A Bucket (or Shovel) is a type of Loading Tool in Farming Simulator 17. Buckets are used to scoop materials from Piles on the ground, lift them up, and dump them elsewhere (or into any container).
Buckets can work with any type of loose material in the game (full list below). This gives them a huge advantage over Manure Forks, which can only work with a limited variety of materials.
The base game offers four different models of Buckets. Each model is designed to be fitted on a different type of Loader. Other than this, the primary difference between buckets is their Capacity - the larger the capacity, the more material a bucket can lift with each scoop, speeding up the work. The largest bucket in the game (the Magsi Universal Shovel) can lift more than 3 times as much as the smallest (the Stoll Universal Bucket).
List of Buckets
The following is a list of all Buckets found in the base game. Note that each Bucket is found in a different category at the Store, and can only be fitted to one specific type of Loader.
Common Features: $5 Maintenance Cost per Day
| Name | Price | Capacity | Working Width (m) |
Weight | Attachment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stoll Universal Bucket | 1,400 | 1,860 | 2.5 | 403 | Front Loading Arm |
| JCB Universal Shovel | 800 | 2,000 | 2.5 | 334 | Skid Steer Loader |
| Magsi Shovel | 2,800 | 4,500 | 3 | 597 | Telehandler |
| Magsi Universal Shovel | 3,600 | 6,000 | 2.5 | 247 | Wheel Loader |
List of Bucket Materials
Buckets can work with any type of loose material in the game - i.e. any type of material that can be dumped on the ground to create a Pile, or dumped into a container or vehicle that accepts it.
Below is a full list of all materials that a Bucket can scoop up:
Wheat- Barley
- Canola
- Sunflower
- Soybean
- Corn
- Potato
- Sugar Beet
- Solid Fertilizer
- Manure
- Seeds
- Forage
- Total Mixed Ration
- Chaff
- Wood Chips
- Silage
- Straw
- Pig Food
- Grass
- Hay
Working with Buckets
Once a Bucket is installed on the appropriate vehicle, using it is very simple: Any loose material (see above) that touches the lower edge of the bucket will be scooped into the bucket. Conversely, tipping the bucket forward at a steep enough angle will cause the material to spill out onto the ground or into any container that is directly underneath the bucket.
If the bucket is at least 5% full with material of any type, it can only scoop up additional material of the same type. If it tries to scoop a different material, that material will simply not be picked up. If you want to pick up a different type of material, empty the bucket first.
On the other hand, if the bucket contains less than 5% of material, it can scoop up any type of material, magically changing the type of material in the bucket to fit whatever it has just picked up. This feature prevents situations where you're stuck with a tiny amount of material in your bucket that refuses to spill out.
Note also that the angle at which materials spill out of the bucket is calculated relative to the horizon. Therefore, it the vehicle climbs up or down a steep hill, for example, the bucket can end up being angled towards the ground even though you didn't angle it down - causing materials to spill out. For this reason, it's important to angle your bucket all the way upwards when it is carrying materials, to reduce the chance of something like that happening. If the vehicle flips over completely, the bucket will always spill out.
Finally, note that when a bucket is full, the weight of its contents is modeled in the game and can affect the balance of the vehicle carrying it. Lighter vehicles, e.g. small Tractors and Skid Steer Loaders that lift a fully-loaded bucket up high above the cabin can end up tipping over if you're not careful.
Comparing Buckets to other Tools
Buckets can only be directly compared to one other type of tool: Manure Forks.
Buckets and Manure Forks are designed for a similar purpose: to scoop materials off the ground and dump them elsewhere or into containers. However there are two crucial differences between them:
- Buckets can work with any type of materials, whereas Manure Forks can only lift a very limited variety of materials. For example, most Animal Husbandry can only be performed with a Bucket. A
- Some Manure Forks have a locking jaw that can completely prevent materials from spilling out, regardless of the angle of the tool relative to the ground.
Overall, the ability to work with any material makes Buckets the better choice. Furthermore, Buckets generally have a larger capacity and are slightly cheaper to buy, making them all-round superior to Manure Forks.
Nonetheless, one specific model of Manure Fork, the Lizard Silage Fork, is larger than any bucket in the game, and is a far superior tool for working with certain materials - mostly Silage and Manure.