Emptying Out The Grain Bin
Here’s the video I promised you the other day showing Harland emptying our dried corn out of one of our grain bins.
When corn is harvested, it needs to be dried down in a grain bin. Once it is dried, it will keep for years, if need be, without spoiling. Grain bins have heaters with fans and as the warm air circulates around the bin, the corn dries. Once it is dry, it can be removed from the bin and moved to another bin for storage, or taken to the elevator in town. Grain bins have a sub floor with an opening in the center, and at the entrance of that opening is an auger located beneath the floor that leads to the outside of the bin. The auger is used to empty grain out the bin into a truck or grain cart.
When the bin is nearly empty, the remaining corn needs to be moved from the outside edges to the center. This is done with a sweep auger. It’s a portable auger that can be put into the bin, plugged in and moved wherever it’s needed to move grain.
You’ll see how it all works in this video:
Will be back soon with an update on the house siding project. We getting closer to done every day!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Heavy, awkward, and potentially dangerous, I’d think. Anyone who doesn’t have an appreciation for the nature of farming needs to watch some of your videos!
The farming occupation is rated as one of the top most dangerous jobs in the US. I tell Harland every day to be careful. Thanks Linda!
OH BE CAREFUL, HARLAND…I RECENTLY WATCHED A RE-CREATION OF A TRUE RESCUE STORY OF A TEENAGER IN THE MIDWEST, WENT UP TOP OF THIS TALL CORN BIN…HE CRAWLED INTO THE BIN FROM A WINDOW UP THERE…THERE WERE ROPES TO HOLD ON TO…BUT I FORGET WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO DO UP THERE…ANYWAY, HE LOST HOLD OF THE ROPE AND SANK DOWN BELOW LEVEL OF CORN …HE FOUND WHEN HE STOPPED WIGGLING HE DIDN’T SINK ANY FARTHER….HE HAD JUST ENOUGH AIR SPACE AROUND HIS HEAD AND FACE, TO SLOWLY BREATHE…SOMEONE DISCOVERED HIM MISSING AND 2 MEN CRAWLED UP TOP AND WALKED AROUND THE CORN YELLING HIS NAME…HE WAS ABLE TO BARELY RESPOND AND THE MEN HEARD HIM AND SAVED HIM….THEY SAID ITS UNUSUAL TO HAVE A SURVIVOR IN THAT SITUATION…
IT WAS A SCARY STORY, AND YOUR FILM BROUGHT THE RESCUE TO MIND…
A MAN IN NE SOUTH DAKOTA, WHO FARMED MY FAMILIYS SMALL FARM, GOT KILLED WHEN HE WENT OUT TO WORK IN HIS MACHINE SHOP ON A CORN AUGER..AND DIDN’T SURVIVE….PLEASE BE CAREFUL, LOOSE CLOTHING IS ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS AND NOT SHUTTING OFF THE MACHINE BEFORE WORKING ON A CERTAIN PART….THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO AND SUZANNE FOR FILMING AND DOCUMENTING YOUR LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE…MM,VANCOUVER,WA.
People can die going into grain bins, but that happens when the bin is much more full than the one Harland was working in. He’s had lots of training on this issue as it is a scary thing. A guy in our community died in a grain bin just last year. Thanks Mary!
Thank you for filming this, it is so interesting to see the whole process. Scary stuff though. Tell Harland we appreciate his work.
Will do Candace..Thanks!
Very interesting!
I love farm life!
You all have a great weekend!
Florida hugs,
Becca
Appreciated the time you took to show us the details of this interesting process. We are amazed at the amount of equipment and skill needed to be a successful farmer/rancher. In our part of the country we have a lot of potato cellers and grain silos. This year the harvest of grain has been so abundant the silos are full, so they are dumping the grain in giant pyramids and putting some type of shrink wrap over the entire pyramid. Fascinating. We have so many dairies here that most of our corn is feed corn. Also, Green Giant has a big plant in our valley, so the table corn gets canned. Again, your video effort was greatly enjoyed. Thankful for your hubby’s caution while working with heavy equipment.
Thanks for the hard work you and Harland do on the Kansas prairie. Yes, farming is a dangerous occupation and those grain bins / augers are bad. Hope corn is bringing a good price or you are able to store until the price increases. Love the blog. From an ER nurse in rural TN.
I echo the sentiments of all those above me. It’s very dangerous to be in a bin but as you said he is very experienced. Still scarey stuff. Farmers are incredible, the amount of work they do is mind blowing. It’s hard, hard work and there are no days off and it doesn’t matter the weather. Thank the good Lord for farmers and ranchers and all you do to keep us all feed. We couldn’t do it without you.
I finally got to watch the video! It doesn’t work well on the Kindle! Thanks for filming the process. That’s a lot of hard, dangerous work. I’ve heard many stories of people losing their lives or being badly hurt, working on farms. I really appreciate the work of all our farmers and ranchers. Harland must sleep like a rock at night!
I’m looking forward to seeing the finished house, too… 🙂