Temporary Ear Corn Storage Question

Super-H-Mike · Oct 23, 2015

I am thinking about making a small temporary corn crib out of snow fence for the extra corn I have this year. This used to be pretty common around here . My question is whether to cover it with a tarp or not. I dont recall they were ever covered . Is there a reason for that ? Does the corn do better uncovered ?

RLA · Oct 23, 2015

I don't have clue where you are, But in Pa it would be cover'd
But I would give is ALOT of AIR Space.

Brendon Warren · Oct 23, 2015

My Amish neighbor has a crib made from concrete wire panels. His is covered.

Tim(nj) · Oct 23, 2015

If I have to do that, I put some perforated drain pipe across the bottom and then connect it with a tee to a vertical piece of perforated pipe in the middle. Put a cap on the vertical piece so corn doesn't get in there when filling. I then cover it. I would imagine in places where it gets cold and stays cold all winter and only snow will cover the pile you wouldn't need to cover it. Here, we could get rain in the winter, or snow, or snow then melt then freeze again, so the cover is a must.

jon f mn · Oct 23, 2015

We used those when I was a kid. We never covered them and we always used them up first. We used to have a row of 8 or 10 of them and they were always 3 fences high. This was on top of our long crib and some years we also had a pile.

rustyfarmall · Oct 23, 2015

(quoted from post at 07:26:40 10/23/15) I am thinking about making a small temporary corn crib out of snow fence for the extra corn I have this year. This used to be pretty common around here . My question is whether to cover it with a tarp or not. I dont recall they were ever covered . Is there a reason for that ? Does the corn do better uncovered ?

Standard procedure when I was a kid. Lay down some 1x12s for a floor, set a couple of poles to provide a door, and then stand the slat cribbing up in a circle. Fill that circle, and then make another circle on top. Add a third circle if needed. We never covered it.

You could also lay down some used barn tin instead of the 1x12s.

LA in WI · Oct 23, 2015

These are all good suggestions; we also made cribs out of "picket fences". When setting the poles for the door, leave the space between the poles at about 4 feet so you can easily get into the interior area when you are emptying or shelling out the crib. In Iowa we shelled those cribs in mid-winter. Uncovered and no spoilage. Funny how it was always -20F the day the custom sheller guy showed up.

You can close the 4 ft space with scrap boards nailed to the poles. Some people nailed them on the inside of the poles for maximum holding, we nailed them on the outside for easier removal as we shelled out the crib.

As a kid, the most exciting part was as we got to the bottom of the crib the rats started running; our terrier dog was faster than the rats!
LA in WI

rrlund · Oct 23, 2015

I've done it a lot. I still have one round crib here without a roof. Do NOT cover it with plastic. It'll hold the moisture and rot. Moisture from the corn will condense on the inside of the plastic and constantly rain back down on the corn. I've piled as much as 35 loads on the ground before,right out in the open and didn't cover it. It took until late April one year to use it all up. I didn't loose any of it to spoilage.

IowaJohn · Oct 23, 2015

If you're going to shell it later or use a drag feed into your grinder, you will want to, if you have them put some tunnels down the center so you can get a drag feed thru there. I realize probably most of the tunnels have been scrapped but if you have some or you can lay bridge planks on edge and nail 1x4's or 1x6's across the top wide enough for a drag feed spaced so that the ears don't fall thru.

rrlund · Oct 23, 2015

I've found over the years that the best way is actually to just forget the snow fence. Pile it on the ground,load it back in a wagon with the loader and grind it out of the wagon. The snow fence just gets in the way.

paul · Oct 23, 2015

In a cold northern climate like here in MN, not covered if you plan to grind it and feed it and its gone before May.

Covered if you want to shell it for grain or store it into summer, but you wouldn't want to store it into summer anyhow on the ground.....

The sides need the cribbing effect to allow airflow.

Often the center column where the elevator dumps gets packed with loose kernels and that may spoil pretty easily as it doesn't flow air in that core. Not an issue for grinding out over the winter as you get the pile to move a bit every week; but something to watch if you plan to store until spring and then shell out for good grain.....

Paul

Bill in IL · Oct 23, 2015

I remember killing 52 mice one day cleaning up a small probably 12 foot diameter snowfence crib.

ss55 · Oct 23, 2015

Those snow fence corn piles were common in Iowa into the 1970's. Very few were covered, most were emptied before the ground thawed in March. A drag tunnel for a corn sheller drag doubles as an air duct under the center of the pile aid drying. The steel wire tunnels were nice to work with. A wood floor under the pile makes scooping much easier and more of the loose kernels can be recovered.

Temporary Ear Corn Storage Question

Super-H-Mike

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RLA

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Brendon Warren

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Tim(nj)

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jon f mn

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rustyfarmall

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LA in WI

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rrlund

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IowaJohn

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rrlund

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paul

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Bill in IL

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ss55

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