Grain haulage: booking lorries without the arguments

Grain haulage runs on a simple deal: the lorry turns up roughly when promised, you load it fast with the paperwork ready, and everyone's weights get recorded so there's nothing to argue about later. Farms that hold up their end get lorries when they need them. Farms that don't become the address hauliers quietly avoid — and that costs real money in a tight movement window.

Here's how collection actually works, and where the arguments start.

How collection works

You sell the grain; the merchant books the haulage against the movement window in the contract. What that means in practice is a phone call — often the evening before, sometimes the same morning — telling you a lorry is coming for 29 tonnes of wheat at eight o'clock.

You rarely choose the haulier and you rarely choose the day. The merchant is juggling their whole book of collections against the consumer's intake slots, and your load is one line on it. What you can control is being ready when the call comes: knowing which shed the contract is drawing from, having the loader and a driver available, and having the passport filled in bar the load details.

If a movement window is approaching and nobody's rung, ring them. Windows slip past quietly, and the farm that chases is the farm that doesn't end up in default.

Being loadable

An artic takes about 29 tonnes of grain, and the driver is on a schedule — yours is one of two or three collections that day, and a slow farm wrecks the run. Being loadable means:

• The grain is accessible. Not behind the drill, not under the shed with the broken door, not needing an hour of pushing up before the bucket can reach it.
• Loading is quick. A decent loader and a clear run should have 29t on in well under half an hour. If your setup takes an hour a load, hauliers will know, and it shapes whose grain moves first when lorries are short.
• The passport is ready. The AIC combinable crops passport travels with every load — store treatments, previous loads in the vehicle, traceability. Most intakes won't tip without one, so a missing or half-filled passport can turn a delivered load into a lorry sat in a queue ringing you for details.
• Somebody weighs or estimates honestly. Loading to "that looks about right" is how overloaded lorries and short loads both happen.

None of this is complicated. It's the difference between the haulier's office marking you "easy farm" or "allow extra time".

Weight disputes

The classic argument: you loaded what you're sure was 29 tonnes, the intake ticket says 28.4. Over a season, half a tonne a load on forty loads is 20 tonnes — real money vanishing into a gap nobody can explain.

The only defence is recording both ends. Your loading weight (from a farm weighbridge, or a calibrated loader weigher) against the delivered weight on the buyer's ticket, per load, with haulier and destination noted. Do that and patterns emerge that a single load never shows: a persistent gap only on one haulier's lorries, or only at one intake. That's a conversation you can actually have — politely, with a spreadsheet — instead of a vague grievance.

No records, no conversation. The buyer's weight governs under standard terms, and "I'm sure it was more" persuades nobody. It also feeds the year-end reconciliation — unexplained weight gaps and genuine shrinkage look identical until you've got per-load figures separating them.

Waiting time and rejections

Waiting time: if a lorry stands for hours because the farm wasn't ready, expect a charge — hauliers commonly bill waiting time beyond a free period, as a rough guide somewhere in the tens of pounds per hour. It works both ways: persistent long queues at an intake are the merchant's problem to sort, not yours to fund.

Rejections are where it gets expensive, because a rejected load means haulage both ways plus a distressed decision about where the grain goes next. Who pays depends on why:

Rejection cause	Usually falls on
Out of spec (moisture, specific weight, admixture)	The farm — check your contract's claims scale; many spec issues are claimed, not rejected
Contamination found at intake (glass, chemical smell, vermin)	The farm — and possibly the whole shed, not just the load
Previous load in the lorry / dirty vehicle	The haulier — this is what the passport's vehicle declaration is for
Paperwork missing or wrong	Whoever failed to provide it — usually the farm if it's the passport

The pattern worth noticing: almost everything on the farm's side of that table is preventable with a moisture meter, a clean store, and five minutes on the passport. A rejection for something avoidable can easily cost £200–£500 in haulage and hassle before you've lost a penny on the grain itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much grain does a lorry take?

A standard artic bulker takes about 29 tonnes of grain. The merchant's haulage planning, your contract movements and your loading all work in 29t units, which is why contracts are commonly written in multiples of it.

How much notice do you get before a grain lorry arrives?

Often just a phone call the evening before, sometimes the same morning. The merchant books haulage against the contract's movement window and consumer intake slots, so the farm's job is to be ready throughout the window rather than expecting a fixed date.

Whose weight counts, mine or the buyer's?

Under standard trade terms the buyer's intake weight governs unless agreed otherwise. Recording your own loading weight per load — with haulier and destination — is still worth it, because it's the only way to spot persistent gaps and raise them with evidence.

Who pays when a grain load is rejected?

It depends on the cause. Out-of-spec or contaminated grain generally falls on the farm; a dirty or wrongly-declared vehicle falls on the haulier; missing paperwork falls on whoever should have provided it. Check your contract — many spec failures are handled as price claims rather than outright rejections.

What paperwork does a grain lorry need?

Every load needs a completed AIC combinable crops grain passport declaring store treatments, the vehicle's previous loads and traceability details. Most buyers won't tip a load without one, so have it filled in before the lorry arrives, not while the driver waits.