Grainnet

Studies in recent years have shown that too many local elevators lose money by misgrading grain for dockage. In general, they err on the low side.

The traditional practice of hand-sifting grain samples could contribute to this undergrading of dockage or foreign material. Human operators never use precisely the same motions to shake the sieves each time, and when a line of trucks is backed up at the scale during harvest, it’s a natural tendency to rush the job.

Mechanical dockage testers such as the Kicker, marketed by Mid Continent Industries (MCI), Newton, KS (800-279-6812/www. midcontinent industries.com), are designed to eliminate human error and ensure that grain buyers are paying for grain, not dust, stones, and fines. Grain Journal surveyed some users to report on their experience.

United Agri Products Inc.

Jim Sheppard, Eastern Michigan area manager for Greeley, CO-based United Agri Products Inc. (UAP), a division of Con-Agra Inc., supervised the installation of four Kicker units two years ago from his office in Saginaw, MI (517-752-8760). The units were installed at four grain elevators, all in Michigan’s Thumb area, that are operated by ConAgra’s Peavey Co. division.

“Originally, it was the idea of one of the elevator superintendents, who was using an old Clipper model dockage tester,” Shep-pard recalls. “It was 30 or 40 years old, but it still worked well. However, it had no air aspiration, so there was always a problem with collecting or separating out the dust and lighter FM or dockage.”

The superintendent saw an ad for the Kicker in a grain industry trade publication and noted that the unit was equipped with aspiration for removal of the dust and light GM from the grain sample that we were missing without the aspiration.”

The Michigan elevators utilize the Kicker units for dockage testing of corn, soybeans, and wheat. The elevators also handle dry edible beans, but do not use the Kicker units for those.

“As far as we’re concerned, they’ve been excellent,” Sheppard comments. “It takes the guesswork out of hand-shaking. And we haven’t gotten any resistance from the producers. They see how the machine operates, and they can’t say we’re being too hard on them in our dockage grades. And it probably cleans out a little more dockage than you could get by hand.”

Sheppard adds that the four elevators are federally licensed and subject to regular warehouse audits. The auditors are satisfied with the use of the MCI equipment, he says.

Right Coop Association

Before joining Right Coop, Wright, KS (316-227-8611) seven years ago, General Manager Tom Redman had experiences with dockage testers at a cooperative in Colorado, and they weren’t entirely positive.

“They were noisy, dirty, or inaccurate, and sometimes all three,” he says. “After I came here, we were looking for a good, accurate, clean, efficient machine.”

The cooperative settled on the Kicker in 1997, and today operates eight machines – two at the headquarters elevator in Wright and one each at elevators in Wilroads, Spearville, Kalverta, Ness City, Arnold, and Lairds. The cooperative recently acquired another elevator at Mullinville and will be installing a ninth Kicker unit there.

“At Wright, we have one unit reserved for soybeans, and the other is primarily for wheat, although we can shift it over for milo or corn,” Redman says.

Prior to 1997, coop employees utilized hand-sifting in order to determine dockage levels. Redman comments that the Kicker isn’t necessarily faster than hand-sifting, but it’s considerably more accurate.

He notes that the cooperative routinely sends grain and oilseed samples to the Kansas Grain Inspection Service at nearby Dodge City for grading. “The Kicker is right with the state inspection service, in terms of dockage measurement,” he says. Redman adds that he also likes the Kicker’s quiet operation and low maintenance requirements.

Consolidated Grain & Barge Co.

MCI approached Mandeville, LA-based CGB in the early 1990s to try out one or two Kickers on a trial basis. Today, the regional grain handler and shipper operates 16 at various grain handling locations.

“We use it primarily in the wheat marketplace,” says Roger Dowdy, general manager of operations based at Wayne City, IL (618-895-3132/www.cgb.com). “It does a great job with dockage and FM on wheat, and if you miss the inbound, it can have a very big effect on profit.”

As a result, CGB makes the biggest use of the Kicker across the southern and western tier of its facilities, in wheat production areas of Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

Prior to the advent of the Kicker, CGB relied mainly on hand sifting to determine dockage and FM. “It’s human nature – when you’ve got a long line of trucks waiting to unload, you get in a hurry and rush things. The Kicker does it right every time.”

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• Mid-Continent Industries

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