Best way to store 10 acres worth of home grown barley

[NH8360]

Guys i have grown my first crop of spring barley that i had planned to sell out of the field but with what’s looking like bad prices for both the crop and my suckler weanlings this autumn I’m considering keeping the calves and feeding the barley.
I know its hardly worth the hassle after rolling and buying straights etc but would like some ideas on the best way to store the barley, i have no meal bin so would a clean floor be ok or would it get overrun with vermin?

 

[farmerm]

Do you haver vermin problems.....

 

[Pan mixer]

A heap on a dry floor with a good solid wall - preferable a corner with two good walls will be OK in the short term.

If you are to feed it yourself then you must have some sort of hopper arrangement over a roller mill to put some in.

It will be the last bit where you have the trouble I predict, not only will it be later in the season when other sources of food will have run out but the local vermin will have multiplied by then and be operating on a smaller heap - put it in some trailers or bulk bags at that time to keep it out of harms way.

 

[cotswoldcs]

Clean concrete floor would be fine.

Grain trailer or two? Sheeted up will keep it fresher and away from birds/vermin if stored for a long time.
Bag up into bulk bags?

 

[NH8360]

No vermin problem as such but i do see the odd one about. The trailers sounds like a good idea i would not be keen on investing in a bin as this might be a one of thing.

 

[cotswoldcs]

Trailers hold their value well. Can never have too many trailers! Easy to bag off small amounts into grain bucket or bags. With a bit of a fiddle you can bag off into half tonne seed bags which can be stacked in a small area if you're tight for space.

 

[NH8360]

@cotswoldcs yea i have one here and could pick up another for a lot less than a bin. Also would save augers etc

 

[davidroberts30]

@cotswoldcs yea i have one here and could pick up another for a lot less than a bin. Also would save augers etc

And use a feed mix truck to roll as you need it?

 

[tinsheet]

Shipping container!

 

[Rob Holmes]

Treat with Propcorn

....can you still get it????

 

[NH8360]

Treat with Propcorn

....can you still get it????

Yea think its still available. What is the best way to apply?

 

[Rob Holmes]

When i used it ages ago we set a pump with sprayer nozzle at auger intake so when grain coming out of trailer grain chute it gets treated then goes up auger and mixed.

If storing on floor, would a knapsack full sprayed onto heap be sufficient?

 

[neilo]

Make it into Alkagrain, which will save you buying some protein as well as deterring vermin (& mites, etc). Mix it with the urea pellets, push it in a corner with a sheet over it for a fortnight, job done.

Then mill it as you normally would, but adding less protein (alkagrain Barley is about 15% CP).

 

[NH8360]

Make it into Alkagrain, which will save you buying some protein as well as deterring vermin (& mites, etc). Mix it with the urea pellets, push it in a corner with a sheet over it for a fortnight, job done.

Then mill it as you normally would, but adding less protein (alkagrain Barley is about 15% CP).

Sounds interesting must find out more from merchant about the urea pellets

 

[Nithsdale]

Whenever we do it, we just put it in the corner of the shed - concrete floor and block walls with chip board on them.

Propcorn it as it goes in the shed. Roll it as you need it through the winter.

We are the top of a hill, and we do get rats usually passing through. Don't get much if a problem but with 2 farm dogs, 3 farm cats, 2 air rifles, 3 shotguns and bait stations I'd be concerned if we did get a problem

 

[neilo]

Sounds interesting must find out more from merchant about the urea pellets

FiveF make it, but don’t know who would sell it over there. A ton of pellets will treat about 30t of grain. It’s on a pallet of 25kg bags, or 1t tote bags, so presumably will courier anywhere.
https://www.fivefalka.com/

Maxammon is much the same stuff, but from Harbro.
https://www.harbro.co.uk/nutrition/innovative-products/maxammon/

 

[spin cycle]

Make it into Alkagrain, which will save you buying some protein as well as deterring vermin (& mites, etc). Mix it with the urea pellets, push it in a corner with a sheet over it for a fortnight, job done.

Then mill it as you normally would, but adding less protein (alkagrain Barley is about 15% CP).

how do you mix it?

 

[Bury the Trash]

FiveF make it, but don’t know who would sell it over there. A ton of pellets will treat about 30t of grain. It’s on a pallet of 25kg bags, or 1t tote bags, so presumably will courier anywhere.
https://www.fivefalka.com/

Maxammon is much the same stuff, but from Harbro.
https://www.harbro.co.uk/nutrition/innovative-products/maxammon/

looking a bit showery later this week and by then we might have a go.but if it stays so dry then I will need to add water

i'm determined not to have any green grains though.

 

[neilo]

how do you mix it?

The first year I did it (2012), I borrowed a neighbour’s Keenan so that I could weigh it in accurately. Parked in the shed, mixed it onto the floor, then pushed it up into a corner.
Last year, I mixed it on the floor with a loader bucket, knowing that the bucket holds about 900kg of grain, so mixed a bag of pellets per bucketful, before pushing it up in a corner.
So simple that even I could manage it.

The urea reacts with the moisture in the grain, producing ammonia, which moves through the heap and treats the grain. The product doesn’t have to touch every grain, just be evenly distributed through the heap.

 

[Renaultman]

I don't know if you have an equivalent over there but Harbro do a roll and propcorn service and also treat with some other product that enhances the protein.