Cribs come in varying sizes, shapes, and features. This unique crib, built in 1947, was developed by the Iowa State University Agricultural Engineering Department for corn and oats. Originally, there was storage of 5,000 bushels of ear corn on the two sides of the drive-through. However, in the 1950s, when harvesting ear corn ended, it was adapted to store 10,500 bushels of shelled corn. Oat bins were on the upper half and there was a walkway above the center to access the oat bins on both sides.
Today corn is stored in steel bins or the excess outside in cone-shaped piles covered with tarp. Maybe (?) there were a number of cribs in earlier days used for both corn and oats. This crib is the only one I have researched extensively because very few of this type still exist, and most that do exist are in very poor condition. This one is in good condition, although not in use.
What happens to oats grown today? In 2024 210,000 acres of oats were planted in Iowa, a small fraction of the total of corn and other crops. When horses were used in farming, draft horses ate oats, with some fed to other animals, but horses and the oats produced dwindled over the years. Interestingly enough, in 2023, Iowa was #2 oats producer in the nation (some years it has been #5), with various companies today buying oats for cereal, granola bars, cookies, and more, as well as providing oats for sows and other livestock. The Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids, the largest cereal production plant in the world, does not buy oats from Iowa farmers, but from Canadian farmers because the test weight of Canadian oats is much higher.
The farm where this crib exists was purchased by Ole Johnson who emigrated from Denmark to Wisconsin, then to this farm via covered wagon to Grundy County in 1857. It is a Heritage Farm (150 years in the same family) now owned by Tricia Johnson, a great-great-granddaughter of Ole. The location is southwest of Cedar Falls and east of Dike at 13725 X Ave., Cedar Falls. A future blog will describe some of the unusual features both inside and outside, as well as the technique used to transfer grain to the upper area for storage.