In this episode of Feed & Grain Chat, Sean Morgan, VP of sales for Seedburo Equipment Company, speaks about best practices in grain sampling and why it is the foundation of accurate testing and analysis.
Morgan emphasizes that relying on a single scoop from a load is inadequate and that representative samples must be collected from multiple points using tools like pneumatic or handheld probes, then properly reduced with dividers for testing. He explains how equipment such as moisture testers, sieves and grain dockage scales are used to evaluate grain quality, while gauges and calibration tools ensure sampling accuracy and consistency.
Morgan also highlights the importance of documentation and compliance with USDA and Federal Grain Inspection Service standards, noting that up-to-date certificates, weight sets and calibration codes are essential for regulatory traceability and quality assurance.
Transcript of interview with Sean Morgan, VP of sales, Seedburo Equipment Company:
Elise Schafer, editor, Feed & Grain: Hi everyone, and welcome to Feed & Grain Chat. I'm your host. Elise Schafer, editor of Feed & Grain. This edition of Feed & Grain Chat is brought to you by WATT Global Media and FeedandGrain.com. FeedandGrain.com is your source for the latest news, product and equipment information for the grain handling and feed manufacturing industries.
Today, I'm joined by Sean Morgan, VP of sales for Seedburo. He's here to share his expertise on grain sampling best practices for optimal testing and analysis. Hi, Sean, thanks for joining me today.
Sean Morgan, VP of sales, Seedburo Equpment Company: Hi, thanks a lot for having me today.
Schafer: Of course! When it comes to testing grains for mycotoxins or quality at the feed mill, we often focus on the results, but sampling is the first critical step. Can you explain how sample quality directly impacts the accuracy and reliability of testing results?
Morgan: A lot of customers or clients or individuals that we do speak to — we get a lot of questions on this — feel that if you just take a quick scoop of grain off the top of the load, whether it be a truck, barge, ship or rail car, that that's adequate and would work for their needs. But actually, when you have that allotment of grain, you need to put together a substantial sample to determine what the quality of the entire lot is going to be. So that is our business.
You really need to take multiple samples throughout that allotment, whether that be a pneumatic probe, whether that be a handheld probe, and you want to pull that sample, and then you want to break it down to an adequate size that you can determine what your grades are going to be from that sample. The long story short, really is take a lot more than you feel like is necessary, and you want to break it down from many different sampling portions of that allotment, and then break it down to a small sample size.
Schafer: What are some best practices and key equipment needed to obtain good representative grain samples from incoming grain at a facility?
Morgan: Like I touched on — pneumatic probes or grain probes would be a great tool to start that process. So a pneumatic probe is going to be a probe that's operated by a motor that's going to take multiple samples throughout, say, a truckload or a rail car, and as it's coming inbound to the commercial facility, if you don't have any pneumatic probe, you can use a handheld, either partition probe, spiral probe or open handle probe. The partition probe is usually meant for inspection agencies or USDA personnel. An open handle probe is typically used by the commercial grain side of things. And then a spiral probe is sort of a mix between the two. It helps you reinsure that the sample does come throughout the bottom to the top of the allotment of a sample that you're pulling out of a rail car or a truck.
And then you would commingle that sample together and then break that down. Typically, when you're breaking it down, you're running it through a divider, a product like the Seedburo Boerner Divider would be the approved method to break that sample down to an adequate size that you would then be able to run through a Moisture Tester. You'd be able to add to grain sieves and check for material, or check particle size analysis, check broken material, or possibly, if you had a bug situation, you'd be able to see the percentage of bugs. Then you'd bring that sample back to something like a grain dockage gram scale and determine any other tests that you want to perform from there.
Schafer: Can the testing results indicate subtle warning signs that a feed mill or elevator has issues with their sampling procedures that need to be addressed.
Morgan: Typically, you're going to find those issues through your sampling, and there are a few tools you should probably have on hand as you're performing your daily sampling and testing. Some of those tools are perforation gauges or weight sets and updated calibration codes for moisture testers. So, as you're going to see if you do have tools like a perforation gauge on hand or a go or no-go gauge, say, for a grain probe, you can check the gaps in your sampling tools, say, your open handle probe and make sure those do match. Or a perforation gauge, you can check the actual perforation within your screens that you're using and kind of catch the problem before it does happen.
If the problem does happen and you do not have those correct tools or gauges on hand, you're going to see your samples are going to start to become in the same category. When I say that, I mean, you're going to see a large lump sum of foreign material, or you're going to see the same moisture content, or you're going to see it sway from normality of the actual samples. So, it's important to have some of those tools to help you become more accurate on hand.
Schafer: Now, from a regulatory and traceability perspective, what documentation practices should feed mills implement alongside their sampling procedures to ensure compliance?
Morgan: Typically, companies do have their own protocol in some of these policies or certificates. But then there are also general practices in USDA Federal Grain Inspection Agency handbooks, and those are good practices to follow and stay close to, especially if you're selling outside of your company or to a producer or consumer. Those practices are nice to stay close to, that way you do have documentation. Placed-in-service certificates for different pieces of equipment, like moisture testers, depending on which state you're in, or a certified weight set and actually do checks and balances on your gram scales or grading scales, are a great thing to have.
And then also, like I said before, up-to-date calibration codes for things like protein analyzers and moisture testers are a must, as well. So, say the USDA FGIS does come out with updates on some of these certificates and calibrations year to year, it's very important to stay compliant with those certificates and calibrations.
Schafer: Well, thank you so much for sharing all this information today, Sean. Appreciate your insights.
Morgan: Yes, yeah. Thank you very much for having me on.
Schafer: You're very welcome. Well, that's all for today's Feed & Grain Chat. If you'd like to see more videos like this, subscribe to our YouTube channel, sign up for the Industry Watch daily eNewsletter, or go to FeedandGrain.com and search for videos. Thanks again for watching, and we hope to see you next time!