- Scott Sanford
is a distinguished
Outreach Specialist
with the Extension
Ag, Engineering
at the UW-Wisconsin,
in the Biological
Systems Engineering.
Scott is a lead rural
energy program person,
and they look at ways
to reduce energy usage,
increase energy utilization
and agricultural enterprises,
and produce renewable energy.
So, Scott has had a
very diverse background.
He came out of the Hudson
Valley of New York.
Grew up there.
Got a bachelor's degree
and a master's degree
from Cornell University,
and then spent 17 years in
the dairy equipment industry.
So, he worked for a
number of different
dairy equipment companies
in private sector,
and is now involved,
has been at the
UW-Madison since 2002,
and works in many
aspects of agriculture:
working the energy side,
working with dairy farmers
and renewable fuels,
and most recently,
has been on the board
for the Wisconsin
Farm Technology Days.
Please welcome Scott,
Scott Sanford, thank you.
(audience applauds)
- Morning.
So, my task this morning
is we're gonna talk about
managing grain and storage.
I'm gonna talk about
the mechanical side,
and PJ, who's gonna follow me,
is gonna talk about
the buggy side.
I thought that'd get a rise.
Anyway...
So with storage there's...
six things that can cause
problems in storage.
The first is having too many
fines and foreign matter,
so, when you put it in I
always recommend screening,
and we'll talk a
little more about that.
The other is too warm.
We've gotta keep it within
a few degrees of the
outdoor temperature.
One, so it doesn't sweat,
but also the colder we can
get it the longer it'll last.
Too wet.
If we get too wet,
that's obvious, we're
gonna get heating.
Uneven grain temperatures.
You can get convection
currents within the grain bin,
which can lead to
problems in there.
And then the
storage not cleaned,
and this is where the
buggy part comes in.
We need to sanitize
that, or clean that,
between grain crops,
basically to reduce our load.
And then the other is
just not checking the
grain often enough.
If we check it, we
can find out problems,
we can mitigate 'em.
But if we never look at it,
then you're not gonna know
that you have a problem.
So, the first is too
much foreign matter.
So, I recommend screening
before you dry it.
So, screening it
before you put it in.
A lot of people don't do that.
It's hard to separate
out the bee's wings,
'cause they kinda
stick to the corn,
but if you can get as
much as you can out,
that can be very helpful.
Then, the other would be,
if you're using a separate
dryer from your bin,
to screen it before you
put it into storage.
And a lot of people do that.
Because the fines
are what attract,
one, it reduces airflow,
but it's also the
place where the bugs,
if you got cracked
kernels and stuff,
some bugs can't get
through the endosperm...
of the corn unless it's cracked.
So, you can starve 'em if
you don't have as many fines,
and PJ will talk
more about that.
Now, on the other
hand, what we can do is
put a spreader in there to
spread the fines out evenly.
That way the airflow is
not impeded in one spot,
because if we get one spot
that doesn't get the airflow,
that's usually where the
problems are gonna be.
So, it has to do
with airflow also,
as well as basically getting
the foreign matter out of there.
Grain too warm.
We'd really like it to be within
10 to 15 degrees of the
average outdoor temperature.
And this is basically
so it doesn't sweat,
especially on the
walls of the bin.
And that's tough some days.
And that's the average
daily temperature,
not the peaks and valleys.
But try to get it close to that,
and so you gotta look at the
forecasts and kinda plan ahead.
For summer storage
in the Upper Midwest
we'd like to keep
it at 50 degrees,
and that can be tough.
If you're gonna keep
it through the summer
you may have to do some
nighttime aeration,
when the air is colder.
Southern US, we can
go a little higher,
basically 'cause we're not gonna
be able to keep it that cool.
For wintertime, depending on
where you are in Wisconsin,
basically if you can get it down
around freezing that's optimal.
With December this year that was
maybe a little tougher
than a normal year.
But, trying to get
the temperature down.
And we usually do that in steps.
So here's kind of a pictorial
of what the suggested
wintertime temperatures are,
depending on where you
are in the Upper Midwest.
To do that temperature
we can use probes.
So this is a manual probe,
you can walk out an
push into the grain.
