Industry · Agriculture & Ranching
Water where the windmill isn't.
Ranching in Central Texas is a logistics problem disguised as a livestock problem. Water has to reach pastures that no pipeline serves, fertilizer has to move from the co-op to the field in one trip, and everything has to survive 105°F afternoons on a caliche road.
The short answer
For ranch use, a Grade B washed 275-gallon composite tote is almost always the right buy: it holds 2,300 lb of water, moves on any set of pallet forks, fits a standard 3-point hitch carrier, and costs a fraction of a purpose-built poly tank. Order opaque or shade-wrapped units if the tote will sit in open sun.
From the yard
275 gal / 1,040 L
Most requested size
B (washed, rinsed, ag-suitable)
Typical grade
2,293 lb + 145 lb tare
Water weight, full 275
48 hours, most of Central Texas
Delivery lead time
IBC totes solve that better than almost anything else because they are the only 250+ gallon vessel that a single person with a tractor can pick up, move, and set down without a crane. We keep several hundred agricultural-suitable totes on the yard at Montopolis Drive at any given time, most of them previously holding food-grade or agricultural product.
Applications
What agriculture & ranching actually does with them
Specific uses, with the details that decide whether a tote works well or badly for each one.
Pasture water & livestock troughs
Plumb a 2" S60x6 outlet down to a float valve and you have a gravity-fed trough that refills itself for a week. Cattle drink 12–20 gallons a head per day in summer, so a single 275-gallon tote covers a small herd for roughly two days — most operations run two or three on a skid and refill with a nurse trailer.
Liquid fertilizer & 32-0-0
UAN solutions are heavy (10.9 lb/gal for 32-0-0) and mildly corrosive to bare steel. A composite IBC with an HDPE bottle handles them without issue, but check the cage: we sort out any unit with weld-point corrosion before it leaves the yard, because a full fertilizer tote is riding at about 3,200 lb.
Sprayer nurse tanks
The 330-gallon tote is the sweet spot for a nurse tank on a gooseneck — same 40×48 footprint as the 275, about 8 inches taller, 55 more gallons per trip. Pair it with a 2" camlock and a 12V transfer pump and you can refill a 100-gallon boom sprayer in under four minutes.
Molasses, lick tubs & supplement
Molasses and liquid feed supplements are the classic reason ranchers want a food-grade tote. Ask for our F-grade stock: previously held edible product only, caustic-washed, and documented with the prior contents on the intake tag.
Off-road diesel & equipment fuel
Totes are not DOT-approved for transporting fuel on public roads, and we will tell you that before you ask. On private property, a dedicated, clearly-placarded tote in a bunded frame is a common static storage solution — see our DOT & UN compliance guide for the line between the two.
Recommended
What we'd put on the quote
Starting points. Tell us the specifics and we'll adjust.
- 275 Gallon Totes
The default ranch unit — light enough for a compact tractor.
- Rainwater & Water Storage
Opaque or wrapped units that don't grow algae in the sun.
- Valves & Fittings
Float valves, camlocks, hose barbs and S60x6 adapters.
Compliance
What the rules expect
- Totes used for potable livestock water should be F-grade (prior food contents) or rebottled.
- Never store or transport agricultural chemicals in a tote whose prior contents you cannot document.
- Texas Agriculture Code requires legible labeling of any pesticide in a service container — including totes.
Specification
Typical spec sheet
What a agriculture & ranching order usually looks like when it leaves the yard.
| Attribute | Typical specification |
|---|---|
| Most requested size | 275 gal / 1,040 L |
| Typical grade | B (washed, rinsed, ag-suitable) |
| Water weight, full 275 | 2,293 lb + 145 lb tare |
| Delivery lead time | 48 hours, most of Central Texas |
Where the money goes wrong in this sector
The two failure modes are always the same: paying for documentation you do not need, or assuming documentation exists when it does not. In agriculture & ranching, for ranch use, a grade b washed 275-gallon composite tote is almost always the right buy: it holds 2,300 lb of water, moves on any set of pallet forks, fits a standard 3-point hitch carrier, and costs a fraction of a purpose-built poly tank — that sentence is the whole shortcut.
If you are unsure which side of that line your application sits on, describe it in the form. We will tell you the cheaper option when the cheaper option is genuinely adequate, because the alternative — selling you the expensive one every time — is a business model that only works once per customer.
Agriculture & Ranching questions
+Will a 275-gallon tote work on a 3-point hitch carrier?
+How long does water stay usable in a tote?
+Can I use one tote for water and later for fertilizer?
Other sectors
Not quite your industry?
- Food & BeverageDocumented contents or it isn't food grade.
- Breweries & DistilleriesBoth sides of the brewhouse wall.
- Construction & ConcreteCheap enough to be consumable, tough enough not to be.
- Oil, Gas & EnergyThe most tote-intensive industry in the state.
- Municipal & WaterBid-friendly stock, incident-free totes.
- Landscaping & NurseriesThe tote that becomes the planter.
Quick reference
Numbers worth having open in another tab
The figures that come up in almost every conversation, whichever page you arrived on.
275 gallon · 1040 L
48×40×46
- Tare
- 130 lb
- Gross, water
- 2,425 lb
- Stack full
- 2 high
- Stock
- Always in stock
330 gallon · 1250 L
48×40×53
- Tare
- 160 lb
- Gross, water
- 2,915 lb
- Stack full
- 2 high
- Stock
- Always in stock
264 gallon · 1000 L
48×40×46
- Tare
- 125 lb
- Gross, water
- 2,325 lb
- Stack full
- 2 high
- Stock
- Usually in stock
350 gallon · 1325 L
48×40×56
- Tare
- 175 lb
- Gross, water
- 3,095 lb
- Stack full
- 2 high
- Stock
- Order in
From the yard notes
Longer reading on this
32 articles written by the people who wash, grade, weld and dispatch. No marketing copy in any of them.
- Texas · November 21, 2023 · 3 minWhat a Texas Freeze Does to Stored WaterWater expands nine percent. A brimful container has nowhere to put it, and the shoulder is where it gives.
- Industry · April 6, 2022 · 3 minSpent Grain and the Open-Top ConversionOne cut container holds a full 15-barrel batch of wet grain and forklifts straight onto the farmer's trailer.
- Reconditioning · May 22, 2024 · 3 minHow a Container Moves Through Our Yard, Gate by GateEight zones, four decision gates, and one direction of travel. Where a container exits determines what we can honestly sell it as.
On the yard this week
More answers
While you're here
Pulled from the full FAQ, which runs to forty-plus answers across buying, grades, food safety, sizes, selling, compliance, delivery and care.
- Where we are
- 3505 Montopolis Dr, Austin, TX 78744
- Yard hours
- Mon–Thu 7:30a–5p · Fri 7:30a–4p · Sat 8a–12p · Sun closed (Central Time)
- Coverage
- 68 Texas counties on scheduled routes, from one Austin yard.
+Do you provide wash certificates?
+What do your grades mean?
+What is your minimum order?
+Can I clean a tote myself?
+Do you ship outside Texas?
Send a agriculture & ranching request.
Application, volume and destination. You'll have a written price, a grade recommendation and a delivery date the same business day.