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Sun Prairie, WI | Started looking through our settlement sheets from the coop on this very cold day and it sure seemed to me that I paid a boat load of drying and shrink. We've talked about building our own systems for awhile now I need to figure out if it's worth it. We run around 3000 acres of corn, beans, and wheat. We have natural gas and 3 phase right at the site for the bins. I would want a scale, 1500 bushel dump pit, tower dryer, bucket leg and 2or3 bins . I asked our local bin sale company today what I could look at for rough costs and he said $4.00/bushel for everything but the land. Just would like to get the input of people that have similar setups . Thanks in advance. |
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![](/profile/get-photo.asp?memberid=9009&type=profile&rnd=486) New castle PA | I'm a lot smaller scale, but noticed the same thing. I'm just building a Shivvers and holding bin with swing away. No scale, hopper, etc. |
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![](http://www.newagtalk.com/mapdots/edwinkle.jpg) Leesburg, Ohio | We have somewhere over $3/bu. in our setup. Three small-medium sized bins that were bought used and moved back in the 90s, a new dryer and air system in the late 90's, a new leg, pit, and overhead structure in 07, and a 50k bin in '10. About 100k storage now, plan to add another 50k bin.
I would guess $4 would be a steal now. |
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Sun Prairie, WI | Well that makes me feel a little better, now I need to find someone who has about 2 million bucks laying around that they don't need. |
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| bETTER JUMP ON THAT $4/BU QUOTE. gUESS IT WILL BE CLOSER TO TWICE THAT. |
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SE ND | You are looking at putting up a cadillac system. I'd be surprised if you could put it up for that. Why not skip the huge dump pit, scale and leg and use an auger and some grain pumps or air leg system? Then you could have your storage for less $$$, still get the benefits and add to it later. We have a scale on our grain cart and all our stored bushels go through the cart. We can get pretty close by the cart weight cross checked with the combine.
EDIT: you are right though that your setup should pay for itself when figuring shrink and carry. Also for us it speeds up harvest which has made us money.
Edited by andyfarmer 1/7/2014 19:50
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![](http://www.newagtalk.com/mapdots/edwinkle.jpg) Leesburg, Ohio | Not trying say Andy is wrong, but I wish I had borrowed the $ and build a leg system years before we did. So much easier to do everything, and can do so much more with it. The thing I like best is the overhead load out tank. |
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indiana | You have 3000 acres but do you have to build it all at once? Be nice if you can but most of us have to crawl into it. I guess if your budget allows have at it. Many don't like an air system but many of us get along fine with them. A couple 50-75 K bins with a big dryer and air system would get you started. You could unload wet corn into an auger for a few years. Start with a big dryer so you can run several if not all corn through the bins before hauling to town. Or I have seen a fancy dump with leg, big dryer, and scales with limited storage. Again run it all through the dryer before hauling to town. Whether $4.00 corn or $7.00 corn the the bins can pay big dividends. Obviously it is just a hell of a lot easier with $7.00 corn. |
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![](/profile/get-photo.asp?memberid=25336&type=profile&rnd=794) north central ky | I don't think it would cost that much if you sub it out yourself. I just rough figured that setup with 3 160000 bu bins and I think 1.5 mil would get it. My 160000 bu bin came in at 240k finished product and that includes the 100 ft conveyor to fill it. |
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NE ND | Just make sure you use a hopper bin for wet, leg up high enuf to spout down as often as possible, use as few bins as you can...make them larger. Avoid electric motors anywhere you can, even with 3ph the electricians bill will add serious bucks to the project. With natural gas you could save a little and ho back to a shoebox dryer, the inefficiency won't be so bad with gas and you save a pile up front. Fill wet bin with auger and drive over quick pit type. Concrete and pit...water...just cost ya. Load out with a 13x36 electric auger...no load out leg. Set scale up temporary a ways away so you have room to set up auger. Start cheap and build it as you go. 1000 acres each crop...I'd build 12 hours of corn harvest capacity wet bin, 40k bean bin, 75k wheat bin, and 125k corn bin. Dryer large enough to dry 12 hours of harvest in 18 hours. If you will have the wheat sold and gone by corn harvest then forget the 75k. Build bins in cluster around leg, don't spout flatter than 45 degrees. Put fans on wet bin at 2hp/1000bu. |
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NE ND | If I could do it all over again that is.... |
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![](/profile/get-photo.asp?memberid=25336&type=profile&rnd=794) north central ky | If I could redo this system it would be 3 big bins instead of having the 9 smaller bins. Would've saved a lot of money going that route also.
