Saskfarmer and others who have older cheaper grain handling set ups that are only for occasional use, what does your set up look like and what would you change? I have a 40 year old vertec dryer that almost never gets used as I have no real setup for it and normally I never need it as I live East of Calgary and mother nature usually gets the job done. None of the grain terminals here have driers as usually they are not needed. Aeration has been king here, not so much for drying grain, but for keeping grain storeable till it can be hauled and blended with dry grain at the terminal.
With the possibility of preharvest roundup disappearing and looking to grow more malt barley, it looks like I could use a grain dryer to add a few harvest days every year to get going quicker after a rain.
Saskfarmer you have posted pictures lately of your grain cart in front of your dryer. Is it just a large wet bin and then a single dry bin that you empty as needed? I assume you have a 5-10,000 bushel wet bin and then a 10,000+ bushel dry bin? What ratio of wet bin to dry bin is needed? I am thinking that ideally I would need something that would allow me to combine wheat at 16-18% moisture, with 2 combines and thresh for 7 hours, then continue the next day or hopefully then the grain will be dry (in normal harvest). I assume that someone keeps emptying the dry bin all day and then overnight the automatic dryer will either run till the dry bin is full or the wet bin is empty.
With this years crappy harvest weather, I am thinking about setting up the 40 year old vertec dryer that I have on a cement pad and hoping to get it handy enough to use a little bit every year or every second year. Thinking 35,000 bushels a year max. All of my bins are in a straight row now and I could possibly set up a dryer permanently behind the row. Will have to remain a simple auger set up as I don't have the desire or resources to build a fancy grain handling set up. Moving grain away from the dryer will be a pain in the butt, but perhaps if set up correctly is could be done every morning before the combines start threshing. In the future perhaps I move up to a newer dryer.
I would like the system to be able to run a few hours into the night on its own with out babysitting. Perhaps security cameras could be set up to monitor from the house?
Currently the old dryer was set up to pull out of a 1700 bushel wet bin and dump into a 5000 bushel flat bottom bin. How much wet bin storage do 2 combines need for September harvesting and how much dry bin storage if it gets emptied every morning and little bit during the day during combining?
With the possibility of preharvest roundup disappearing and looking to grow more malt barley, it looks like I could use a grain dryer to add a few harvest days every year to get going quicker after a rain.
Saskfarmer you have posted pictures lately of your grain cart in front of your dryer. Is it just a large wet bin and then a single dry bin that you empty as needed? I assume you have a 5-10,000 bushel wet bin and then a 10,000+ bushel dry bin? What ratio of wet bin to dry bin is needed? I am thinking that ideally I would need something that would allow me to combine wheat at 16-18% moisture, with 2 combines and thresh for 7 hours, then continue the next day or hopefully then the grain will be dry (in normal harvest). I assume that someone keeps emptying the dry bin all day and then overnight the automatic dryer will either run till the dry bin is full or the wet bin is empty.
With this years crappy harvest weather, I am thinking about setting up the 40 year old vertec dryer that I have on a cement pad and hoping to get it handy enough to use a little bit every year or every second year. Thinking 35,000 bushels a year max. All of my bins are in a straight row now and I could possibly set up a dryer permanently behind the row. Will have to remain a simple auger set up as I don't have the desire or resources to build a fancy grain handling set up. Moving grain away from the dryer will be a pain in the butt, but perhaps if set up correctly is could be done every morning before the combines start threshing. In the future perhaps I move up to a newer dryer.
I would like the system to be able to run a few hours into the night on its own with out babysitting. Perhaps security cameras could be set up to monitor from the house?
Currently the old dryer was set up to pull out of a 1700 bushel wet bin and dump into a 5000 bushel flat bottom bin. How much wet bin storage do 2 combines need for September harvesting and how much dry bin storage if it gets emptied every morning and little bit during the day during combining?
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