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Galahad, Alberta | Ed, I realize that I have the advantage of a long cold winter on my side, but the cold is your friend. I like to turn on fans and run them at night, even on dry grain, just to get the heat of the day out of the grain. Taking grain from 30 C down to 15 C makes all the difference in the world. One thing I've seen is bins full of grain still warm from the harvest day will have a lot of condensation on the inside of the roof in the mornings, that drips off and runs down walls, creating a nice environment for spoilage. Cold grain doesn't get condensation like that.
Other tricks are cleaning the bins out spotless, treating the floor and around the doors for bugs BEFORE putting grain in, even treating under the aeration floor. One advertisment up here shows a farmer (with all the safety gear on!!) putting bug killer into his fan while it is running. I Don't know if the bin is full of not, but I'm thinking that it would have to be, or the stuff would be coming out all the holes and cracks. Also treating the last load into a bin will help.
Another thing to watch for is how much green stuff is getting into your grain tank on the combine, and thus providing a heat source latter in the bin.
If you have a full bin that you can't ship or put into another bin, the best trick is to pull a load out of the bin, and when it goes back in, treat it again. Lots of guys here pull some grain out of all their bins as quick as they can ship it, and then consolidate whatever butts are left for holding over through the next crop, again, treating as they fill bins.
Up here, we worry a lot more about our peas and canola spoiling. Again, for me, the best is to turn on the fan on a cold night and blow the heat out. Grain is a great insulater, for keeping heat in or out, and once that core is cooled off, it won't warm up until it is on a boat to some place tropical, and then I really don't care!
Rosco
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How do you guys hold grain for long periods?
