Have you ever wondered where all of those corn and soybeans go once we harvest them at the farm? The granary, of course!
We’re in the middle of harvest still, which means that dad is taking several loads of corn or soybeans to the granary from the field each day. Over the weekend, my mom took a ride with him and made sure to snap lots of photos. I’ve put them together with explanations of what’s happening as a picture diary so you can follow along!
Here’s the view as the truck approaches the granary.
The red light means we have to stop and wait until the scale up ahead clears.
This is the probe. The arm will actually go into the trailer and take a sample of the corn or soybeans. It checks the moisture and test weight. It also checks for any foreign materials.
Once you’re on the scale, the green light lets you know that they’ve weighed the truck and the corn or soybeans have met the requirements. Time to move forward and dump!
Waiting in line for the other trucks to dump. Here’s another truck that’s just unloaded and leaving.
On that particular day, the granary was filling a train. These cars are loaded up with the corn and soybeans that are brought in by farmers and then transported to their next destination. Each car can hold up to 4,000 bushels!
Train cars being filled.
These are the grain bins where our corn or soybeans will be stored when they get unloaded from our truck.
As the truck pulls around, you can see the square doors where the truck will pull in and dump the grain.
Dumping pit ahead! If you look closely, you can see dark gray squares on the cement floor inside the building – that’s where the corn or soybeans will be unloaded.
This particular trailer is a “hopper bottom.” That means we pull over the grated floor, open a door underneath the trailer, and the grain is released. Dump trailers are lifted and allow the grain to slide out the back.
Here’s a view of the grain as it falls into the grated floor from the bottom of the trailer. Workers at the granary will sweep up any of the corn that doesn’t fall into the grate.
After unloading, the truck heads back to the scale. The weight of the empty truck will be taken again and compared with the weight of the full truck. This allows the granary to calculate how much grain was delivered.
After weighing, we get a slip that tells us the before and after weights, the grade of the soybeans, and the name of our farm. Think of it as a receipt for the corn or soybeans that were delivered.
Thanks, I figured that this was handled by weighing trucks as they do for tipping fees at dumps. But my way of growing and selling is so different from yours that I simply had not seen this.