I would like to know if somebody can help me. I need to find information about dry airation for grain, for silo grian.
Grain is not airated in a silo just to clarify the point. If it was put in a silo the intention is to retain moisture and "ensile" it to preserve the protein and available energy. In a grain bin you would only need to airate grain to remove moisture (the opposite of a silo) and if it goes in relatively dry (under 18% moisture) the amount of airation is limited to reducing it's temperature evenly so there is no condensation. It's only a problem in fairly large bins.
In the USA, we store dry grain in a 'grain bin'. A 'silo' is used to store high-moisture grain, corn fodder, and alfalfa hay that is 50-70% moisture, and it pickles itself in the absence of oxygen. I understand in other parts of the world a 'silo' may be what we would call a 'grain bin'. So, you would like to know more about keeping dry grain in a bin and using air flow through the grain to keep it in good condition? Lots & lots of it done here where I live, what would you like to know? Generally grain needs to be dried to 16% moisture, lower if you wish to keep it longer, and you need to push air through the grain to keep up with the temperature outside - cool it for winter storage, warm it up in summer so it doesn't condence moisture as the outside air warms. It helps if you can stir the grain if it needs a lot of air & a bit of drying. --->Paul
They also can put high moisture shelled corn into an air tight silo such as the blue ones that once was popular. The corn can be up to 25% moisture. It comes out through an auger from the bottom of the silo and has the sweetest smell. It is still soft, and makes excellent feed for cattle and hogs. Many of the short blue silos were used for this purpose. My neighbor had one put up to feed hogs in a confinement set up. He later quit the hogs, but still filled it with wet shelled corn each fall just for storage space. When he sold the dry corn out of the round steel bins that had a perforated floors to allow heated air to be blown up through the corn to dry it down below 15% moisture, the wet corn was transfered over to the drying bin and dried down, and then sent to market.
I've always wondered what type of bins are used for what... there are the tall grey bins with a silver round roof at the top there are the tall Blue bins there are the short silver grain bins and around here people use a old Oil storage tank to hold grain.
Assuming the 'grey' ones are made of concrete, they are silos for storing high-moisture corn, whole corn plant chopped silage, or chopped alfalfa. The tall blue ones are metal versions of the concrete silos, same uses. They often contain air bladders at the top, and unload from the bottom. Cost more, were considered to do a better job at one time. We won't get into the lawsuits over that issue.... Both are not replaced by large bunker silos and ag-bags. Bunker is just a big concrete pad & walls, you fill it up & pack it down tight. Ag-bags are 6-10' round white plastic bags up to 200' long - a silo on it's side made of plastic basically. Moisture content of these crops range from 30% for high-moisture corn to near 70% for whole-plant corn silage. The short silver ones hold dry grain of all types. Should be at least down to 16% moisture, down to 12% for safe storage, depending on time stored & type of crop. --->Paul