They come in different lengths.
The other is to put a
temperature cable in there,
so you can see the grain at
different levels in the bin,
versus just the top,
whatever you can reach.
One of the issues here is:
To find a problem it can be only
a couple degrees difference
that you may see,
between every two
weeks or every month,
temperature change that
may indicate a problem.
'Cause one of the
problems is corn
doesn't conduct heat very well.
So, your problem if it's
away from that sensor,
it may be only a few degrees
temperature difference over time
that may indicate a problem.
So, typically what
you're gonna do is,
you need to keep
track of your data.
On a month, every time you
go out and measure that,
you keep track of your data,
and look for changes.
And this top one, seven and
eight aren't in the grain,
they're above the grain level,
but you can see on the second
one I've got the red marks.
The five six, or,
four, five, and six.
That indicates that a...
a case where we've got
some rising temperatures.
And you can see, they're subtle,
but that would indicate that
we've got a hot-spot
in there someplace.
So if we have a hot-spot
we need to aerate
to try to mitigate that.
The maximum grain temperature,
or grain moisture percentage,
recommended for
grains will depend on
how long you're gonna keep it.
And you have to think about
the end user, not just you.
You may only be keeping
it for six months,
but if the next
guy's gonna keep it
for another six months, you
gotta look at that
to figure out where
you need to put it.
So, typically with corn,
if we get it down to 15%,
that's up to six months,
so if we sell it by
May, May or June,
if we're gonna
keep it past that,
we need to get that down to
14% when we put it in storage.
And if we're gonna keep
it longer than that,
we wanna bring it down to 13%.
And that gives some safety
factor to make it last.
So, I talked about uneven
grain temperatures,
convection currents.
You can get those, 'cause we
got cooling on the outside,
so you get airflows
in the grain.
And what'll happen is we'll
get this temperature rise
through the middle of the grain,
and we'll get a
moisture accumulation
right in the center,
that's on the top,
and that's usually where
you have the problem
if you're gonna have a problem.
'Cause that's usually where a
lot of the fines are as well.
So this is one reason we want to
try to get rid of those fines.
And another way to get rid of
the fines is to core it out.
So, after you fill the
bin you core it out.
You take some grain
out and you could...
screen that and put it
back in a bin or use it.
But that can be another
problem, the cool temperatures.
Especially, we're
having really cold now,
it's gonna get warm
the next couple days,
and then it's gonna
cool down again.
So all that kind of weather
will cause some convection
currents within the grain.
So aeration is the...
best method to solve
some of these problems.
And, basically we
want a level surface
on the top of the grain.
If we don't have a level surface
we're gonna get shortcutting.
So, if you've got
high in the middle
and low in the sides you're
gonna get more airflow
through the grain, the
low part of the pack
than the high part of the pack.
Aeration...
The rate, or the cfm per
bushel is gonna dictate
how fast you can cool the grain.
More is usually better.
So you can take advantage of
cool nights, for instance.
So, here's an example.
If we've got 0.05
cfm's per bushel
it's gonna take us 208 hours
versus 140 if we double that.
Typically to get
the cooling front,
or warming front, depending
on what time of year it is,
to go through the grain.
Typically we're
recommending 0.1,
but a little higher
wouldn't be bad either.
And as I said,
higher airflow rates
can take advantage of
short term cold temperatures.
The other recommendation is
to cover the fans
to keep rodents out,
and it'll reduce convection
currents within the grain.
So they do make covers
that you can put over,
or you can make your own,
just a plastic sheet,
with some kind of band around
the outside, to cover that up.
So, when you go to
change a temperature,
you're gonna start the air,
and you're gonna
get a cooling front
that's gonna go up
through that grain pack.
And it doesn't matter
which way your fan is,
some are negative pressure
some are positive pressure,
but it's gonna push
the air through that,
so that air front's either
gonna come up or down,
depending on which
way your airflow is.
So this is gonna be a typical
setting from the fall,
so you're gonna dry this or
cool this corn down in steps.
So this is showing 150
hours to cool the grains.
