Foundation for round corn crib

I'm putting up a 14 foot diameter wire corn crib and want to raise the base up about 24 inches from ground level to make it easier to get the corn into my feed grinder hopper. Corn drags are not seen around here and shoveling was easier when I was 25 years old. What type of platform should I set the crib on? Concrete piers with a wooden deck? Railroad ties that are stacked in a crisscrossing pattern?

I would strongly suggest solid concrete like is used for a grain bin. One reason would be to reduce rodent problems. the second is, that shoveling ear corn off an uneven wooden floor is not fun. do it once and do it right.

One answer needed. How long in how many years are you planning on using it? 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 25 years or more? Have no Idea your age as to how long you might want to be doing it. Then again how long will you be able to have a corn picker for ear corn? If you can be assured that you would be using it for long enough to pay then go with the concrete floor. Otherwise make a wood floor as if in ten years you are no longer able to pick the corn due to either not being able to have a picker or your age then think about having that big block of concrete removed and the problems involved. Find a corn drag someplace even if you have to drive 300 mile to get it, to save your back it is well worth it. I have both back and heart problems so I know what they are. Make the floor so you can just slide the drag in under the opening with the opening in the floor 3" narrower on each side so ears cannot fall out of the sides of the drag when you lift individual boards up to let all the corn roll by itself that you can. Opening for corn to drop in drag needs to be 6" narrower than drag. Most concrete crib floors were not made like this then you could not get the drag out if a chain broke to repair it and then get it back in. Then it would be easy to just use a rake to roll most of the corn down to the drag. You would set the drag once and leave it. You should consider instead of a 14' crib 2 smaller ones as even with a vent tube up the middle you will have spoiled corn in the middle as you will never get it dry enough picking to keep and with that thick of stack of corn it will not let the air move thru to keep the corn from spoiling. AS for something to set it up on just use concrete blocks. I have 2 cribs set up like that but have not been used for years as no longer farming. One is 10' perferated metal and the other is a 12" wire crib. The problem is over the years and ground getting soft the blocks have started to roll over and fall out .They were just layed 2 side by side and stacked one on top of anouther. What was not avaible but is now from Menards, possible other places are formed concrete blocks either 2 or 2 1/2' square and 2-2 1/2" thick that put down first would have given a more stable base to make a concrete block pier on top of. Also grade a good solid firm level base to set crib on, I did not have that. Also use those type of blocks for a floor under the drag so it is not setting directly on the ground to rust out and also for more ease of removing and putting back the drag if needed to be. I have never been to NY but I am sure that you do not have the best corn dry down in the field so 2 10' cribs would be a lot better than a 14' crib just due to the weather. And then if you did not completely enpty it before harvest you would have to put wet corn on top of the dry corn and that is not good for 2 reasons. the rodents mentioned will make a complete mess in the old corn and spoil it but with the taper of the pile putting new corn on top it would be putting a lot of sideways pressure on the crib from not being able to fill it evenly. I am in western Ohio and I do have a decent drag I would like to get rid of cheap, also would like to get rid of the cribs. There are a lot of concrete crib, bin, silo, bases around that things have been removed from but should be remover also but how to remove that big solid chunk of cement, that would be a big expence. That is why no new silos have been put up in the last 20 years, all just use the bags as if and when most dairies quit with operator in 50's they just don't want the things any more. Much more to think about than you are because of the future. The newest pickers out there are what 30 years old now so how long will you even be able to pick ear corn unless you plan on shucking it by hand and you could not do it fast enough to do the feeding. Know it is discouriging to think about but you need to think thru all of these factors. In Ohio the corn would not keep in that size crib. You could also make your own blocks the 2.5' square and later use them for a sidewalk if no longer having the crib. Long but think thru all I have said before starting.

A concrete circle is the only real solution.

Paul

This is how it's done when you're 60 and still fooling with ear corn. lol
A corn drag and power corn rake are both getting to be awful hard to come by. There was a corn drag on Northern Michigan CL a few weeks ago for $175. I would imagine it went fast.

Use concrete. You will be much happier.

Whatever you do, don't pour a square pad for a round bin. You'll never hear the end of it.

If your in it for the long haul then concrete is the only way to go. We poured our pad 20 something years ago. Made it 8 sided with a trough for the drag and to get air circulation through the center we put a grate in the center and boards the rest of the way and of course there's a step in the concrete to hold the boards in place. Only spoilage we get is on the outside bottom, none in the center.

Thank you for the replies. I'll go with concrete and keep my eyes open for a corn drag. Do it right the first time and it will save me years of headaches.

How in heck do you keep the rodents out of that one ? We would have rats like crazy with one of those around. Farmer/friend neighbor had a round one with the cone shaped roof, not sure what he use ear corn for, had to be the dairy herd in those days. He did a lot of sileage, and some picking with a 2 row NI picker. Never had a chance to ask him before he passed.

Cats. Lots and lots of cats.

Gotcha, yes they can be effective, sometimes not, I had a bunch of strays around here, have not seen a one of them after this harsh winter though.

We had a rat terrier here who'd put any cat to shame. She was around for a lot of years,finally died of old age. We got her because there was distemper or something in the cats. We had two that were immune to whatever it was,but any new ones that were born here or wandered in,died in pretty short order. It took quite a few years to get beyond that.

My dad had 5 round cribs back in the day. He ground cattle feed from 2 of them and sometimes part of a 3rd. The others got shelled out.

Any rate, 3 of them were on concrete pads like a grain bin. 2 we'd have to build a "tunnel" from 2 courses of set in place concrete blocks and planks down the center for the vertical ventilator. Those got emptied via shovel into the feed mixer and the tunnel dismantled as it went. If there was any corn in there past early spring rains, we'd have rotten stuff along the bottom and does that stink! Dad saw the setup a farm some miles away had and when the last 2 cribs were setup he had that duplicated. There base was made of 3 rows of concrete block piers or foundation walls in a square and a wood platform on top of that with the wire crib set on top. The advantage of this was the cobs on the bottom around the edge would dry out from the cracks between the planks and air flow through the spaces between the "walls". We had almost no rotten cobs with those cribs.

round concrete with a higher center