Why aren,t grain bins used more in the UK

[California]

One answer might be that at an average US yield of around 1.5 tons to the acre bins are less arse ache than at UK yields. Look at some of the US youtube videos of emptying grain bins, most seem to have their own trucks they use to take grain off the farm, and are happy to take an hour or more to load 20 tons of grain. Imagine asking a UK lorry driver to hang around for 90 minutes while you auger 28 tonnes into his trailer.

Those must have been old bins with small capacity augers. Our 10 inch (US made, Hutchinson Mayrath) can load load 29tons in under 25 minutes quite comfortably. Lorry backs under spout, sheet off, 2 buttons pressed, buttons pressed again to turn off and he's away again in under half an hour. Some lorry drivers who remember the 4 and 6 inch augers are quite amazed how much quicker it is. We have a neighbour with a similar set up who reckons he can load in less than 20 minutes but we don't like to push it although the official maximum capacity of them is 122tons/hour. I'm sure that there are people with big sheds, loaders and buckets that can do it a bit quicker but it's far from slow. We also never spill any whilst loading (unless the lorry driver isn't paying attention and it goes over the side!)

 

[DrWazzock]

We still use 2 radial 10 ton air blown bins for cooling the daily output of the 3tph continuous flow drier and 4 x 16 t wooden bins for long term storage for the home fed rations.
But mostly we tip on the shed floor and load up ASAP to merchant nowadays as yields have increased and the bins, which were designed in the days when we had beef cattle are hopelessly under capacity.

I like bins though. You get a lot on a small floor area and just pressing a button is easier than driving the telehandler. Theoretically bins or silos provide better easier storage with self emptying high capacity filling and emptying but many of us are put off by memories of shovelling out old bins by hand into 10 tph augers, then lorry drivers getting shirty because they are waiting around.

 

[ollie989898]

I like the typical UK bins that are all arranged under a single roof and fed by conveyor from the cleaner and dryer. Add an outloading bin and you can have the system fill it whilst the truck is away, when the truck arrives all he has to do is back under the thing, you pull and slide and fill him up. It's poetry.

 

[Scribus]

The point about the cost of concrete is very true , where farms are many miles from concrete works compared to tiddly sized uk.

There are mobile concrete plants although you will still need to draw the aggregate to them.

 

[Brisel]

These are 1244m3 each, so 950 tonnes of wheat. Planning restrictions meant we had to go upwards instead of sideways. They were around £119/t to build 10 years ago. A shed with bunkers and basic cooling ducts would have been £145/t with a decent concrete apron but that’s only on the basis that each would last 30 years. The shed would actually last twice that if you priced in new roof sheets and steel replacement where the uprights met the concrete. You also have alternative uses for the shed.

 

[PostHarvest]

As others have said, sheds have multiple uses, even if only for storing fertiliser or machinery. I subscribe to a grain industry news report and almost every day, there are reports from the US of farmers getting trapped or killed in augers whilst trying to get the last out of bins, someone being buried in grain when a bridge bin collapses, bins collapsing or mills catching fire. I realise that there is far more grain handled and stored in the USA than here but the incident rate is pretty dire.

 

[nick...]

My late dad liked his bins.we had 4 x30ton steel bins,4 kongskilde 25 ton bins and a 240 ton bin.was ok when several people worked here but a pain in the arse for me as only person.had to climb in the top to shovel last few tons out and keep getting in and out to check conveyors not blocking.all floor storage here now and a million times easier.
Nick...

 

[DrWazzock]

Yes floors are easier for bringing the harvest in and then loading up lorries.

We still find the bins handy for home mixing the livestock rations. The mill and mixer are all fixed equipment. Might be better just buying the rations in as well, but it used to be thought there was a saving milling your own. Keeps you busy but does it pay....like a lot of things, dubious now on a small farm. Hand shovelling the last 3 tonnes out is the problem. You are in and out the bin like a yo yo. If it isn't running dry at one end, it's running over at the other. I don't much fancy the clat of setting up a tractor driven rolling mill and loading it with the big shovel once a week though. When bins aren't nearly empty I can mill and mix a batch without doing anything more than pushing buttons and pulling levers.

 

[woodylane]

Worked for Velcourt in Kent when I was younger and the grainstore had 2x1000t bins and 2x750t bins. Loading grain out was a dream with a big auger and a fyson elevator over a weigh bridge. Good times. Getting the grain in the bloody things was a different matter, 6t/hour mobile continuous flow dryer and a kongskilde sucker blower up to the top, I must have climbed the equivalent of Everest going up and down those bloody bins with duct tape and various bends for the blower pipes

 

[Woldgrain Storage]

why aren't grain bins used more in the uk ?

