Life in Christian County, Kentucky...
Emptying the combine into the grain trailerIn Christian County, the farmers have been combining their corn for a month now. This truck is loaded and ready to go. The corn will be covered with a tarp before they take it on the road. It will go either to a grain elevator in a nearby town to be sold, or to the farmer's own grain bins where it will (probably) be dried and stored for later use or sale. Corn with a low moisture content is worth more money per bushel.
Many big grain trailers like this have a hopper bottom (a drainhole) where an auger can be attached and the grain can be piped away. The force of gravity helps the truck to empty, and after a while, someone probably has to get in there and feed the auger with a shovel if some of the grain doesn't drain out naturally.
This time of the year, it's common to see a few corn kernels spilled here and there on the highway, but we saw a real corn mess a couple of weeks ago. Apparently a car pulled out directly in front of a heavily loaded grain truck. The car went airborne (according to a friend who saw the accident) and came down in the median. I didn't ever hear if the driver of the car was badly hurt. I hope not!
Somehow, the "plug" on the grain trailer's drainhole came loose. A thick, long corn spill covered the highway, and when the truck stopped, a pyramid of corn piled up beneath it.
I felt sorry for the farmer who owned the truck and the corn. He didn't need the hassle at this very busy time, I'm sure. I'm afraid a lot of grain was wasted, too. The accident happened on a busy road at a busy time, and I doubt if the police let him do as much salvage as he would have liked. Penty of corn was probaby just swept into the ditch.
Corn spill on 68-Bypass east of HopkinsvilleTechnorati tags:
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