Pain in the butt load of feed!!!

The plant was shut down for several days for repairs/updates. It always takes them some time to get things working right again. I loaded a load of 18% gluten pellets Friday evening. They got the load loaded so late I delivered it today. The customer wanted it unloaded into an auger. Normally not an issue. It would be better if they would let me know so I could have the coal chute on but it usually works anyway.

This load of pellets was stuck together so bad that the whole load wanted to come out just like a big log!!! I sometimes get them that are a little sticky but you can just rake them down the pile and they are loose. Not this load. You could stick a pitch fork into the load and you could not get it to break any loose. Finally used pallet forks on a skid steer. Still had to beat them up to go into the auger.

Took over two hours to unload the load. What I really wonder about is the guys loading before and after me that had grain hopper trailers. Can you think about getting them out of a tapered hopper trailer??? I bet that the dispatcher's phone will be lit up Monday morning. LOL

I worked at a feed mill/grain elevator for 17 years. It looks like their pellet cooler wasn't doing it's job or their steam pressure was too low. We used to get all kinds of by-products that would be hard to unload. Nearly everything was on flat trailers that we dumped or on hoppers. Rice bran was always a pain but the worst was cotton hulls on hopper bottoms. One year we got a load that was a little damp when they loaded them and it was -14 that day. It took us 9 hours of shoveling to get them off.

Goes with the territory, trucking that is, you hate when it happens unexpectedly or in inclement weather.

Few years back I was helping a long time friend and farmer with his trucking, old DM Mack is one rough riding truck and he could not drive it at the time due to this.

Sawdust can be a pain to get, well 35 yards + per load at least it can be, so when them mill says yes the truck immediately goes over, and sometimes it may be later in the day, leave the load on and take in the morning, not a big fan of dumping at this large dairy, in the dark, as the you have to dump perpendicular to the shed and the apron slopes, pucker factor increases 10x at night, when you are trying to find that sweet spot where you dumped before and it did not turn over LOL ! You have to be careful and usually someone will spot you as they have to push the sawdust into the shed anyway, really hated that shed arrangement, theres no room to back in, well its so tight, I did it once just about lined up and the slope is not against you.

Well it was one of those clear nights, got to 0 or so in the morning, I got there, and raised the box, and we usually load so its peaked up high and just about spilling over, when you open that tail gate, theres usually a lot more on the ground then in the photo. Not today, and somewhere in the back of our minds, myself, farmer etc., we know sawdust freezes, but let the truck sit over night, not a good move !!! Now if I loaded it, then left it for his son to deliver, which he sometimes did.... glad that did not happen, hate to do that to the next guy !

2 hours later and it was in the teens, was toasty warm in no time, feet included LOL, even at the end, chipping out the corners, and all I had was that grain shovel, glad I kept it on the box !
What a place for a load to hang up too, not very level like I mentioned.



Plenty warm by now, getting there, but a ways to go, and you are working with the box up fighting the slope.



Can see light at the end of the tunnel now, guy who takes care of the calves receives this for bedding, he was still glad to get it, earned my pay for this one, and I still charged the farmer the usual rate (when it just falls out into a pile, no hand unloading LOL !) as what he made on these loads was a joke, he eventually stopped hauling it, no money in it at all, dairy would not pay a dime more.

That brings back memories of working in a mill and driving truck. Beef pellets with urea made the day before in humid summer weather. Open the slides and ... nothing. In the feed mill buddy and I got along well and when we brought a fresh load of gluten in we would use out of one bin one day and another bin the next to try and keep it moving. Always came in a bit warm and betwwen that and the fines it would want to take a set.

We get several loads of chicken meal a week (44-50,000 lbs each load) most from central and southern states. In the winter I remind the drivers that they shouldn't waste any time in getting the load to us once he leaves the mill. Usually the meal is warm when it's loaded at the mill and flows pretty decent out of a dump or hopper belly, but only for about the first 24 hours. Then it gets a lot more difficult. I also remind them that the meal isn't ours until it hits our pit. Driver's responsibility to get it of the truck, and he cannot just "pop" his tailgate unless he likes to shovel.

Lots of things happen with trucks.This far down south we would rarely consider a load freezing overnight. One time we had two loads of broken concrete that were loaded the day before when we went to dump at crusher nothing would come out.It rained and froze the night before.
The last DM Mack tandem truck we had the driver rolled in median and ended upside down,wheels in the air, front bumper to the dump bed apron on the ground.
Ron

s.crum: It is a good thing I don't deliver to you then. I would do one of two things if you hit me with the attitude you are displaying here.

1) All of the bills of lading we have clearly state that any unloading cost will be the responsibility of the purchaser. Have I ever charged for unloading?? You bet I have. Anyone helping me unload will never get charged. The load I delivered yesterday was at a real nice family farm. Actually the operator of the skid steer was a supper nice young lady( second generation daughter). She even hopped right out after everything was out of the trailer and helped shovel everything up. No fuss no charge.

