Burning trash on the farm

[Wind]

Our operation on the farm generates a lot of burnable trash, more than our dumpster can handle some of the time.  So we just burn it on a pile.  We need to come up with a better, safer way to handle this burnable waste.  How do you safely burn your trash on the farm?  There are large incinerators out there but very costly.  Open burning is alowed here but during dry weather, a ban sometimes is placed.  A lot of old pallets and cardboard are burned.  Any ideas?

[Shaggy98]

You need to haul off and discard the ashs after it's burn't, but I've seen people use old galvanized stock tanks.  I usually only have cardboard boxes and seed sacks so I use 50 gallon steel drums. Placing expanded metal over the drum reduces escaping sparks and embers while burning.

[tree fmr]

Use an old hog feeder.  Vented from the bottom which will help with a more complete burn.  Knock small vent holes in the side as it fills to help with venting/burning.  Every now and then dump some diesel fuel or used cooking oil into it while burning.  This will really get it hot and burn the ashes down to almost nothing, thus taking years to get it full.  Once full, easy to dispose of.

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

We're lucky that around here there are recycyling facilities for cardboard and there were for pallets, though I'm not sure it's still there.  Maybe you can give the pallets to a seed salesman or the like.

You ask a good question.  I do less and less burning and am willing to put up with some inconvenience to deal with the trash.  But, sometimes a legal fire seems like the best option.  I'll watth this thread for new ideas, also.

[clayton58]

Lots of people are looking for pallets to repurpose into furniture,crafts,etc. we can recycle cardboard here, but our recycle center does not want chemical jugs even though they are high quality plastic. Too many do not get rinsed properly

[Shaggy98]

I hear you Clayton. Fortunate for me I don't acquire too many chemical jugs anymore. Mainly buy chemicals is 30 gallon drums or bulk totes.

[tree fmr]

Go to drpower.com and search for their burn cage under the shop by category tab. You can probably just make one.

[Wind]

A little up-date here,  my son bought a heavy duty round bale feeder on sale, then lined it with 1" chicken wire.  The top is still open for now, but what we have will keep stuff from blowing around.

About the pallets, we do reuse them many times but they get broken and weather checked.  Those are the ones we burn. Expanded steel for the top?  Maybe part of it?

[buckfarmer]

Usually I have the most trash this time of year. Which seems to be easy to find time when it isnt to dry. Since we do our own logging we Have lots of tree tops to small for firewood that need a little help getting started burning. Some of our neighbors have called our fires "the Vernon eternal flame" (Vernon is the township). When dad was in better health he burned every day it wasn't to dry. Durring the winter he would go out after supper and start a fire where we had been logging every evening.

[tree fmr]

Wind,

An expanded steel top that opens sounds good for the dry times.  Only problem is I think it would corrode quickly with the heat, etc.

  Told all my siblings to get what they wanted from the farmhouse this spring because first rainy day I was going to clean.  Well, one day it was raining cats and dogs, told one brother it was my turn to clean the house and I was going to burn all I could so no one could put it back in the house.  FYI, I was burning bank statements from the early 70's!  He said "you can't make a fire in this rain!  8 hours later it was still pouring rain and I showed him a picture of 20+ foot flames from that fire.  He just shook his head and said "only you". 

So if you can fill it up and wait for the rain, no problem burning it without a worry.