26 Jun Jada: Take a trip to the Sawyer, Kansas elevator
Leon drives to the Sawyer, Kansas elevator with a load of wheat.
Yesterday, we wrapped up harvesting in Sawyer, Kansas. In the morning the wheat was too wet to cut. While I waited for the wheat to get dry enough to cut, I took a ride to the Sawyer elevator. I feel better in the rider’s seat and have not received my CDL for many reasons. The first reason is I get lost very easy and have no sense of direction. Getting lost means I would end up having to turn around in some unknown territory (You think I would have inherited one of my parent’s strong sense of direction). Another reason I refrain from driving truck is because I do not have very good depth perception. Since some of the elevators are a tight fit for our trucks, I think it would be best to leave the driving to one of our better truck drivers. I have also witnessed many errors that can happen if you turn too short or get lost with a load of wheat. Need I say more!? So, when my dad says, “Jada, why don’t you just jump in that truck and drive down the road.” I can say, “Dad, I don’t have my CDL.” Let’s leave this secret of mine between us and don’t tell my dad. ; )
Leon untarps the truck in order to prepare for dumping at the elevator in Sawyer, Kansas.
The truck driver drives on the scale and waits while the elevator does a sample of the wheat and weighs the truck. The information they collect, helps the elevator to get the correct information for dockages and the weight of the load of wheat which will in the end determine how good the wheat was and the yield.=
The elevator crew, or truck driver, cranks open the grain traps on the truck in order to dump the wheat.
After dumping, the truck driver drives back onto the scale to get weighed again and goes into the elevator to get his grain ticket. Yesterday this elevator took in 163,000 bushels of wheat. They average 100,000 to 140,00 bushels per day. This was only the third day they were receiving wheat.
Jada Bulgin can be reached at jada@allaboardharvest.com. All Aboard 2009 Wheat Harvest is sponsored by High Plains Journal and DuPont Crop Protection.
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