Now there are two other places that we deliver to that have your attitude. They will not help one bit and stand around complaining about how we don't do it correctly to suit them. It usually takes two hours at each place to make it like they want it. We charge $60 per hour for the truck and a driver. They get billed $120 each and every load. Paid before the truck leaves the property. They tried to stiff me the first time. I called the following: ADM they contract the delivery and the selling feed company. Both told the purchaser that the delivery invoice clearly shows any and all unloading cost are the purchasers. ADM told me that they would bill the purchaser if they refused to pay me. I have gotten paid so I don't care. The purchaser had to buy it in four ton lots from the local feed mill when they refused any future delivery charges. None of the belt trailer owners would take them anymore feed. After paying the extra $40 per ton the feed mill was charging them, they agreed to help and or pay a unload charge if there is a problem.

2) I have refused to unload if no help or payment for time spent unloading. I just call ADM and tell them the load was refused. I deliver it to someone else or buy it myself. One very large feed mill/company can't get feed from ADM right now. They refused to help unload two loads in a row from ADM. ADM told them they could come and pickup the feed themselves or just not be sold anymore.


The long and short of it is if you have a poor attitude then you are going to have trouble getting deliveries after a while. The guys that work with the drivers usually get good service and lower cost. The rest pay more and get poorer service.

Apparently this is what separates a common hauler that delivers to "feed mills" from a custom hauler that delivers to a premium petfood facility that is an AIB operating plant. The truck hauling each incoming load must first certify what it's previous load was, ie: edible grain, other non bovine food grade waste, etc. A wash tag is required for any trailer that has hauled anything that was not an edible grain. If you've hauled Construction debris, garbage, scrap metal, toxic materials etc. you're rejected before you can roll your rag back. No attitudes that's the rules. Then the load is inspected for infestation and contamination and tested for micotoxins, moisture, protein levels and if required predictive values. If everything flys you will be unloaded, That's also the rules no attitude involved. Our broker makes it very clear to suppliers what is required to deliver to us, if they don't contract a carrier that will comply, it's their fault. We pay premium prices to get premium ingredients. The majority of the time we get haulers that care and we work well with them, but on occasion we get a real "winner". I had a truck load come in one night and my bulk receiver called me out to look. I sorted out almost 100 lbs of scrap metal that was laying on our pit grate, another 1/2 dozen pieces of scrap out of our metal detection catch and I noted several more pieces still in the truck, this was all buried in the bottom and wasn't seen until offloading commenced. The guy that signed off as having done a pre-loading inspection of the trailer I imagine was in hot water and the driver was also in hot water for having lied on the certification form all drivers are required to sign before we touch the truck. Once our broker got done with the driver's dispatcher he ended up waiting while we reloaded his load back on him and the driver ended up "eating" the load. His response? 'it's only dogfood'. That's an attitude.

I don't get where you think that delivering feed to feed mills or dairy farms is any different than delivering pet food ingredients. On every load of feed we haul we have to tell the prior product hauled. We even have to have a copy of the invoice and delivery time. If it is over twenty four hours since that delivery time you have to go have a wash out. Plus before every truck is loaded there is picture taken of the inside of the truck. Most of these rules are from the mad cow scare than anything else.

What I was meaning is how you say that you don't help the driver if the feed is hard coming out of the truck. All that does is make it that much longer to get the load/pit cleared. The way I look at it is the purchaser and the hauler should work together. In the case about the load I hauled yesterday. The pellets where on the high side of the temperature range they load at. These also where on the high end of syrup content. After we unloaded them they where fine as they where cool and had setup completely. They actually are a harder pellet with a higher protein content. They are a guaranteed 18% but these would have been close to 20%.

The majority of all these products are a byproduct of some other process. Your chicken meal is that kind of product so it will vary a little.

I'm guessing you mis-understood where I'm coming from. We get trucks that have hauled just about anything I certainly wouldn't feed my dog. The drivers of these trucks don't get a lot of consideration as they have been forwarned about our policies. The drivers I have a problem with are the one's that have the attitude that they are delivering to the local landfill. I've personally helped clean out hundreds of trucks and the drivers have appreciated the help as the truck sticking was due to facters beyond their control. But I've also delt with trucks that were loaded in the rain, not allowed to dry out after washout and truck bodies so beat up that only marbles would come out easily. I've even had drivers say 'wake me up when you have the truck empty', you bet pal!
I can appreciate your headaches with that load, I've delt with everything from beet pulp pellets to Australian lamb meal that is sealed in an ocean crossing container. The whole attitude of the driver sets the stage for how well he or she is treated.

I think we are on the same page now. LOL I always try to help all I can if I get help back.

There are a few places that are real pains to deliver to. One is a union plant that is slowly closing.

I can understand the dumb drivers too. The main plant we load out of also burns old seed corn for fuel. So sometimes there are hopper trucks delivering old seed corn and picking up feed. They are supposed to have a wash out done in between. One company would just lie about the prior load. This worked if they swept the trucks out real good. One lazy driver did not sweep his truck. He tried to deliver a load of feed and the first bit had a bunch of seed corn in the feed.

So now they take a picture of every empty trailer/truck. Makes it a real PIA for the guards. There are a bunch of clowns driving out here anymore.

I also worked in a poultry feed mill for 17 years. No one can complain about hard unloading until you've tried to unload a rail hopper car with "fish meal!" Any one ever dealt with what we called "tankage?" Rendering plant by-product, it's awful also. Man, I just had some serious "flashbacks!" lol