[kendalwpg]

I need some help to decide where to go with this....We have 1500ac of wheat still standing in the field and its too tough to combine. Most of it is Pasteur and Faller that was planted in June and had 10in of rain on it after it nicely got going. We have not had any hard killing frosts yet and there is lots of green heads. The Faller looks ready to go but its all between 16 and 20% and is not drying down anytime soon...alot of the green heads are still milky which really screw up the sample. We dessicated some 11 days ago and it is still off the charts of the tester yesterday. Its getting late and we still have 3400ac to go...everything that is done is on air and tough....14.2 oats and 14% canola. Weather is nice but going to need alot of it just to get going and then 3 weeks of good weather to get done. We could start swathing the wheat but we are in a major goose zone so I dont think that would be wise. We are prepared to buy a dryer....new if we need to. Whats the best drier for simplicity and obviously we would need to find one that is ready to go. We have 3ph 575v power here but no natural gas in the yard yet. We also have 30k bus bins on air to load into but no hoppers to feed the drier so will have to buy a hopper or convert a smaller bin to feed the drier for a temporary setup. There is a couple new and used Farm Fans dryers at a dealer here in MB. Any comments appreciated.

 

[mbfarmer]

Sounds like a good plan for next year. You will never get it certified and set up for this year.

 

[Duchek]

Exactly what I was thinking. Do you have any means of adding heat to your aeration fans?

 

[kendalwpg]

Sounds like a good plan for next year. You will never get it certified and set up for this year.

The guy at ARK in Manitou that has the new and used dryers says 1 or 2 days to get inspected. Im assuming he knows what he is talking about.

 

[kendalwpg]

The problem with adding heat to the bins is a 10hp fan on a 30k bus bin is not moving enough air to dry down that much moisture. And trucking it very far is not feasable...but thanks for the offer. We are trying to run a dairy farm here also and our full time milker quit so we are very short of help and time!!

 

[kendalwpg]

Ya it hardly seems possible but he said $2500 per burner for inspection and could be done within a couple of days but that is not what I have read on the net!

 

[Duane H]

Had that situation a few years back bought a old MC400 on propane dryed wheat real good. Simple and cheap paid $2200.00 for it. If its portable do you still need inspections

 

[kendalwpg]

Lots of phone calls today....dryer probably not going to happen because of goverment inspections. Trying to find out about bin heaters right now to add to the air bins. I might be able to get somewhere there as I am already a propane customer and own my own tank. I also forgot that I had a connection to a guy who is an installer for a major propane company so he is stopping by and we will see what we can scheme up.

 

[w-mFarms]

ya forget it you wont get it going this year
took us from october 2012 to june 2013 to get it going, everytime inspector came out something was not hooked up right.
Tell the guy from ARK you buy it if he can get it inspected within a week let him work for it and say you will pay once going.
for now you'll have to find someone with a dryer.
on air you will never get your canola dry, maybe your oats but it seems like nothing is drying this year on air.
just don't understand why some guys here farm 4000 acres and not have a dryer we knew we were due for graindrying one of these days.

 

[Highmarker]

Grain bagger.
There is a reason that 50 % of the fields in our local area (peace country)have grain bags in them. We also all have grain dryers. Not the easiest way to store grain but will solve your current problem.

 

[Highmarker]

Grain bags are air tight and create a anaerobic environment as the grain uses up all the oxygen it can't (shouldn't )spoil in theory. I'm not gaurenteeing that grain won't spoil in a bag and neither do the manufacturers. 18% wheat is pretty safe in a bag over winter and I've heard of 23% wheat left over winter until June came out fine not a good idea though. Our limit (so far) is 18-19 % in the fall cool temperatures I think it's ok as long as you plan to deal with it ASAP. I've noticed overnight the grain cools down which helps compared to bin storage where the heat of the day can stay in the grain for a long time.
The main reason it fits is that you can't go to town and pull home a grain dryer and set it up by noon but you can with a bagger. Grain drier is a long term item and setting it up right will save a lot of headaches in the future. If bagging dosent work for you you can sell it.