We have 58 of varying sizes. They give us an ability to store and blend a wide range of different grades, on a relatively small footprint.

Lack of planning is also a bonus. We have a height limit, only due to historic RAF restrictions in the local area.

 

[grainboy]

I love a grain bin, but all I do is take them down.

 

[Colin]

Got 3 put them up in 2012, cheaper than central storage that has now gone down the pan! 550 t of wheat each great for segregation, rest of storage is flat floor. Put milling oats and rye in bins, feed wheat in one big pile in shed. Great for cleanliness but PITA if you get a mechanical problem.

 

[Farmer Roy]

We had 6 open bins in a building, would have needed double the building size if there weren’t bins in there. That said, we had to winch the motor up and over into eac bin to run the sweep auger. Unloading was a slow process from the trailer and into the lorry. A pit that could have held 16t load would have been perfect. Dump and go. That’s the only economical way bins can really work.

Or you could use a 13" auger at 240 t / hr ?

 

[l'ordinary bonville]

View attachment 825556These are 1244m3 each, so 950 tonnes of wheat. Planning restrictions meant we had to go upwards instead of sideways. They were around £119/t to build 10 years ago. A shed with bunkers and basic cooling ducts would have been £145/t with a decent concrete apron but that’s only on the basis that each would last 30 years. The shed would actually last twice that if you priced in new roof sheets and steel replacement where the uprights met the concrete. You also have alternative uses for the shed.

Interesting paint scheme

 

[Farmer Roy]

Those must have been old bins with small capacity augers. Our 10 inch (US made, Hutchinson Mayrath) can load load 29tons in under 25 minutes quite comfortably. Lorry backs under spout, sheet off, 2 buttons pressed, buttons pressed again to turn off and he's away again in under half an hour. Some lorry drivers who remember the 4 and 6 inch augers are quite amazed how much quicker it is. We have a neighbour with a similar set up who reckons he can load in less than 20 minutes but we don't like to push it although the official maximum capacity of them is 122tons/hour. I'm sure that there are people with big sheds, loaders and buckets that can do it a bit quicker but it's far from slow. We also never spill any whilst loading (unless the lorry driver isn't paying attention and it goes over the side!)

this twister has a 10 " underfloor auger. I usually then run the grain through my Brandt Grainvac to load trucks, as it does also clean the sample a bit, in which case I have to close off the underfloor auger a bit so as not to overload the Grainvac, but I can still load a 40 tonne B - Double in about 20 minutes actual loading time. If I stuck my 13" swingaway auger under it, its almost too quick for the truck drivers & the pressure gauges on their airbags ( which they use to judge the weight of the load ) . . .

 

[Farmer Roy]

you could do something like this
the beauty of grain silos ( bins ) is the ability to easily segregate & blend various grades of grain, which is a big issue for us with milling wheats & "cliff face" pricing between various grades. Silos can also be sealed airtight for much improved insect control, can be aerated for more efficient moisture & temperature control, are much easier & simpler to fill & empty than a shed, the list goes on & on


PS - even though he describes himself as "Operations Manager", this is a family farm. His wife actually owns the place. We harvested their dryland cotton here a couple of months ago. Sam is a nice bloke & a really switched on operator - he runs a good show

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=478944326224422

 

[Blaithin]

I would say that bins are more popular in countries that farm large amounts of acres over large distances. Farmers here don’t want to build sheds to hold grain on every quarter they farm. Nor do they want to truck straight off combine on hours long round trips to get back to the main bin yard where sheds would be (and in cases here, are) located. The trucks would never keep up with the combines. Bins are easily installed at remote locations and for rental land, even though many farmers are actually turning to using grain bags at rental land instead on investing in bins that would then need moved. I don’t think bags are very popular over there either...

As for other pros...

They utilize vertical storage space. I work at grain elevators that store over 30,000 mt of grain. They are roughly 130’ high. How big of a shed would be required to store that amount of grain?

The vertical storage provides less surface area for potential spoilage/contamination. When a crust forms on top it can only go so far before it reaches the wall of the bin.

Bins are easy to clean out when installed properly, and shouldn’t even require someone entering when they are hopper bottoms. Larger bins are usually installed with bin sweeps.

Bins are easy to core, which is beneficial in winter if the grain needs cooled or there may be bug issues.

The right bins can be completely pest proof. No rodent contamination.

Bins can easily keep different products separate. No need to worry about product contamination between different grains, seed or fertilizer as they’re all stored in different bins. This is also highly beneficial for segregating grain qualities. No mixing of your #3 wheat with your #1 wheat. If you have a low spot that got frost - Bin it separate. If you have high ergot on the outside rounds - bin it separate. If you’ve got a tough spot in an otherwise dry field - bin it separate.

Bins also allow for easy augering into systems like grain vacs and dryers.