You're gonna come down
in steps as you get down,
and when you get down to
December it should be cool,
hopefully we had cooler
weather than this year.
you'll get it down and cool it,
and then it'll basically
maintain it through the winter.
So, here it is, looking at
how it affects the bug issues.
So, and I'm sure PJ is gonna
dwell on this some more,
but when we get above 70,
we're optimal for insects,
molds, and spoilage.
If we get it down below 70,
you reduce insect reproduction.
Below 50, insects
start to go dormant.
And if we get down to
around the 32 degree mark,
basically most insects won't
last through the winter there.
PJ's gonna go through
this a little more,
but it's important that
we clean out the bins.
Basically to...
try not to reinfect the bins.
Temperature controls and fans.
There are all kinds of
computerized controls,
or you can do manually.
We can have thermostats with...
Well, one thing I
recommend is you
put an hour meter on your fans,
so you know how
many hours it's run.
That'll give you better feedback
on how long it's run and where
the cooling front might
be in your grain pack.
They also have
computerized controls
that'll look at the temperature
and stuff, and the humidity,
and turn the fans on when
it's optimal for cooling.
Or, if you're trying
to dry something,
that'd be the other thing,
if you're trying to
take some moisture out.
And they have systems that'll
control multiple bins and stuff.
So, that's another example of
technology you can use
to make your job easier.
So here's kind of a checklist:
Warm weather, we want to check
it every one to two weeks,
and cold weather every
three to four weeks.
Want to turn the
aeration fans on.
Ensure they're running properly,
ensure we got static pressure.
You should have a
static pressure gauge
someplace in the system,
so you can make sure
you're getting good airflow
and there's no shortcuts.
Climb up and look
inside the bin.
Are we getting condensation
under the roof?
Wet, we have snow cover.
If you got some snow in there
you may have to run the
fans to drive off that snow.
Check for odors.
That's an indication
of mold or spoilage.
Look for crusting.
And measure the temperature
at several locations,
if you don't have the
temperature cables.
Look for signs of
insect activity.
Log things.
You might remember
there are bugs in there,
but did that happen a
week ago, two weeks ago,
or six weeks ago?
Things have a way of
escaping us as far as time,
so, recording that's good.
And then you can compare,
it allows you to compare
readings and findings
from this year,
but also in successive
years as well.
And then take any
corrective action
and then record that as well,
so you know what you did
to solve the problem,
and indicate whether
it actually solved it.
Here's a new technology
that's out there,
I thought I'd throw
a slide in for this.
It's using ozone
for grain treatment.
Ozone is a great use
for killing things,
basically oxidizes things.
So, that's a technology that
is kinda new in the market.
It doesn't have residual
base, but it can help.
I know the potato growers
are using it in potatoes.
We use it in hot
tubs, we use it in...
I think the organic growers
can use ozone for...
purifying water.
So it's a great option.
But probably not cheap.
So yeah, it can kill bacteria,
or insects, we don't
worry about bacteria.
It claims to be able to
reduce microtoxin levels,
stop mold growth,
but it won't stop heating.
Basically, that's
usually a moisture issue.
The other thing I want to
remind people is safety.
We have people get killed
in bins every year,
because they don't adhere
to safety protocols.
Basically lock out your
controls before you go in,
so nobody can start it
while you're in there.
If you've already
cored out and stuff,
be aware there could be cavities
that you could fall into.
It's recommended use a
harness and a respirator,
in case there's mold in there.
And if you have to go in,
make sure you got
somebody else there.
And let me point out,
tying a rope on you,
and having somebody tying it
to the edge isn't gonna help.
All it's gonna do is help
the rescuers find out,
they can follow the rope to you.
You need a harness with
something that's gonna
hold you up if...
what you're walking on
collapses underneath your feet.
So here are some resources.
One of the best
resources is this,
Managing Dry Grain in Storage.
It's a Midwest Plan
Service publication.
And then they have
a series of others,
but that one specifically
covers what we covered today.
And there's a few others
on here that I put,
and I think they're in
the publication as well.
And here's some stuff
about the ozone treatment,
so some of the papers that
are out there that you might
refer if you wanna read
some more on that topic.
So, with that.
We have any questions?
(audience applauds)