Farmer stores tough grain all winter

Richard Weetman farms north of Swift Current, Sask., and twice in the past he has stored tough wheat (17 to 18 per cent moisture) all winter, then dried it in the spring when the temperatures got warm again. That’s not an issue for him this year — he got all his crops off dry — but he wanted to share this information with anyone who still has crops to harvest.

They key steps, Richard says, are to make sure the grain is frozen heading into winter and to make sure you don’t start thawing it out too early in the spring.

As you know, aeration doesn’t dry grain very quickly — if at all — in cold temperatures. So this time of year, you run the fans just to cool the grain off. Then when it gets down to minus 10°C at night, turn the fans on again to freeze the grain solid, Richard says.

You want to make sure you have enough horsepower in your fan to suit the amount of grain. Richard went to the Edwards Grain Guard site and read that you need one hp per 1,000 bushels of capacity. (Click here to read Grain Guard’s “3 keys to success” for aerating and drying grain.) Richard has three-hp fans on his 3,500-bushel bins, so he’s close.

Then in spring, you want to make sure days and nights are fairly warm before you thaw the grain and start the drying process. “You’ve got a window almost until seeding to do it,” he says.

Have you ever done this? Have you got more tips on this specific practice or on air drying in general that you’d like to share? Please email me and I’ll post your tips on the blog.