What do Grain Farmers do in the winter

A simple question we get asked all the time is what do grain farmers do in the winter? What do you think we do? We have a lot of jobs we have to do all winter long...Here are a few of DRW Farms Top Ten.

1. Hauling grain is most important-we take the grain out of our bins and haul to the grain terminals. As it takes pretty much all winter to get it all hauled out.

2. Lots and lots and lots and did I say lots of PAPERWORK!!!

3. We work on equipment and do a lot of Maintenance in the shop.

4.  Lots of cleaning goes on as our machines as they get really dirty and muddy...and my OCD son can't stand that!

5.  All the yield reports and spreadsheets get scrutinized and gone thru...my husband never thinks that my computer is correct..and usually double checks it cause you know he has it all in his computer(his head)

6.  Insurance meetings take place during this time as we always need to work on our yields for the end of the year and go over each field with crop adjusters.

7.  TAXES TAXES TAXES-can you tell I hate this one by the caps! And yes Farmers DO Pay TAXES!

8.  This year we have done a lot of pushing snow.  My husband also pushes out three other family and farm driveways for our neighbors too.

9.  Budget planning for the year is a must!

10.  Planning what products we are going to use at DRW Farms is always a priority in the winter months too and we usually work with our local Coop in helping us try-(key word is TRY) to make the best decisions we can to make it a successful new crop year!

One of our trucks is pulled under the grain leg where the grain will dump in the trailer of the semi and load it up with corn. Then #sodbuster will take the semi to the grain terminal. He usually tries to get 7 or 8 loads out a day which is around 8000 bushels he moves a day.  Then if you multiply that out for a week in the winter he hauls around 40,000-45,000 bushels of grain.

Here is one of the biggest projects of the winter was this semi conversion. The boys along with their father took the sleeper off of one of our older semis.  They wanted it easier for everyone to be able to drive.  It's easier now to see out of and also easier to move around from field to field.  It's still the same length but much easier to turn around and get in and out of fields without the sleeper on.

And you have to admit it looks a lot better...and as my sons hashtags were...#daycabconversion #pete # stretch #nomoresleeper and he says it needs of course new paint job.  Maybe they can save that for WINTER 2016.  Now I don't even want to think about that yet!!