Bins allow for long periods of storage. Many producers will hold grain over years until the price goes up, or they can slowly blend it in to high quality. Hard to do that when it’s in a shed you’re planning on storing your equipment in.

Also, more rarely but still a possibility, is the fact that many shed structures here are at risk of caving in from snow weight. I’ve never heard of a bin roof that caved in from snow.

It’s also a degrading factor here to have rocks and dirt in grain as well as dockage and damage issues when the grain is too broken. I’d be interested to see how a truck loaded with a loader and bucket there compares to those from a bin. It’s generally fairly easy to tell grain that’s been stored in a pile here. Obviously yards there are mostly concreted or cobblestoned so maybe there isn’t the contamination potential from dirty loader tires like there would be here.

One answer might be that at an average US yield of around 1.5 tons to the acre bins are less arse ache than at UK yields. Look at some of the US youtube videos of emptying grain bins, most seem to have their own trucks they use to take grain off the farm, and are happy to take an hour or more to load 20 tons of grain. Imagine asking a UK lorry driver to hang around for 90 minutes while you auger 28 tonnes into his trailer.

The large augers can load 45 tonne in less than half an hour. The bigger issue is they load so fast it’s hard to get the load weighted evenly and not paying attention can run the risk of overflowing the hoppers.

My landlords will load their tridem (so about 29mt) from the bins located in my backyard in about ten minutes. All they bring up with them is the auger, no tractor or loader. I believe that auger is 12” but I’m not 100% sure.

 

[Roy_H]

I remember when we got our first forklift in the 1970s ( i.e. something that could lift high enough to fill a grain lorry as opposed to using an auger) We virtually abandoned our grain bins overnight. So much easier!

 

[Farmer Roy]

I would say that bins are more popular in countries that farm large amounts of acres over large distances. Farmers here don’t want to build sheds to hold grain on every quarter they farm. Nor do they want to truck straight off combine on hours long round trips to get back to the main bin yard where sheds would be (and in cases here, are) located. The trucks would never keep up with the combines. Bins are easily installed at remote locations and for rental land, even though many farmers are actually turning to using grain bags at rental land instead on investing in bins that would then need moved. I don’t think bags are very popular over there either...

As for other pros...

They utilize vertical storage space. I work at grain elevators that store over 30,000 mt of grain. They are roughly 130’ high. How big of a shed would be required to store that amount of grain?

The vertical storage provides less surface area for potential spoilage/contamination. When a crust forms on top it can only go so far before it reaches the wall of the bin.

Bins are easy to clean out when installed properly, and shouldn’t even require someone entering when they are hopper bottoms. Larger bins are usually installed with bin sweeps.

Bins are easy to core, which is beneficial in winter if the grain needs cooled or there may be bug issues.

The right bins can be completely pest proof. No rodent contamination.

Bins can easily keep different products separate. No need to worry about product contamination between different grains, seed or fertilizer as they’re all stored in different bins. This is also highly beneficial for segregating grain qualities. No mixing of your #3 wheat with your #1 wheat.

Bins also allow for easy augering into systems like grain vacs and dryers.

Bins allow for long periods of storage. Many producers will hold grain over years until the price goes up, or they can slowly blend it in to high quality. Hard to do that when it’s in a shed you’re planning on storing your equipment in.

Also, more rarely but still a possibility, is the fact that many shed structures here are at risk of caving in from snow weight. I’ve never heard of a bin roof that caved in from snow.

It’s also a degrading factor here to have rocks and dirt in grain as well as dockage and damage issues when the grain is too broken. I’d be interested to see how a truck loaded with a loader and bucket there compares to those from a bin. It’s generally fairly easy to tell grain that’s been stored in a pile here. Obviously yards there are mostly concreted or cobblestoned so maybe there isn’t the contamination potential from dirty loader tires like there would be here.


The large augers can load 45 tonne in less than half an hour. The bigger issue is they load so fast it’s hard to get the load weighted evenly and not paying attention can run the risk of overflowing the hoppers.

My landlords will load their tridem (so about 29mt) from the bins located in my backyard in about ten minutes. All they bring up with them is the auger, no tractor or loader. I believe that auger is 12” but I’m not 100% sure.

Exactly the same reasons that bins / silos are so popular here - except for the snow loading that is

Sheds or bunkers are ok for short term bulk storage, but are crap at long term quality, hygiene & segregation

It's amusing that most who are critical of bins & augers seem to think that innovation & development ended with flat floors, shovels & 4" augers in the 1970's

 

[Blaithin]

We might have drills that have increased in size and air carts that have grown monstrous and grain carts that could hold a shed full and trucks that haul 6 times what they used to and combines with larger hoppers and faster unloading, but our augers have stayed the exact same size