Southern Montana: To me, there’s something in the hills of southeastern Montana that frees the soul. The wide, open spaces and beautiful scenery gives a person space to breathe and clear the mind. The beauty of the state can rejuvenate the spirit.
These hills also have an ugly side in the form of volatile weather like hail storms, blizzards, fires, scorching hot and ice cold temperatures. It can make farming here a huge challenge. We’ve seen fields wiped from hail and other conditions, even during harvest. But when it works, my, can this area produce a wheat crop!!!
This year is one where conditions came together just right. The wheat was incredible, some fields coming in at 80+ bushels and acre! The truck traffic at the pile backed up this claim. The lines were deep and the waits long. This, coupled with the fact some of our crew was on the road hauling equipment north from Colorado, it quickly become apparent that more truck power would be needed. But how?
It has been a hot minute since I’ve hauled grain, maybe even a hot decade. If harvest support is needed, I prefer to be in the field in a combine. I like the pace of the combine and I thought it was easier to manage with kiddos in the cab when they were younger. But, desperate times call for CDLs, the kids are older now, so there was no way I’d be talking myself into a Deere this time! Into the truck I went.
Lady A and I packed a bag of snacks and some activities and off we went. We picked up our first cartload of grain and were off to the grain pile. The process has sure upgraded since my last time in the truck. At the start, it was a pretty normal routine with un-tarpping, grain sample collection, and weighing. But, instead of checking in with the scale clerk, I had a card that looked like a thick hotel room card which I held to the scanner. Once detected, the screen flashed a message which recognized the farm and allowed me to progress to the pile to dump. When finished, I returned to weigh out, then scanned my card again. After a brief pause, the ticket would print for me and I was on my way. This may not seem like new technology for some of you, but it is not universal across our entire run, so wanted to make note of it for those readers.
I’m not a patient sitter, so waiting in the long line to dump wasn’t my favorite. I passed the time by walking laps around my truck to get my steps in and watching classics like “The Sandlot” with Lady A. We made the best of it together.
My time hauling grain was extremely short in the grand scheme of the harvest season, but doing so gave me renewed appreciation for those who work daily in the trucking and grain storage industry.
The folks at the scale work long days and have a lot to keep track of to ensure grain is getting paired with the proper farm and truck.
Next, there’s a lot of responsibility in getting big semi trucks from point A to B safely. Sadly, not everyone treats truck drivers with respect on and off the road. There’s also plenty of people adding careless risk to the already tedious job.
The guys at pile had their work cut out for them too. The conveyor wasn’t working the best, which added some pressure and stress to a time sensitive situation. They also hand cranked every truck hopper that came through. The umbrella, which didn’t make it in the wind much past the first day of harvest, wasn’t a huge help. They where the same guys, day after day, working in the dust and heat. I know they’re tough, but it doesn’t mean its easy.
In our relatively comfortable lives of modern society, it can be easy to forget where our food comes from and how its produced. Next time you sit down for a meal, I encourage you to not just be thankful to those who grew it, but also for the folks who come after the field too. I know they could use a prayer to two, too, to get through the long harvest season.
