Grain bins

Can't find any info about this. Maybe looking in the wrong place. A little background first:

I want to put some of my corn into a bin to use for feeding out around the place. SHELLED corn, not ear corn. Sometimes my corn may not be as dry as it ought to be for storage. I can take it to the elevator and they will dry my corn and then, of course, give me corn out of the bin that is already dry. I would prefer to keep my corn for a number of reasons not important here.

At what point (in terms of bushels) do I need a dryer? Is there some maximum amount that I can bin up on my place, run fans in the bottom of a perforated floor and run an auger to keep rotating the corn in the bin and let it dry naturally? Or is this not practical? I would not want to keep more than say 5000 bushels. Sorry if this is a stupid question but I just really don't have a lot of experience with this.

Yes it can be done that way fellow i hauled for didnt use any heat just fans and augers but in the spring you need to realy keep contac to make sure its keeping.

Dave,

This is kind of a dangerous question, because the answer will vary a lot on where you live. If you were down state IL, it might work pretty well, most years. A lot depends on moisture at harvest, and then the weather that follows.

Being that you are from MI, you will be "blessed" with higher harvest moistures and later harvests (meaning cool or cold weather for drying in the bin) than say someone in Kansas. This means you will have more moisture to take out, and less ideal weather to do it with. And undried grain in the bin can go bad, meaning it is worthless at the market, poison to your livestock, and dangerous to you unloading it. Every year there are fatalities with grain that has gone out of condition, and someone gets trapped in a bin of moldy corn.

I'm a firm believer in on farm storage and owning your own dryer, but I'm not sure it would be a good fit for you. What are your goals with it? To try to capture better markets- like better basis than what the elevator is paying? To feed your livestock?

I would be primarily feeding it. Might share it with friends who would also be feeding it. I am not a big operation and a lot of my acreage is in hay. 5K bushels is about the most I would ever expect to produce in one year from corn. I have looked at dryers. Everything I look at seems a little large for my needs. The last one I looked at was a brand...something like Tox-o-wik? Thing was most of 15 ft high and on a trailer. That would just barely go under the doors in my shed. Just seemed like a lot of machine for 5000 bushels. I was just hoping that if I split it between a couple bins and kept on a rotation schedule I could get it to dry down without too much risk? Not looking to kill anyone, anything, or burn down the new shed. Tell me my best option and I will listen.

Look for a small "batch" dryer. Not automatic. Portable,dry one batch at a time,empty it out and refill it. Sounds to me like that's the kind of thing you're really looking for.

there are smaller contious flows out there too, to store shelled corn for any length of time it really needs to be dry although with lots of air and careful managment it can keep at higher moistures. humidity, ambient temps are all play a part in it. wouldn't want to get into the warmer months much over 15%

So we are up front about this, what follows is not about economics. If it was, and you had 3000 bu to dry, you'd haul it to the elevator. But I know you went and bought a pretty decent combine... so I'm guessing this isn't an ag econ lecture.

Do you currently have any infrastructure- like an existing bin?

If not, there are at least 3 kinds of in-bin dryers:

1) Traditional bin dryer. Has a gas heater under the floor, and a "stirator" to move the grain around. These have been around forever. The stirators break, and they are not very energy efficient. But would do the job.

2) "Top Dry". Back in the 70s these were popular. The corn dried in the top of the bin, and then was dumped to the bottom where it cooled. The heat rising from the lower pile then helped heat the next pile on top. Used the heat more than once. Required a fair amount of monitoring, but energy efficient. I think GSI still offers this technology.

3) "Shivvers". There have been a number of these put in my neighborhood in the past few years. Kind of a different twist on item 1. Really needs 2 bins, one to recieve the dried corn to work effectively. I've heard mixed reviews on these.

Others- There are other systems using nothing but air out there. In our climate, WI, similar to MI, these are not common. And when you see them, they usually have an electric service that makes natural gas or propane look cheap.

Or there are out of bin dryers:

1) Batch. Drys a set amount of grain at a time. Requires wet grain storage and dry grain storage.

2) Continuous flow. Similar to batch, but as the name implys, a little comes in and out most all the time. Also requires wet and dry storage. This is what we have. Both of these systems have more augers and such, but the augers aren't under a bin floor or somewhere where you can't get to them.

Go talk to some bin dealers. Even if you don't want to buy new, you need some ideas. Or talk to MSU extention. They are free, and there to help you. They are more likely to be of help than a bunch of farmers on the internet!

David the Tox-O-Wik portable dryer would really be a good combination for you. It can dry 500 bushels at a time using just a tractor and propane. You dry and cool it in those batch dryers. IF you take the moisture down to 12.5-13 percent the corn will store easily for 12 months or more on flat storage with out additional aeration. I have a good friend that stores 15000 bushel in his pole barn on just a concrete pad after he dries it in a Tox-O-Wik dryer.

