Drying Silo

The ability to dry grain increases both your harvesting opportunities and your ability to store and market grain at optimum moisture and temperature levels. To avoid deterioration grains must be stored below a certain level – generally below 12% for cereals and 5-9% for oilseeds. However, harvesting grain at higher moisture levels has many advantages…
- Harvesting earlier reduces in-paddock losses from shedding, bird/rodent damage and harvester losses. Yield losses are typically between 0.5% and 1% per day that harvest is delayed after grain maturity.
- Increased harvest window. Harvesting can commence sooner, harvesting days are longer and weather interruptions are shorter. All resulting in a shorter harvest time.
- Higher Quality including superior colour, viability and oil quality (in oil seeds) are achieved by harvesting at higher moisture levels.
- Direct-heading of crops usually windrowed (swathed) can become a viable option.
- Cropping in Wetter Climates (link: http://www.ausgrain.com.au/industry.html) is now viable in areas where humid harvest weather usually precludes cropping.
Grain crops that have been successfully dried in Kotzur drying silos include: wheat, barley, triticale, canola, maize, corn, popcorn, sorghum, peas, beans, sunflowers….