The grain bagging trend continues to gain momentum in the United States, where farmers handle massive volumes of corn.
Although Canadian farmers don’t grow nearly as much corn, the grain bagging trend is also gaining momentum here. The reason: conventional grain storage typically costs $2 per bushel. Bagging grain costs about 10 cents per bu.
About 15,000 bags are loaded every autumn across the Prairies.
George Adair, western Canadian representative for Loftness Grain Bag Storage Systems, said the bags are used mainly for small grains and specialty crops.
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“The prairie situation is that a lot of farmers are expanding and leasing land,” said Adair, based in Swift Current, Sask.
“The old bins on this expansion land are of little value. Dealing with all those little 5,000 bu. bins spread across the Prairies isn’t convenient, especially when you consider that a single grain bag can hold 12,000 bu..
“It’s a lot more efficient to bag in the field and save the cost of trucking grain back to your main farm yard.”
He said farmers can place the bags near fields where they are working and cut down on hauling.
Kevin Fuchs of Young’s Equipment in Regina said the widely dispersed, older, smaller bins often are more of a nuisance than an asset for producers on leased land.
“Grain bagging has really taken over with the guys who are leasing land. It just doesn’t make economic sense for them to invest in permanent grain bins on leased land or back at the home yard,” he said.
Fuchs sells three different brands of bagging equipment.
He said he recently sold a Loftness system for about $75,000, which included the loader, unloader and truck auger, which can be used repeatedly to fill bags.
The customer, he said, had recently priced a 25,000 bu. bin, set up on his yard with concrete and the floor ready for aeration at $54,000.
“That works out to $2 a bushel.”
Fuchs said the beauty of a grain bagging system is flexibility.
Once the bagging equipment is amortized, the only costs are the bags.
Young’s sells a 10 foot by 300 foot poly bag made of 9.5 mil material for $970. They sell bags made in China, Argentina, the U.S. and Canada.
“Some years you might do 10 bags. The next year might be a bumper crop or you get into some good leased land and you do 60 bags.
“I’d say over three quarters of our customers who bought baggers are also running grain carts. That makes for a very fast, efficient system. It keeps your combines running and keeps the semis out of the field.”
Down side of bagging
Bagging grain isn’t all a bed of roses. Polyethylene that’s only 9.5 ml thick doesn’t stand up to attacks from the sharp teeth of rats and mice.
Grain bags out in the field are not likely to get a daily inspection. Once the first rodent hole is made, the situation can get out of hand. Farmers should monitor bags for holes and any spoilage or other losses that could occur due to the holes.
Wet grain is another consideration. Although the advertising literature from all grain bagging companies suggests grain can go into a bag at a higher moisture content than grain going into a bin, Fuchs isn’t sure.
“We like to see guys put the grain in dry, but there’s always situations where guys have no choice but to bend the rules. In the right year, you can bag tough grain and it will freeze up right away. No issues.”
Fuchs said farmers who bag tough grain and then get a thaw will get heating. There’s no way to aerate or cool or dry that grain unless they take it out and haul it home.
“I tell guys, ‘look, you’re putting tough grain into a sealed environment. Would you put that same grain into a sealed fertilizer bin?’ ”
Adair added that accessing the bags in the middle of a Canadian winter is not a problem once the snow is moved out of the way.
Design benefits
Loftness co-owner Dave Nelson said the company is targetting the sales that had previously been going to grain bagging systems imported from South America.
“We set out to design equipment that’s heavier, stronger and capable of handling more horsepower – more capacity,” said Nelson, speaking from the Loftness factory in Hector, Minnesota.
“Plus we use off-the-shelf North American parts.”
Nelson said the problem in the past with bagging systems has been removing the grain later.
“I think REM up in Canada started building grain baggers about 20 years ago. But the problem has always been getting it out. Grain vacs just don’t do an effective or efficient job of that.
“That’s the most important thing we’ve brought to farmers – an unloader that really works.
“Our GBU Grain Bag Unloader augers out at a rate up to 8,500 bu. per hour. With corn, that’s 1,000 bu. in seven minutes. And it rolls the bag up as it empties. There’s a hydraulic roller drive to give you more precise roll-up control.”
The Loftness bagger handles only 10 foot diameter bags, but the Unloader is designed to handle nine and 10 foot bags.
The 10 inch cross auger has a disengaging clutch. The 17 inch main auger is mounted at a 50 degree angle for better reach.
