Producers should keep their pencils sharp when planning to dry crops this fall, says Ed Tanner of Saskatchewan Agriculture in Tisdale.
“First get out pen and paper, put some fresh batteries in the calculator and figure out how to keep those costs down,” he said about the vast amounts of wet and frozen grain that will be harvested in the coming weeks.
Tanner said producers should service their aeration bins and dryers now to avoid delays and spoiled grain once harvest gets under way in earnest.
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Bill Greuel of Saskatchewan Agriculture in Regina suggested producers also arrange for propane tanks and a supply of gas.
Tanner said supply might sound like a small issue now, “but you don’t want to be the last guy looking for a propane tank and somebody to fill it.”
He said farmers who can’t make the price of drying work on paper should look for livestock markets.
“Work those phones and maybe you can move the worst of the grain before you have to burn up some gas on it.”
If the feed grain market fails to take the bulk of the wet harvest, Tanner said calculations may show that drying at a local grain terminal is cheaper than operating on-farm dryers and long-term fans.
Bins should be cleaned and sealed to reduce insect and disease contamination of moist grain.
Rotary screening or other rough cleaning techniques that remove dockage make grain easier to dry by lowering density and overall moisture.
Greuel said dockage is generally two or three percentage points more moist than the grain.
“With oilseeds it can be very tough to get a clean sample after a frost because the seed coats break down and stick to the pods or balls (dockage),” he said.
Wet grain is easier to store in colder temperatures. Cereals harvested at 20 percent moisture can on average be safely stored for 40 to 60 days at a grain temperature of 10 C. However, when the temperature increases to 15 C, storage times fall to 20 to 30 days. At 18 percent moisture and 5 C, cereals can be stored for 80 to 120 days. At 20 C they are safe for only 10 or 15 days.
Fans need to operate as soon as there is enough grain in a bin to practically do so.
Fans alone will often maintain grain condition, but drying efficiency drops as temperatures fall.
Once a bin is filled, a few hundred bushels should be removed and put back in at the top to create an air flow tunnel and break up dockage caps that build up during filling.
Edger Harder, a farmer from Denholm, Sask., and a grain-drying consultant for the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, said natural air drying is best done when outdoor temperatures are higher and humidity is low.
He said fan capacity in the bin should be one to two cubic feet per minute per bushel to achieve reasonable drying.
He also recommended farmers use a manometer to measure bins’ static pressure as they are filled to maintain adequate airflow while drying.
Producers can build their own manometer using plans from the Ontario Agriculture, which are available at www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/crops/pub811/11mano.htm.
“Every fan and bin combination has a point at which the pressure drops off,” Harder said. “Four to six inches of pressure usually. Fill until you reach that point and stop.”
Gas-fired burners can be added to the fans to aid drying, but temperature needs to be maintained at no more than 16 C above ambient temperature to ensure even drying.
Turning grain with bin-stirring devices or augers will help the drying process and avoid overdrying of grain at the bottom of a bin.
Tanner said whenever heat is added producers should monitor the bins at least twice a day.
Minimum air temperature entering the dryer bin should not fall below five C and exiting air shouldn’t exceed 24 C.
Whenever heaters are used on aeration bins, fans should remain on for several hours after the heat is switched off to safely reduce hot spots in the stored grain.
Solar heaters can also increase air temperatures on cold fall days, improving the overall efficiency of the dryer bin.
Hot air grain dryers or custom drying can save grain grades, but capital costs of farm-owned equipment need to be considered, Harder said.
“If you have a terminal nearby, it will probably cost (four to six cents per bu. to dry most grains) per point of moisture reduced,” Harder said.
“If you can move grain right off the farm to the terminal for custom drying, it is often cheaper than any other alternative, especially if it saves a grade.”
On Sept. 17 Harder was still harvesting malt barley at 16 percent moisture and was optimistic about its germination and acceptance.
“With seed or malt you have to be careful not to overdry.”
Erin Armstrong of the Brewing and Malting Research Institute in Winnipeg agreed.
“A maximum 13.5 percent moisture is needed for good quality malt with a germination of 95 percent or more.”
She said drying temperatures for malting barley should never exceed 43 C and handling should be kept to a minimum to prevent seed damage.
For seed use, wheat should never be dried above 40 C, oats 50 C and rye, oilseeds and pulses 45 C.
For commercial use, wheat can be heated to 65 C, oats 60 C, barley 55 C, rye 60 C, flax 80 C, canola 65 C, peas 70 C, mustard 60 C and sunflowers 50 C, while lentils should never exceed 45 C.
Feed grains can be heated to between 80 C and 100 C.
