First, I'd like to extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the departed. Awful situation. Second, I'd like to address the criticisms of the farmer who fell victim to this terrible event. I've been working with a producer for 3 years and have been inside a grain bin dealing with stuck grain issues 3 times. Twice for sunflowers and once with corn. Both times with the sunflowers, they'd packed themselves in SO TIGHT, that they wouldn't flow and the corn was frozen. The grain vac would just suck out a hole in the grain and that was it. Chopping and picking with poles and pipes only enlarged the cavern. There was over 60k worth of grain in the bin for the sunflowers and well over 100k of corn. So for those who say there is no reason to enter a bin, you might want to take off those judgemental robes you're wearing. Farmers have bills to pay too. What we ended up doing in all three situations is I went in through the top of the bin with my bow hunting harness on and clipped it to the entrance ladder or the ring around the top of the bin. I had to use a pick ax and/or spade to knock grain off the sides and top of the pile down to the vac. Did I get sucked into a grain avalanche? Yep! Many times! We just didn't let it be the whole bin at once and they were never more than waist deep. It happens in an instant. The grain gives all of a sudden and down you go. Damn scary at how fast you go down and how far you can be carried. Racked my nuts plenty when the harness comes tight I can tell you that. Up until 3 years ago, the producer I work for was a one man band. He would have to do it by himself. Many farmers are in the same situation. I don't know many folks that can run a tractor/grain vac AND wear a harness to chop grain from the top of a bin at the same time. The process we used for getting the grain out of the bin and off to market went as follows. I would chop grain until we got an avalanche down to the grain vac. No more grain would flow until the loose grain was gone. When that grain was gone, you had the same dangerous cavern or walls of grain that you started with. So I would chop and dig some more until we got another grain avalanche and so it would go. There was no other way. Banging on the bin walls did nothing. We even used rubber sledge hammers from a loader bucket. Vibrating cement equipment did nothing. My producer even hit a bin with the front end loader in years past. All that did was dent the bin. Farmers aren't kamikaze's with a death wish. They just have a job to do and it's damn dangerous. They do what they need to do. Same as power company linesman, crab fishermen, cops, oil field workers, and anyone else who does a dangerous job. Again, my heart goes out to the family and I pray that Heavenly Father gives them strength to see them through this trying time.
Last edited:
