Choose the Right Harvester Belt for Your Vineyard

If you own a vineyard, you will well understand the struggle to harvest your grapes quickly before the harvest is spoiled. You need to bring in the grapes without delay, but how can you do that? Harvesting the grapes by hand is very labour intensive for a large vineyard, and if you try to transport the bunches of grapes in baskets or boxes, you are likely to damage much of your harvest and lose the valuable juice before it can be processed.

The advantages of grape harvester belts

Grape harvester belts have become the accepted way of rapidly transporting your grape harvest to its destination. A harvester belt will provide a smooth journey for your grapes and prevent much of the squeezing or bumping that results in the loss of juice that is common with other methods of transportation.

Maintaining your grape harvester belts

Maintaining your belts is essential. As the harvest must be gathered quickly, the last thing you want is for one of your grape harvester belts to fail in the middle of the harvest. Ensuring that your belts and associated machinery are in good condition and unlikely to break in use is always good practice, but there may still be times when something goes wrong unexpectedly. Perhaps the belt has been cut in some way, or maybe a large amount of juice has been spilt on the belt and allowed to soak in, causing it to shrink and risk bending or breaking the shafts. Whatever the reason, it is always important to replace your grape harvester belts before they break and cause greater damage.

Which belt should you choose?

There are a wide variety of grape harvester belts available and it helps to know what you are looking for before you talk to the supplier. You need to get your equipment working again quickly and can't risk choosing an unsuitable belt.

You must know whether you need to purchase a transfer, discharge or cross-feed belt. Once the type of belt is settled, you must think about the material from which your belt will be made. The two most popular choices are rubber and PVC. Talk through the advantages of each option with your supplier if you are uncertain which you should choose. Your supplier will have the experience to suggest the best grape harvester belts for your requirements and explain how they will provide your grapes with the smoothest ride to their destination.