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Sun Prairie, WI | Thanks guys for all the info. I thought about building 3 bins with the idea that we would add ring later for more room. That was kinda why I thought going the leg route to start would be good if we could just keep building everything higher |
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![](/profile/get-photo.asp?memberid=25076&type=profile&rnd=509) WC IN | No pit... Put your money in bigger leg instead.. Pits are very costly and water is a year round problem.. I like above ground...and if you need to clean up you can use a skid steer instead of a shovel and a bucket!! |
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north central Kansas | I don't think you would want to plan on extending the leg or re-attaching downspouts to add rings to a bin. Crane time and millwright work is expensive. |
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![](/profile/get-photo.asp?memberid=25336&type=profile&rnd=794) north central ky | The only thing about that is that it a pia to remove the floor to jack a bin up and you would need to make sure you have enough concrete and rebar for a taller bin. You also get the rings a whole lot cheaper when you buy a bin. The ring will be twice as high by itself. Cranes aren't cheap to come in and remove spouts then come back to shorten your old ones and reinstall. I would rather go with one tall bin instead of three shorter ones. |
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Wroxeter Ontario | Take a good look at screenless dryers (Neco, Grain Handler style) before you buy a tower dryer. Claim to have less cracks/damage/bushel weight loss, and no screens to plug with wet red dog. Also keep in mind that the higher your leg is, the farther the crop has to drop, with more potential for damage. Don't shy away from top conveyors to fill tall bins. Having your own bins is a great asset but then you are responsible to turn out a product that is saleable. Keeping crop quality is paramount. Have fun planning !! |
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| I just priced out a complete setup 2 106,000 bins 1400 bph tower dryer 10,000 wet bin 3,800 load out overhead bin 2 5750 bph legs and 5500 bph incline pit 90 ft scales and 12x 22 office complete with cement, electrical, sand, and us doing the excavating our selves. from one company $855,000 that's 225,800 bushels full storage that's $3.78 per bushel another company quoted $922,000 be $4.08 per bushel. I have found very different prices between companies on electrical, cement, bins |
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![](/profile/get-photo.asp?memberid=25336&type=profile&rnd=794) north central ky | I can see how you can compare apples to apples by price per bushel but if you were to add another 106000 bushel bin the price per bushel would drop closer to the 3 dollar per bushel range. |
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| yes you are correct. I am looking at it as this system will work for me until it is paid for and so I want to know what this is going to cost me now. if I add a bin say in 5 years then relook at the system as a cost per bushel it will be less. |
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Sun Prairie, WI | What do you guys figure true shrink is? What % of overall loss do you have ie. moving grain, spills, spoil exc? |
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![](/profile/get-photo.asp?memberid=25336&type=profile&rnd=794) north central ky | Sounds like a nice setup you have planned. |
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East central Indiana | No offense but you probably should slow up a bit. How much can you do with cash? How much can you do yourself? Millwright work is not rocket science. Now it takes talent to build some stuff and get to stay in the air. But you could do some of it yourself. We built most of ours ourselves. We hired all crane work and the hard concrete stuff but we built all our bins all the electric and did most of the designing ourselves. Dad always told me bins will pay for themselves. But there cheaper without interest. Here's our stuff. Been building since Halloween night of 1996 when we had a bin burn down. The next thing were gonna add is a second overhead and a second quanset for flat storage. There's 70 ft scales on the right side of the barn.
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SW Nebraska | Big augers and big conveyors don't replace a big pit. I put in a 1300 bu pit and would do it again in a heartbeat. It replaces at least one truck and driver, maybe two. Dump and go! We live in a dryer climate than most but if you make provisions for the water that will get in it isn't a big deal. My $.02
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| RMA crop insurance takes 1.2% per point down to 15 I would think that is true shrink since they paying for it . |
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![](/profile/get-photo.asp?memberid=2220&type=profile&rnd=406) NW IL | +1 |
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USA | Put up a 36 ft x 12 ring Top dry with Auto Flow. with two 30 hp drying fans. Rated @ 1800 bu hour on 20% corn @ 180 degrees. Top dry bin will have about 33,000 bu storage
http://www.grainsystems.com/farm/conditioning/topdry.php
10,000 bu wet hopper bin, one leg to feed both hopper bin and top dry. Don't know why a 1500 bu pit is needed. There are a lot less costly ways to get the grain to the leg, when on a tight budget. Would have 40,000 plus bu of storage to start, plus plenty of drying cap for what you need @ present. Would have the high priced and most important part done on the front end.
Edited by coup 1/8/2014 07:48
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SW Minnesota | Not sure the details of your operation but the 6000bph for receiving isn't any too big in my opinion. That is unless your putting in a big put. We are looking to redo our receiving and add another 45000 storage to a setup that goes back to the 70s. Currently has a small pit 3000bph dry leg, 6000 bph wet leg and a truck scale with an added axle scale for semi. This system has always work but it is now our point of congestion when in harvest. We are looking into a pit redo (800 bushel) or replacing the original 3000bph leg and over sizeing it to 10000bph. Waiting to see how the dollars work out, but with the existing structures im guessing the pit project will get very expensive. And with the original leg about to turn 40, it will prob make more sense to replace the leg... |
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NE SD | Been watching this to see what others thought. We finished a leg system and added a bin this fall. You'll end up over $4 and if you go with a fancy setup over $5. There are some things that can be done to cheapen it up. We started with an existing bin site and are trying to make things work. Hopefully at some point replace more smaller bins with big ones. I don't know that I agree with a tall leg to hit a bunch of bins. Downspout condensation is a concern of mine. Taller legs require bigger cranes, and big cranes are expensive to have on site. The big crane is over $400/hour. Your millwright will tell you he will only need it for a day.....then it rains, or the wind picks up. Pretty soon you have $10k into just the big crane, not to mention the smaller one that does most of the work. A leg that can hit two rows of bins and use drag conveyors to move it down the rows probably makes more sense. The two rows of bins can share one reclaim conveyor. Shorter fatter bins can sit on a flat pad rather than a "commercial" foundation. A commercial foundation with tunnel gets very expensive. On the other side of the legs you can place a wet bin and dryer. I would highly recommend putting the legs in one tower and adding stairs. It is more expensive but definitely worth it. The pit will eliminate a truck and driver that you will normally need.
As mentioned, I would try to do it in stages if we were to do it again, but work with someone who knows how to plan a system. FSA loans are cheap. |
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southern ontario | 8320 do you have any slowdowns in your downspouts ? |
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East central Indiana | We do now. Originally we did not when we started building the legs in 2010. After wearing cushion boxes out we put in slow downs. |
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