Test weight verus volume

I got one for you paul and others

My truck will hold 375 bushels of corn that has a test weight of 56 pounds. That same truck will hold 450 bushel of oats that has a 32 pound per bushel test weight.

Why is that?

Remember 32 pound oats and 56 pound corn is the standard and the test weight on both can be tested and the truck, or any truck or wagon, will hold more bushels of oats than corn with the test weights of the grain at the standards.

Gary

Cuz the PO was a livestock hauler and had the tip up sides for hauling beasts and oats? LOL Or the weigher is the same one we had here 30 years ago? Or the other one who my friend, his employee said...R makes up his own scale tickets.

Same here, can get more bu of oats on a truck than I can bu of corn.

I think maybe a lot of times I have 54 lb corn & 36 lb oats maybe?

--->Paul

Why is that? --- DANGED if I know, but I am researching.

I edited my original reply because I suspect it had bad info.

My current guess is that oats are more easily compacted than corn is.

So the bushel of oats on the bottom of the load is occupying less space than the bushel of corn. Therefore, you have room for more bushels of oats.

Still just a guess at this point.

Wouldn't it be the same reason that a wet bale of hay weighs more than a dry bale of hay (density) but you can fit the same number (volume)of bales on a given truck?
A bushel is a unit of volume. Lighter objects can fit less weight in the same volume than denser objects. The dilema is that if this is all true then shouldn't the # of bushels be the same with mathematically corresponding weights (the truck will hold 10,000 lbs so this is X number of corn bu. and Y number of oats bu.)
The idea of settling so that the oats fill the void spaces better than the corn seems to be the only one that makes sense to me.

oat weight is 32pounds per bushel, but what do they actually weight... our local elevator has discounts for any load of oats under 40lbs test weight, we've delivered loads at 48lbs... it sounds crazy, but oats are like that...

Corn tends to have a bushel weight close to that of the test, it's unusual to be nore that 5 or 6 lbs either side of the "test".

That is why your truck holds "more" oats... it will always hold the same number of bushels, as it is a fixed volume, but weight(mass) varies by specific gravity.

it's simple weight to volume in normal conditions a 100# sack of corn is 12# less weight than 2 bushels,the same sack will hold around a 100# of oats give or take a little due to weight variations that's roughly 3 bushels,didn't realize that oats would weight a 100# per sack until last year a man wanted to buy all i had,i quoted him the price i was getting for a 100# sack full not weighed he said he wanted them in bulk so we filled 3 sacks an had them weighed to my surprise each one weighed a 100# and over so he bought them by weight.

But I said a truck loaded with 32 pound test weight oats. Not 40 pound test weight oats.

Not unusual to have 62 pound test weight corn either.

When the truck is full with 32 test oats it holds 450 bushels. When it is full of 56 pound test weight corn it has about 375 bu in it.

Why the difference in bushel held when both are to test weight standards.

Gary

As Eric says, oats pack. Fill a bushel basket with the same oats that "test weigh" a certain amount, and they'll weigh more. Fill a truck with the same oats and they'll weigh even more. My 18'x8'x5.5' truck box will easily hold 18 tons of corn. I figure somewhat over 600 bu. My corn generally test weighs a little over the "standard". I used to shovel and "walk" in every oat I could get on. The load weight divided by the "test weight" would be more bushels than my truck could possibly hold!!!!
I store oats in a bin that's almost 30' to the peak. The sweep auger has to almost chew them off the floor!

On the one hand oats are bulkier than corn and thats the reason livestock have less digestive trouble if oats are part of the feed mix, but oats do settle so a 17% difference may be about right. How about your combine tank? does it take the same number of of tank fulls to fill your truck for oats as corn?

Yes about the combine tank and all other oat and corn holding tanks.

I was looking for an answer when I posted this.I really don't know the answer.

I have no answer except to go long with what one other says. Compaction. Oats must compact more than corn thus fitting more pounds into a smaller area. Corn must compact more than beans cause I can get more bushels of corn in the truck than I can beans.

I tried to find the true answer else where and had no luck.

Gary

Use as unit of weight



A table of weights from the secretaries of the different states, showing the number of pounds which their laws recognize as a bushel of different articles. c. 1854
Bushels are now most often used as units of mass or weight rather than of volume. The bushels in which grains are bought and sold on commodity markets or at local grain elevators, and for reports of grain production, are all units of weight.[2] This is done by assigning a standard weight to each commodity that is to be measured in bushels. These bushels depend on the commodities being measured and the moisture content. Some of the more common ones are:
Oats
USA: 32 lb[2] = 14.5150 kg
Canada: 34 lb = 15.4221 kg
Barley: 48 lb[2] = 21.7724 kg
Malted barley: 34 lb = 15.4221 kg
Shelled maize (corn) at 15.5% moisture by weight: 56 lb[2] = 25.4012 kg
Wheat at 13.5% moisture by weight and soybeans at 13% moisture by weight: 60 lb[2] = 27.2155 kg
Other specific values are defined (and those definitions may vary within different jurisdictions, including from state to state in the United States) for other grains, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, coal, hair, and many other commodities.
Government policy in the United States is to phase out units such as the bushel and replace them with metric mass equivalents.
The name "bushel" has also been used to translate non-US units of a similar size and sometimes shared origin, like the German "Scheffel".
[edit]

32 lbs of oats take up less space then 56 lbs of corn. A bushel is based on weight not measure