Thursday, June 3, 2010

This is how we feed the world

The story I have been waiting to share. 

Over the Memorial Day weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Hobart, Oklahoma, and work with C.R. Freeman and Kirk Duff, the two men behind Premium Natural Beef. In coming posts I will talk more about PNB and their philosophies, but in the meantime I want to talk about grain, barley specifically, and how it goes from the field to your dinner plate.

And this is the quick and dirty of how it works.

This crop is called barley. Lots of it is grown in Canada. It is very similar nutritionally to corn.

 
This is a combine. It cuts the Barley. 

This is the view from the cab of the combine. The grain is shaken loose from rest of the plant. 

This is what Barley looks like. 

The grain is stored in a compartment in the combine, and once it becomes full the grain is moved in a grain truck.


The grain truck then moves it into a truck that can haul it to an elevator or where ever the farmer will be storing it. 

 
The rest of the plant is blown out the back of the combine.


Usually in rows like this, so the straw can be baled. 

Here is the baler. It will go over the tops of those rows, pick up the straw and make these...

Big Square Bales. There are also little Square Bales and Round Bales.


That Barley and some of the straw is then fed to cattle. 

Usually steers or heifers in a feedlot. 

So we can produce these. 

That Barley plant at the beginning turns into a nutritional product that you and your family can consume. 

9 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 03, 2010

    You have posted alot of great things on your blog but this one I would like to say is my favorite

    Dad

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  2. One of my favorite posts yet!

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  3. Great blog and great pictures, Crystal!

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  4. Thanks everyone for the comments! Maybe consumers that don't get a chance to live on a farm will have a better understanding of what we do if they see this.

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  5. I will echo what everyone else has said--love this post! I still need a little help getting some things around on my blog when you have time to help! I know you are busy busy!

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  6. Where on earth have I been? I've never ever seen a huge square bale. I bet they stack great.

    Your first shot (close-up) of the barley is just great, nice depth of field and the contrast really gives so much texture to the heads of barley. I also LOVE your second to last shot (the black cattle), the great point of interest with the one looking directly at you, and the light is just superb!

    AND... I also feed my chickens barley! ;)

    Great post!

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  7. Jess glad I was able to show you something new. They are very handy for stacking! And thanks for the compliments on the photos.

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