With a bin I would not try to dry corn without heat in your situation.. If you do decide to try it you need to harvest under 20%, more like 18%. Then once you start the fan you have to let it run until the moisture front moves up through the entire bin of corn. The fan will start drying the corn at the bottom ( air floor needed). The released moisture will actually move up the column of corn. Meaning the corn right ahead of this moisture front/line is actually wetter than when you put it in. This layer is usually a few inches thick. With dry corn below and corn still with the harvested moisture above. The drying time involved is depended on the weather and starting moisture of the corn. That can easily be a month.

The reason you do not want to shut off the fan even for rains is the corn at the moisture front can start to heat and then it can spoil an stop the air flow to all the corn above the spoiled spot. So you not only ruin the corn at the front but a column above that spot. With the fan running even during a rain the air flow keeps the corn from spoiling. What little moisture is brought in from any rains will just move up and out quickly with the air flow.

You can tell when your about done by reaching down into the corn from the top. The corn will be lose until you get to the moisture front. Then it will be harder to push through and maybe sticky/wet feeling at the front. You can also probe the corn with a pole and feel the front too.

The danger is that guys try to cheap out and shut the fans off too soon. Also they try to run the fans only when it is "dry". So they start the drying and then stop it by not running the fan long enough.

The long and short of it is drying corn takes time an money. Faster drying takes more money and better equipment. The old saying you can do it quick or cheap but not both really applies here.

I would recommend one of two ways for you.

1) Just buy a batch dryer and dry whatever crop you have right at harvest an be done with it. The bushels in a shorter crop years means less drying. The advantage to this is your not locked into a permanent investment. You can sell/move a batch dryer easier than a bin. The disadvantage is it takes more time and labor at harvest.

2) Buy a smaller bin, 24 footer, with heat and a stirator. You can fill is with your 3000-5000 bushel of corn and start it drying as you harvest. It will be done in 3-4 days with just some daily checking. Then you done until spring warm up requires some aeration. The advantage is quicker harvesting with less labor. The disadvantage is a more permanent investment.

The air drying on the cheap is a disaster waiting to happen for a part timer that lives away from the bin/corn storage.

I did air dry for years. The difference is I was grinding every day out of the bins. This moved the corn all of the time so spoiled spots did not have much time to form. I also was ready at anytime to dump the entire bin if it started to go out of condition. I also made darn sure all air dried corn was moved or fed by April first. The spring and summer humidity and heat can/will cause issues to happen FAST.

You are a whole lot farther north than me, not sure this would work for you. I'm just below I 80. I have a used 5000 bu bin with a Shivvers recirculating auger inside and drying floor and heat. IF the corn dries down decent in the fall AND we have some warm weather, I have put 20% corn in the bin and just run the fan. Corn below 18% will keep until spring OK. When the temp gets about 20°, I'll run the fan for a couple days to freeze the corn. When it warms up in the spring, then I run the fans and keep checking the moisture until it is dry. I always sell by July.
ON the other hand, the Tox o Wick dryer you looked at is a good unit and probably a good option for you. They will dry 500 bushels/batch, you know what the moisture is and it will keep good. Only draw back is it is a recirculating dryer, you need a tractor to run it, fuel & LP and it will crack the corn some, but not so bad as to get a dock if you sell it. In my former life, I had a similiar dryer and dried 10 to 15,000 bu/year with it. Somewhat labor intensive, you will have to babysit the dryer when using it. All around easiest way to go would be a bin with drying floor and heater. Dump in the corn and start the fan and heater and then go combine corn.
I'm paranoid about stored grain, I run the fans way more than necessary, but that way I know the grain keeps OK. I have a neighbor who doesn't want to pay a high electric bill in the fall for the fans running and can't climb the bins to check the corn. He has his kid check the bins and ALWAYS has bad corn in July or August when he sells it. Check the corn in the bin regularly, If the bin was empty and you tossed $20,000 in it and shut the door, wouldn't you look once in a while to make sure it's there?? Chris

All of this can be avoided if you plant a slightly earlier variety than what you could normally produce and let it dry down to 13% in the field and then combine it. The research needs to be done to get a variety with good dry down and excellent standability and ear retention. There is always a risk of it not standing to 13% or of it going down. A down corn reel would then be necessary. Should not be to0 hard to manage 30 acres to get the 5000 bushels you want.

