Can you store 20% wheat and 13% canola till spring with airation?

[poorboy]

With nothing harvested and the short days and high humidity in October, I am wondering if tough wheat and canoloa can be stored until spring with only running the fans once in a while?

Saleman for airation says to just bin the tough grain now and run the fan overnight once a week until the grain is at freezing temps and then start the fans again in May and dry the grain. I only have enough power to run 2 fans at once, but could put airation tubes in every bin I have and fill them all with tough grain, assuming that I only need to run the fans overnight once per bin per week.

That way my 2 fans could cool 7 bins each per week for a total of 14 bins.

I would think that this would be ok in Nov because the average temp is much lower than Oct. Not sure if this works for tough grain that goes in the bin at 20C in October.

Anyone have experiences and recommedations on how to handle tough grain with only 2 fans.

[IAMTHEMOLE]

If you have a dry spot anywhere on your farm, I would rather bag it.

[stubblejumper]

http://www.grainscanada.gc.ca/storage-entrepose/ssg-de-eng.htm

[freewheat]

I pasted this from another reply I gave someone on another forum....

Last year I filled 2 7000 bushel flat floor aeration bins. Canola went in at 14% Combined at between 2 and 12 degrees. I had no worries at all. Landlord was hyperventilating daily! Blew air on the clear days, whenever it was cold, and then sporadically through winter to cool it. It went to market in june. Cold, no very cold still. And the moisture? The top 6-800 bushels was around 10.5-11%, but cold. The bins averaged around 9% moisture. I had NO qualms doing this, air flow was excellent through the canola, blew hat of head when checking the top! LOL

If I had a crop this year, and had canola testing 12.5, I wouldn't blink. It would be a go. And to be honest, If it was 10 degrees or lower, it probably wouldn't see air for a few weeks even. I would however use smaller bins in this case, but I would sleep well at night. I had a 3000 bushel bin, NO AIR of canola last year combined at 11.5%. I checked it through the winter to ensure it stopped sweating, and ensure it was cold, it too went to market in june, and guess what the moisture was? 11.5%. The key is to monitor the situation. If you don't you are in trouble.

As well, Canola at 14% and 10 degrees or less, will likely store better than canola at 8% and 25 degrees. I have done this many times, (combined tough canola), but of course I can't tell you what to do. I will say if you have canola which after a rain is 12.5, you can count your blessings. Any here would be 25% BEFORE a rain.

[rook]

My experience with wheat up to 18 is if it's cool going in you'll be all right, but not sure at 20. Take some grain out of the bin to remove the cone on top where it's prone to spoilage. Regarding canola, personally I get nervous with canola even at 9 or 10 but others have said if it's good and cold it should be OK. I would rotate it regularly though to break up potential hot spots.

Plus, make sure you really like switching fans if you plan on moving them that much!

[TOM4CWB]

Poorboy,

I would watch the green seed in your crops like a hawk.

If the grain is not cured out; it stores differently than if it has been dry and the green is gone. Hot and green is the worst!

Temp monitoring systems are the best insurance and sleep enhancers going. Check the core after storage and if it rises over 5 deg from when bin was filled; pull the core out. After 2 weeks the temps should drop down slowly through the fall/winter.

[poorboy]

I do have temp cables, so monitoring the bins will be easy. Hopefully the weather will be nice and the grain will be dry. I am just trying to get a plan b in place.

I know that tough grains were put into bags and bins last year, but that was mainly Nov and winter was only weeks away. Not sure if binning tough grain in late Sept or early Oct is just as easy, or because cooling will be slower that there is more danger now.

I need 2 good weeks with long days to finish my harvest and even then I am not sure if all of my crop is mature. So far I am doubting the long days in Oct. Harvesting from 1pm to 8pm does not get much harvested.

Nice to hear some encouragement from those who have stored lots tough. In a normal year I have a lot of dry grain and a few bins of 16-17%m wheat that easily blends off with my dry.

[poorboy]

Stubblejumper thanks for the link to the storage charts. It is interesting to note that most of the grains will spoil even at 0*C if they are too tough. Canola though is safe to store at very high moisture if the initial temp is under 5*C. I did not know that.

Charts indicate that you use harvested temp and moisture to find safe storage time. Does this mean that if you take that grain and run the fans and cool it, that you move to the new temp and moisture spot on the chart? I am assuming that it does, but not totally sure.

Do round air tubes in the bottom of flat bottom bins work, or does the bottom grain furthest from the air tubes spoil when putting tough grain in the bin.

I have only ever binned 17% wheat and 11% canola, so this all new to me. Sorry about all the questions.

[furrowtickler]

Ask more questions amoung fellow farmers it is the only true response you will get. There are farmers on here that have seen almost everything. Your local, wet behind the ears kid agrologist has not seen ship!!! " It's all about asking the right questions from the right people" IMO

[bgmb]

I am in a similar situation. I was also wondering about the charts, I assume if you cool the grain with air then you would use the cooler temp on the chart?? can anyone shed light on this?

Note in the latest canola digest there is lots of info on storing canola. I love the 9000ac farmer with $2,000,000 invested in storage. That would solve most of my problems haha.

Anyway I've got a 16,000bu bin of canola at 10-12% combined this fall fan has ran constantly since harvest and temp staying low according to cable. I will pull a sample from top tomorrow and test to see where moisture is.

Also I combined two similar sized bins of HRS at 17-20%, again fans started when grain covered the floor. Temps are below 10 everywhere in both bins. Moisture is down to 15.8 on top 15.2 on bottom. 10hp fans.

[furrowtickler]

If your temps stay low keep blowin. We took a load out every 7 days or move completely into anouther bin and keep blowin and movin every 7 - 14 days until dry, it will work with the forcast givin. Good luck.

[Hopperbin]

Bunge today is backed up with .5 million bushels of heated canola. I would say dry it and sell it for 10,50 per bushel while everyone has room. Canola does not aerate well, take it from me, I have some of last years heated canola yet, maybe you can keep it cool maybe not, it may even heat in the spring as your aerating it. Turning on a fan in the spring can be also compared to giving a fire oxygen. Canola does not air well, it is harder to push air through canola, it can get a pocket in it. Plus your driving through water right? Lots of variability in the field. This is going to be a bad year for heated canola again.

[freewheat]

2 000 000 divided by 9 000 equals 222 dollars an acre invested in bins alone. My entire farms investment in all machinery is 128 bucks. Including bins. Quite an investment.