Tree Pusher vs Stick Rake vs Grain Bucket: What Do You Need to Move?

When it comes down to it, a lot of loader attachments are designed to help you do one thing - move something.

The difference is: what do you need to move?

Trees and heavier scrub? A tree pusher for your loader is built for that.

Fallen timber, sticks, roots, and clearing debris? That's where a stick rake comes in.

Grain, feed, and other lighter bulk material? You'll want a grain bucket, also known as a light material bucket.

They all go on the front of your loader, and they all help you shift material, but they're built for very different jobs.

So before choosing an attachment, the easiest question to ask is:

What do you need to move?

Tree Pusher - Trees, Scrub and Heavier Clearing

If what you're trying to move is still standing, this is where a tree pusher for loader starts to make sense.

A tree pusher is designed for heavier clearing work, giving your loader the reach and control needed to tackle:

• Trees

• Standing scrub

• Unwanted vegetation

• Heavier growth

• Stumps and material associated with clearing work

For farmers, contractors and earthmoving operators, a tree pusher can turn a loader into a useful piece of clearing equipment without bringing in another machine for the job.

If you've got country to clean up and the material you're dealing with is still standing, a tree pusher is generally where you'd start.

Put simply, the tree pusher helps you get it down and move it.

Stick Rake - Fallen Timber, Sticks, Roots and Debris

Once you've got material on the ground, the job changes.

A stick rake for loader is built to rake, gather, clear and push material such as:

• Fallen timber

• Branches and sticks

• Roots

• Scrub

• Clearing debris

• Other unwanted material across paddocks and properties

The teeth allow you to work through the material you're trying to clear while helping leave the soil behind.

That makes a loader stick rake particularly useful for cleaning up paddocks, clearing fencelines, pushing fallen timber and bringing debris together into piles.

For bigger clearing jobs, a tree pusher and stick rake can work together.

The tree pusher tackles the standing timber.
The stick rake helps clean up what's left behind.

AARCH builds a range of Stick Rakes for Loaders, with different sizes available depending on your machine and the work you're doing.

Grain or Light Material Bucket - Grain, Feed and Bulk Material

If you're not clearing country but you've still got plenty to move, that's where a grain bucket, also known as a light material bucket, comes in.

These buckets are made for efficiently moving lighter bulk materials such as:

• Grain

• Feed

• Fertiliser

• Mulch

• Other light bulk materials

Rather than pushing trees or raking debris, the job here is about picking up and shifting a larger volume of lighter material efficiently.

A larger-capacity light material bucket can mean fewer trips when you're shifting material around the farm or worksite.

So, while a tree pusher and stick rake are made with clearing work in mind, a grain or light material bucket is about bulk material handling.

So, What Do You Need to Move?

That's really the easiest way to narrow it down.

·       Trees and standing scrub? Go for a Tree Pusher.

·       Fallen timber, sticks, roots and clearing debris? Look at a Stick Rake.

·       Grain, feed, fertiliser, mulch and lighter bulk material? You'll want a Grain or Light Material Bucket.

Same loader. Three very different jobs.

And depending on the work you do, you might need more than one.

A loader doing clearing work might use a tree pusher to tackle standing timber, switch to a stick rake for the clean-up, then spend another part of the year moving grain or feed with a light material bucket.

It's not necessarily about which attachment is better.

It's about what you need to move.

Choosing the Right Attachment for Your Loader

Once you know what you need to move, the next question is what suits your machine.

Loader size and capacity, the type of work you're doing, and how regularly you'll use the attachment all need to be considered.

A wheel loader regularly working on heavy clearing jobs has different requirements to a telehandler moving grain and feed around a farm.

That's why it's worth talking through both the machine and the job before deciding which attachment is going to suit.

Our experience comes from actually working around loaders and heavy machinery.

Ross built his first stick rake for his own loader at 19, and more than 15 years working around loaders and earthmoving equipment has helped shape the AARCH range today.

The idea behind it is still pretty simple - build attachments for the jobs operators actually need to get done.

Loader Attachments Built in Narromine for NSW Conditions

AARCH loader attachments are designed and built right here in Narromine, Central West NSW, with attachments heading out to farmers, contractors and machinery operators across New South Wales and Australia.

Across regional NSW, the machine might change and the country might change, but there's always something that needs moving.

Closer to home, we're working across Narromine, Trangie, Warren and Coonamble, where loaders are a regular part of farming, property maintenance and clearing work.

Head further north-west through Walgett, Narrabri, Narraburra and Moree, and you're into some of NSW's major cropping country. Around Moree, cotton farming is a big part of the agricultural landscape, alongside broadacre cropping, which means loaders can be moving everything from clearing debris to grain, feed and other bulk materials depending on the operation.

Further east, Gunnedah, Tamworth, Armidale and Inverell bring another mix of agriculture and property types. Around the Tamworth region, larger rural properties, livestock operations and mixed farming mean loaders are often being put to work across property maintenance, clearing and general material handling.

Different country. Different jobs. Different things to move.

Whether you're clearing timber, cleaning up a paddock or shifting grain and other light material, choosing the right loader attachment starts with the same question:

What do you need to move?

Need a Tree Pusher, Stick Rake or Light Material Bucket?

If you're tossing up between a tree pusher for your loader, a stick rake, a grain or light material bucket, or another loader attachment, give Ross a call.

Tell him what machine you've got and what you're trying to move, and he can help point you towards the attachment that makes sense for the job.

AARCH attachments are designed and built in Narromine, NSW, and supplied to operators across New South Wales and Australia.

Built in Narromine. Built for real work.

Call Ross on 0427 242 077 or check out the AARCH range of loader attachments online.