Hauling Grain...For The First Time

Earlier this week, Sara Ross, a CommonGround Iowa volunteer did something for the first time.  She has known her husband Kevin for over eight years and has never been to any of the grain elevators to deliver corn or soybeans.  Ever!  She knows some of you may not think that's very exciting, or some of you farmers are probably thinking "really", but her father-in-law used to be the only one that hauled for Kevin and either her mother-in-law rode with him or he would haul early in the morning before work.  So she just never went along for the ride.

Now Kevin hauls the grain to town occasionally and she still hadn't ever gone along.  Yesterday, she didn't actually ride in the semi-truck, she just met Kevin at the elevator because they were going to grab lunch together afterwards and you can't really drive a huge semi-truck to Ruby Tuesday's very easily!

Kevin hauling in grain.

Sara met Kevin at the elevator and hopped in with him as he drove it through to dump the grain. She don't know what to expect, but it was a really simple, quick process.  Probably because there was no one in front of them.  Sara knows sometimes farmers have to sit and wait hours to unload but on April 1st this year there was no line! 

The grain elevator.

When you first get there you have to stop before you unload the grain so a probe can be dropped down into the grain to check the moisture percentage and quality of grain like in the picture below.

Getting the moisture checked on the grain.

Once you get the go ahead you pull onto a large scale.  It weighs the entire truck which still has the grain on it at this point.  Then you back up and Kevin hopped out to tell them his name and to open the traps.  This lets the corn fall right out of the bottom of the truck and through those metal grates that he is standing on.  This only takes about a minute to do. 


Unloading the grain.

When both the front and back parts of the trailer are unloaded Kevin drove forward onto the scale.  This time it weighs the whole truck without the grain.  This is reported to the office on how many bushels of corn (or soybeans) were just delivered and they send a printed ticket and they were on their merry way. 


So now, as a farm wife, Sara can say that she has unloaded grain at the elevator with her hubby!

Sara Ross is a CommonGround volunteer living in Minden, Iowa with her husband and two young sons.  She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and works as a marketing manager at an insurance agency. Although Sara doesn’t work on the farm every day, when she does help, she enjoys helping in their corn, soybean and hay fields. She also enjoys caring for their 75 head of cattle.

Follow Sara on social media today:
Blog: Sara’s House HD
Twitter: @sarashousehd
Facebook: Saras-House-HD