Many thanks for the very detailed responses! I have copied these into a folder on my desktop for future reference. Now I am wishing I had bid on the dryer at the auction. Just wasn't sure how I was going to get the darn thing home as tall as it was. My problems are two fold...one is that I really hate hauling grain on the road. Last year I did it with gravity wagons and a C20 pickup and I thought it might just rip the guts out of the truck. This year I have an honest to gosh grain truck but still not looking forward to the trips. The other issue is that I am giving the elevator some really nice product to bank and getting not so great product when I withdraw. Yes...it is easy. No...it is not cheap and I hate giving them such clean corn and getting back the dusty stuff with all the junk in it. Have to give this some thought and look around at dryers again. Like the man said...if it were easy everyone would do it I guess. Thanks again!

On the Tox-O-Wik you looked at the top auger will unbolt to make it shorter. The bin part is still tall but the auger is not as tall.

BS. Depends where you farm. Southern states, sure, Michigan? no. Northern US you better have drying facilities. One year out of 40+ I could bin it.

Dave- edge of the pic shows my Farm Fans automatic batch dryer- dries 100 bu at a time in about an hr. 1979 model, cost me $2800 in 1988. Ahead of that is a 1600 bu wet bin, so the dryer typically runs til about 3 AM, shuts down when no more corn comes in. It discharges into a 5500 bu dryer bin that I set up in 1976. I quit using the dryer bin cuz of unreliable equipment inside, although I can discharge hot corn into the bin and cool it with the original dryer fan. Just another option for the smaller farmer.

(quoted from post at 20:32:16 05/03/15) BS. Depends where you farm. Southern states, sure, Michigan? no. Northern US you better have drying facilities. One year out of 40+ I could bin it.

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Funny We farm in central Iowa. My Father is a tight wad and hates to pay drying costs. Most of his 1500 acres of corn is within one or 2 points of being able to bin it. He may run some air on it but the on farm dryer hasn't run in a decade. Had a warm wet fall coupled with late planting a couple years ago, bout broke his heart when he got the drying bill. The next year Co-oP's were laying off employee's because almost everyones entire harvest came in dry, cut into their gravy money they make drying corn. It takes management skill that most people ignore, like planting slightly shorter maturity corn and selecting the correct varieties and managing your harvest, like changing fields if one hasn't dried down yet. Should be easy on 30 acres.

One of our neighbors had a top dry system. He liked it very much. He passed away. I think it held about 2500 bu. It was next to a large pole building and the majority of the corn was stored in the barn. He gained the quality but also quanity from storing at grain bank.

Iowa is not Michigan, or WI for that matter. The Great Lakes have enough climate effect that really slows drying. So can an early frost. My in laws farm in central IL, and it is very different there.

In 20 years on the farm, we binned corn once without drying, and that was blended with dry corn. There is a reason hi moisture corn is popular for dairy cows, and why the MC dryer was developed in NE IL.

The teapot dryer will be slow. If you are wanting to get done fast that is not it. I would like to put in a Cal-cu-dri. It is a version of bin dryer with a twist. They pull the dry grain off the bottom and move it to a separate dry bin. This lets you keep dropping wet corn on the top till you are done. It also helps prevent some, heat damage to the grain.
I was working for a guy back years ago that had one in a 30 ft bin. If we started it with about a foot to 2 feet in the bin it would keep up with an 88202 with 8 row head in 150bu. corn.
We have a tox-o-wik dryer it is a 350 model have had it for 40 years. If it sets outside the bottom will rot out and the bottom bearing will be your issue with it. Take the belt of the bottom and see if it will wiggle if so the bearing is out and will need replaced. There is a rubber plate like that goes in over the bearing to keep the corn out of the bearing oil seal. If it is not there the bearing will not last. Also the chain inside of the plenum will need oiled. We oiled ours each batch. Greased it each batch also. If the chain is oiled before starting each batch and the little chain tightener on the stirer is greased when empty each time the rest other than the pto shaft can be greased while it is running. The top auger bearing we used to grease after filling. I would put a grease hose on it if I had to do over. That was 30 years ago though. I would not try to dry corn in MI with just air. I live about 30 miles north of you. Owosso.

Dave,I'am not saying yes or no on these,but check out C M C Grain Drying Systems.It is made in ND.High Pressure air only.

I'm in iowa and its a lot different where you are at than where I'm at . That being said , I run a 30 x18 foot bin 10000 bushels,8 years out of ten just air. Bin has burner and stirator. Need it about 2 out of 10. A 24 foot bin would be perfect for5000 bushel. When I put up mine I got an over sized fan (15hp) stirator, but not burner, could be added latter. Used it for6 years just air.2009,wet corn
Added burner . Bin company had it on in 5 days from ordering.
Plan on wet corn, if it's dry out of field it's just a bonus. Also plant 3 to4 day shorter corn. Good luck.

Good looking old AC 100 with looks like the 3' extension on platform to make it a 12' machine. Also a pickup attachment. Around here in Ohio the machine did not have the capacity for the extension and pickups like that were never used.