Posted on October, 16, 2024 at 09:37 am
“You have the freedom to take advantage of a typical seasonal price pattern,” says Joe Janzen, University of Illinois agricultural economist and Farmdoc team member. “However, you should have a clear sense of your marketing goals when choosing to utilize on-farm storage as a marketing tool. Storage can enable you to make both good and bad marketing decisions.”
Besides opening opportunities for marketing, on-farm storage has other benefits.
Many farms use on-farm storage to facilitate harvest, Janzen says. “If you can’t move enough grain to the elevator in a timely fashion, the ability to make harvest progress is a good reason to use storage.”
If you’ve invested in on-farm storage, you need to make sure you’re storing grain properly. Here are some tips to help maintain quality until it’s time to sell:
Allowable storage time combines temperature and humidity, telling you how long you can store grain.
Before you start, know what your intentions are, says Greg Trame, regional sales director at GSI. “It’s ideal to have an idea of when you plan to empty the bin,” he says, “because cold-weather vs. warm-weather storage are two very different things.”
For short-term corn storage, 15% moisture is a good baseline. However, if you’re storing grain longer than six months, lower moisture is recommended, to prevent mold growth. Soybeans should be around 14%, and as low as 11% for long-term storage. See the table below for Purdue University’s moisture recommendations:
Proper airflow through a bin is critical to keeping stored grain in condition. Grain spreaders help spread out fines in bins smaller than 48 feet in diameter, and coring your bins also helps aerate.
As soon as the bin is full and cooling, normally the grain peaks in the center, Trame says. “We want to see that core pulled early to remove as many fines as possible,” he says. “This will set you up for long-term storage success because it improves aeration and gets out the material that is prone to creating problems in the warmer months.”
Know each of your bins’ required airflow rate. You can find this information on the manufacturer’s website or brochures, or by contacting your dealer.
For example a bin designed for an airflow of 0.1 cubic feet per minute (cfm) is made for storing cooled, dry grain and keeping it in condition, says Kerry Hartwig, dryer sales director for Sukup. “You can’t dump hot corn into that bin,” he says; “it’s not made for that.”
Achieving the right airflow requires the appropriate number of roof vents and square footage of roof exhaust.
“I’ve seen guys open a peak lid and the air pressure blows their hat off, and they think they have great airflow,” says Kent Craighton, Sukup territory sales manager. “That’s actually backwards to what it should be. If you don’t have enough roof vents, you’ll have an excessive amount of air trying to get out. That blast means you’re choking the airflow off in that bin.”
Be careful not to overfill your bins. Bin roofs aren’t designed for grain pressure, so keep grain a few inches below the eave. Keeping grain as level as possible also is important because air takes the easiest way out. A peaked center means more airflow dissipates around the sidewalls and less through the center, slowing down cooling.
Storage temperature recommendations vary by region and season.
“You can get by with a lot of things in cold weather,” Trame says. “It’s when we start talking about storage through warm-weather months that it’s really important to do a few more things.”
Temperature cables help monitor for internal hot spots, but if the sensor isn’t exactly where a problem starts, it can become a bigger issue by the time it is detected.
In most of the Midwest, Purdue University recommends cooling grain to 35°F to 40°F, with 35°F being the target for more northerly farms. If storing grain into July or August, or if it was frozen, bring the temperature up to 50°F to 60°F, aerating as outside temperatures start rising in spring. Don’t warm grain to summer high temperatures (80°F to 90°F); aerate for temperature maintenance.
When most farmers think about grain shrink, moisture loss first comes to mind. However, insect damage accounts for more shrink than one might think.
“You have dry matter loss due to insect feeding, but you also have to consider the protective coating on the grain has been broken and other degradation can occur due to exposure to air, independent of insect feeding,” says Johnny Wilson, of Central Life Sciences technical services. “This is not only a weight loss — it’s also a quality loss, with cracked or broken kernels that can affect nutritional implications down the line.”
Wilson recommends normal sanitizing practices to help eliminate insects: cleaning bins, pulling up floors, and cleaning out air lines and the plenum. He also recommends considering additional integrated pest management solutions if insects are a concern.
He says he’s a big fan of SLAM — sanitation, loading, aeration, and monitoring. “Knowing specific things to do on your operation at different times of the year makes a difference,” Wilson says.
There are several types of grain protectants. Insect growth regulators don’t kill adult insects but help control the population. Responsive treatments, such as fumigation or liquid adulticides, almost immediately kill adult insects and provide some residual control. A third class provides full control of the emerging population as well as eliminating the adults. All three types can be applied to the grain as it enters the bin.
Dry and liquid products are available, but “the best one is the one that actually gets applied,” Wilson says. “Both methods work well, and it just depends on your operation and the equipment you have available or wish to invest in.”
Wilson says some of Central Life Sciences’ products are exempt from EPA tolerance levels, and none of them requires an applicator license.
Keeping a close eye on stored grain is perhaps on-farm storage’s most crucial component. Remote monitoring systems make it easier and safer to know what’s going on inside your bins.
“Most farmers know the smell they’re looking for when they check their bins,” Trame says. “With newer systems we can automate that ‘smelling process’ by monitoring carbon dioxide levels.”
GSI’s GrainVue system can measure three critical levels: carbon dioxide, temperature, and moisture.
Trame says carbon dioxide is the earliest indicator that something is wrong such as insects or mold growth. “It takes a while to pick up heat, because grain is a good insulator,” he notes. “But if we can pick up CO2, you can make decisions faster, usually about 10 days sooner than relying on temperature alone.”
Farmers can access GrainVue through an online portal, and make decisions anywhere using a phone or computer. Some features can be fully automated, based on specific parameters. GrainVue can be installed in any bin; pricing varies based on bin size and desired features.
Sukup offers remote monitoring of dryer controls through MySukup.
“There is a lot of technology involved to be able to see it all on your phone — real-time, live information you can get without ever climbing a ladder,” Hartwig says. “You can do everything remotely from your phone or tablet except start up the dryer.”
Within the next year Sukup plans to release Synk, a full-service bin management system, to monitor moisture, temperature, and ambient air conditions.
If you’ve already started harvest, keep these steps in mind after you empty your bins for next year.
Make sure your bins are clean and ready before harvest starts. Remove any grain that’s left behind, and be sure to check under the floor. Unloading equipment is a crucial part of grain storage, and it’s important to make sure it’s ready when you need it. Worn auger flighting can greatly diminish grain quality, so careful inspection is critical.
Inspect your dryer, paying attention to normal wear components such as bearings and belts. Fire up the dryer before putting grain into the bin.
“We consider liquid propane vaporizers a wear item because they are right here in the flame,” Hartwig says. “Take time to fire up the dryer; make sure the heater is going to light.” He also advises checking flame, sensors, and ground wires, and repairing or replacing them, if needed.
Also be sure to test any monitoring equipment in your bins. It’s usually much easier to address issues while bins are empty.
It’s also prudent, Hartwig says, to double-check that all the bins’ bulkhead doors are properly closed. They are part of the structural integrity of the bin itself.
Source: Successful Farming