Storage bin prices?

You can store crops without a fan until June. After that, it gets dicey _some_ years.

I'd sure start with a bigger bin, and put in a floor - if you are doing corn. You might wish to store your corn longer.

Oats will store a long time with no air, and beans you should _not_ be keeping longer than June anyhow, so those crops wouldn't matter.

The big expense of a bin is thew concrete. New bins cost a lot, used ones sell cheap, but take a lot of work.

I moved a 1500bu on the place on the back of a hayrack. I got 2 govt bins as mentioned above from the farm next door, still had to dismantle 2 rings each to get them under the power lines.

So, you plan to end up with 3 bins, small for oats (or over-flow from other crops), medium for beans, and a bigger one for corn.

I'd scour the neighborhood for good used small bins. You can't afford to buy a new one under 10,000bu.

You need to explain your drying plan for the corn be4 any thoughts on what the big bin should be.

Picking 40 acres or less is _far_ cheaper in the long run considering drying, the equipment is cheap, only need cribs & they sell for $5 at auction sales. It is slower tho.

Got any old feeding platforms or other concrete you can set a bin/ crib on?

--->Paul

The 1500 bin I gave them $40 for helping me load it. It was in their way.

Be sure you plan for the future, laying concrete is $$$, you are putting the bin there for a long time. What if you pick up yet another 60 acres, got room for more bins/ storage - don't hog the middle & wish you had more room....

--->Paul

A 2000 bushel bin is too small to store much grain. Say your corn goes 150 bu/acre, that's about 13 acres you can store.

The good thing about drying your own grain is (1) you get to keep your own corn; and (2) you can dry it down to 13-13.5 percent moisture for long-term storage.

Make sure you have a distributor in the bin opening when you fill, or you'll get all the fines/dust in the center of the bin and you'll get compaction in the middle of the bin, both of which will lead to the grain to heat in the center of the bin.

If you had a batch dryer (not in the bin), many of these did a good job of screening the corn. Otherwise, I'd try to rent or pick up a grain screener. It's a challenge to move air through corn that's full of fines, because the fines and dust "fill in" all around the kernels, making difficult to move air through it.

Don't fill the bin above the "shoulder," where the roof meets the bin side, and make sure to level the grain off once you get the bin full, especially if you don't have a distributor.