out if this stuff is still in useble condition. If it is then you can try and sell it, where I live we have farm auctions every month. Sometimes you can get skunked at the auction but it can be better than scrapping it all. Do you have farmers around who could rent your grain bins for storage? I rent one out of my five and I get 1200 a year, it is a 15000 bushel, and what I rent it out for is cheap. Depending on the size of hog feeders they can sell for a decent price at auction (50-200 each). The augers you can just scrap, at the last sale I went to they sold for around 75 to 100 dollars depending on how large they are and old they are. Price of older machinery has gone down alot in the last few years. I saw a combine go for 600 dollars a year ago! The ripper and the culivator are the risky ones. If there is a smaller scale farmer he may want this stuff. It could be win or lose at auction, but I am going with a lose at this time. These will be your money makers. These are both extremely heavy pieces and will get you a nice pay day. My yard wants it cut down to 3ft by 3ft max to get the most out of it. Good luck and welcome.