Staff writer
Galen Ensz, of rural Hillsboro, was able to turn a disaster into a mere headache Nov. 4, with help from Cooperative Grain and Supply and Ag Service, both of Hillsboro.
Ensz’s son, Andrew Ensz, was driving a soybean-laden truck west on 175th Road in the afternoon when he turned north on Kanza Road. During the turn, the right rear tire slid into the steep ditch. The weight of the soybeans caused the truck to tip, spilling its load into the ditch. Nobody was hurt in the accident.
Ensz estimated the truck carried 460 to 475 bushels of soybeans. The closing cash price for soybeans Nov. 4 was $9.36 per bushel.
The accident rendered the truck unusable until repairs can be made, he said. He didn’t have a cost estimate at press time.
Before long help showed up in the form of manpower from Ag Service and a borrowed grain vacuum from Cooperative Grain and Supply. The grain vacuum normally is used to clean out grain bins.
Recovering the soybeans without a vacuum would have been much more labor-intensive.
“We would have scooped,” Ensz said.
They would have shoveled the soybeans into a front-end loader and transferred from the loader into a grain truck.
With help, Ensz was able to recover most of the spilled soybeans and return to cutting by 5:30 p.m.
“Thanks to Ag Service and Co-op,” Ensz said. “They made the thing easier to handle.”