Some discussion came up after I posted a picture of the vintage grain scoop on facebook. Its an old rusty metal scoop that has been on this farm far longer than me. Likely one that my grandfather used to load grain into the wagon box to haul to town and sell at the elevator. It was about a 24 mile round trip with horses and one trip a day at around 65 bushels per load.
The wooden handle was missing from this one. No surprise if it had worn out from use. The leading edge of the metal is worn thin and cracked from years of use on thousands of bushels of grain. I got creative and made a new handle out of an old broom stick just so it looks kind of original. I had to try it out so made a video along the way. You never know what people will find interesting. Or maybe boring.
Looking at the scoop, I'd guessed that it held about peck. Maybe they didn't try to make it a measure of any kind, though.
ReplyDeleteIt holds a third of a bushel of wheat when right full. So if you can count by threes you would have a close idea of how many bushels you put on the wagon I think.
ReplyDeleteI have seen one about twice the size. I was using it to poor hog feed into so I could fill the trough. I had 11 feeders that got a full scoop in the morning and evening till they got to 140 lbs. It went to a scoop and a half and increased to two scoops when they were at 220 lbs.
ReplyDeleteThere are times I miss the farm then I think about the getting up at 5 am to feed the animals so I could make breakfast at 6 am and the bus a 6:35. The evening feeding that was worked around any hay bailing that was going on. We had a working hay farm and I dabbled with a few cows and more-so with hogs because of the FFA and county/state fairs.
I had fair winners sell for ten times market price for breeding stock. In high school my senior year I bought a base Jeep CJ-7 for cash with profits from show winners from the fairs prize money and subsequent sales to producers. I don't think that is possible today.
I bought my first motorcycle in 71 with the proceeds of butchering the few hogs we raised here on the farm. I think it would take a lot more hogs to buy a hog these days.
DeleteWhere you at, sonny?
ReplyDeleteOne of my cousins is looking for someone in your area to do some tracing and cutting of 3 wood pieces for a cradle . Can you recommend anyone? I don't have your email address and there are a lot of ralph goffs on fb! Email me at stubblejumperscafe at gmail dot com please if you can. Thanks, Kate
Hi Kate. I am pretty slow at reading replies and only saw yours Jan 12.
DeleteHii nice reading your blog
ReplyDelete