Grain Storage Bins vs Storage Sheds

[mar]

I've been watching a few youtube videos of American farms recently, they store all their grain in bins but they seem to be constantly fixing augers or conveyers and all sorts of other issues to keep them going.
On this forum I notice most people store their grain in sheds or grain stores and it seems a simpler system.

Which is the best system, bins or grain stores

 

[Gedd]

Shed can be reverted to other uses easier

 

[kiwi pom]

Shed can be reverted to other uses easier

I think that's the difference, no real use for a shed that can do something else in many countries, so they build the cheapest/best set up for the job in hand. In the UK farmers/landowners always have their eye on non-Ag use so build a multipurpose shed.

 

[yellow belly]

There is a case for a mixture
bins for part of the harvest that are used for more than 6 months
and sheds for duelpurpose

loading from bins with a well designed system is easier
cooling can be easier and filling with a big enough auger
100 tonne an hour auger £6000 is better than pushing up with a £40000 telescopic

 

[alomy75]

There is a case for a mixture
bins for part of the harvest that are used for more than 6 months
and sheds for duelpurpose

loading from bins with a well designed system is easier
cooling can be easier and filling with a big enough auger
100 tonne an hour auger £6000 is better than pushing up with a £40000 telescopic

Plus hugely reduced vermin risk

 

[Steevo]

When my grainstore is empty I can store machines, or bags of seed, or fertiliser inside it if needed. Yesterday I was bagging up seed in the dry in the grainstore. Even had a car inside it today for servicing. Have used it for hosting parties in past years too.

Very flexible and versatile. If farm changes in future a portal frame building will always be useful whether for a non-agricultural use, or even with agriculture e.g. Even storing hay or straw for a livestock enterprise added onto the farm instead of arable.

In UK flexibility is key imo. We never knock a barn down, just repurpose it as we build newer, bigger or better ones.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

US farmers don't have telehandlers (generally) and tend to haul their own grain to the customer or co op so messing about with bins, augers and conveyors works for them.

 

[Wisconsonian]

Most important reasons are all happenstance. The US used four wheel wagons as a rule, vs two wheel horse or ox carts that are more common in the old country. That carried on with tractors. Then flare boxes turned into barge boxes and gravity boxes in the 40's and 50's? Ear corn/maize was handled with elevators into some impressive corn cribs probably from the 20's. Grain elevators were common along the rivers and then railroads from the 1840's. Vertical corn/maize silage silos, everywhere from the 20's. So the whole thought process was to handle grain in self dumping wagons, then lift it to dump into vertical storage. Telehandlers weren't and still aren't common. Skid steers really only became common in the 70's and 80's. So were we North Americans mechanized more widespread earlier, but much later with machinery?

The other downside of that is dump wagons are rare also, you wouldn't believe it.

 

[David.]

Having run grain into the elevator a while back, I think belly dump trucks are way more efficient for grain.
But even the trucks are more dual purpose here, carrying sand, aggregates, and other stuff requiring a clean down between loads of grain.
No doubt if you wanted the most efficient grain handling system, it would be bins and a leg. But as above, most people build with an eye to a possible future not involving grain, and the possibility of warehousing.

 

[kiwi pom]

Having run grain into the elevator a while back, I think belly dump trucks are way more efficient for grain.
But even the trucks are more dual purpose here, carrying sand, aggregates, and other stuff requiring a clean down between loads of grain.
No doubt if you wanted the most efficient grain handling system, it would be bins and a leg. But as above, most people build with an eye to a possible future not involving grain, and the possibility of warehousing.

Belly dumps are fairly light too, no tipping rams, no wet kit for the truck etc, so can get more on and be legal. Drag them around with any old tractor unit and safer than a tipper. As you say the downside is they are limited to what they can carry compared to a tipper. Not too much of a worry if you're just carting your own crops though.

 

[Wombat]

Most important reasons are all happenstance. The US used four wheel wagons as a rule, vs two wheel horse or ox carts that are more common in the old country. That carried on with tractors. Then flare boxes turned into barge boxes and gravity boxes in the 40's and 50's? Ear corn/maize was handled with elevators into some impressive corn cribs probably from the 20's. Grain elevators were common along the rivers and then railroads from the 1840's. Vertical corn/maize silage silos, everywhere from the 20's. So the whole thought process was to handle grain in self dumping wagons, then lift it to dump into vertical storage. Telehandlers weren't and still aren't common. Skid steers really only became common in the 70's and 80's. So were we North Americans mechanized more widespread earlier, but much later with machinery?

The other downside of that is dump wagons are rare also, you wouldn't believe it.

I think also in the US trucks used for ag have a lot less rules applied to them compared to here where they would be treated the same as any other truck. No special rules

 

[robs1]

Bins are better for segregation and spending of different grades of grain thus co op stores use them a lot flat stores better for bulk feed with the added bonus of other uses

 

[cambsfarmer]

Bins are classed as machinery and are tax deductible.

 

[Steevo]

Bins are classed as machinery and are tax deductible.

So is a flat floor grainstore if built correctly.

Business Clinic: Can I get 100% tax relief through AIA on cost of grain store? - Farmers Weekly

Whether it’s a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s experts can help. Here, Mark Chatterton, head of agriculture at

www.fwi.co.uk

 

[The Agrarian]

Footprint. Ironically though, Americans have the space, but we build the sheds.

 

[colhonk]

Americans STILL use jaw and pins for connecting implements / trailers ect to tractor..................says it all

 

[Jd Everytime]

Yes and closed lift arm ends and then they fit a quick hitch frame with hooks on

 

[Barleymow]

Outside when bins full

 

[cb387]

Bins are horrible to clean out. Floor store any day

 

[Wisconsonian]

I think also in the US trucks used for ag have a lot less rules applied to them compared to here where they would be treated the same as any other truck. No special rules

Yes, 16 years old, regular license, legal to drive downtown of the closest big city on 18 wheels. But the die was cast before trucks were popular.

Footprint. Ironically though, Americans have the space, but we build the sheds.

Like Kiwi Pom said, the capacity of a belly dump is a bigger advantage if you're hauling 10 miles from field to bin, and then 100 to deliver. Tractors and dump trailers would never work.