Every one of the local elevators (with the possible exception of the Farmers Cooperative in Wolcott) was closed today or closed soon after opening due to...................wet corn. There was one exception and that was the independent elevator, but they even changed their policy because they had a dryer 'leg' go down. (Things always break when you use them and need them the most.) So, they only accepted corn that was 23% or drier. Everything higher was forbidden, at least for today.
For the non-ag people an elevator 'leg' is that tall skinny piece of square tubing that towers over all those farm set grain bins you see when you drive down the interstate. Essentially the 'leg' is a continuous belt with buckets every few inches and they scoop the grain out of a dump and 'lift' it to the highest point necessary to dump it in a selected down-spout when uses gravity to fill a particular bin. The real fun starts when each of the upward moving buckets is full to absolute capacity and, then, the belt breaks.
I think the technical term among elevator employees is it's a "...Son Of A Bitch..."
My corn was running between 19% and 20% and the ladies at the independent operation encouraged me to keep coming back. So I spent the day running the combine for just over an hour which resulted in about 1,200 bu. and then I spent the next three hours hauling it five miles to their elevator. All of which reminded me of when I was younger and I drove grain trucks for my Dad. Yeah, it was a trip down memory lane, even if by comparison I didn't get all that much accomplished when compared to what I regularly do.
But in retrospect I've hauled off over 5,000 bu. on two days when my usual elevator has been completely shut down due to 'wet' corn. (If you're tired of hearing about it, you can't believe how tired everyone around here is with 'wet' corn.)
Of course the great irony in all this is the weather is good, but now the elevators are closed because they have so much wet corn. Someone, somewhere has a real sense of humor.
Tomorrow Co-Alliance at Reynolds is back in business and I already have a semi-truck scheduled for pick-up at 8:00AM. So it's off to the shower and nite, nite for me....
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Friday, November 6, 2009
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4 comments:
Y'know, Frank, I'm a city kid who spent summers on his grandma's farm 45+ years ago, when the technology was not just different, but pretty much non-existent. My biggest involvement with corns and soybeans over the years was that during a corn year there wasn't woodchuck shooting but during soybean years the 220 Swift got a workout, for at least the first 6-8 weeks after planting.
I find fascinating all the stuff you have to go through to prepare the soil, get the seeds in the ground, wait for them to grow, and harvest them.
Most of us take for granted that food, of varying varieties, magically appears on the shelves, and have no understanding of the work - and the risks - involved.
Thanks for writing this blog so we have some idea what's involved. If, at some point, I get enough vacation saved up, I'd enjoy spending a few weeks working with you, if you could tolerate putting up with someone who needed constant instruction in the business of farming.
All you can do is keep chipping away at it Frank, and try not to stress out over it.
One again you have succeeded in spite of the system... :-)
So it was too wet to plant it and now it is too wet to harvest.
If I was a pessimistic and fatalistic farmer I'd guess that there won't be a drop of moisture next year.
No worries. I always guess wrong.
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