Grainswest Tech 2021

Tech 2021 grainswest.com 29 done and put away. We don’t have to move the grain, put it through the dryer—it’s tied into the handling system, then it’s done for the season. “Our previous dryer, we had the attitude: ‘don’t use it if we don’t have to.’ Now we have the attitude: ‘we will use it every year and it’s cheaper.’” They also straight cut their malt barley in late August, drying it from 19 per cent down to 13.5 per cent. “Basically, it buys you some days. You’re not waiting for it to come in naturally on its own. You get acres covered in a short period of time,” he said. Given their 2020 harvest was free of logistical headaches, it was clear there’s no looking back. “It took a lot of stress off a person’s mind,” he said. “You just felt like you were ahead of the game and not being pushed, just actually enjoying it. We didn’t run late hours, we ran till 10:30 and shut it down. No matter how you look at it you are ahead of the game.” WHAT THE FARMERS WANT This kind of success story is nothing new for Ralph Wegman. As the CEO of Corr Grain Systems in Regina, SK, he has watched farm consolidation really heat up over the last 10 to 15 years and realizes that once you reach a certain land base, you need the handling solutions to accompany it. “We’ve been trending towards larger farms for the last 20 years and what we are seeing, as customers grow in farm size, is the need for them to be able to harvest their grain and put it into a larger storage unit so they’re not constantly relocating augers and moving from smaller bins to smaller bins,” he said. “There’s a need for larger storage and handling solutions.” He said the calls he gets these days are not for individual components, but entirely integrated systems to replace piecemeal setups. “We are seeing greater interest in developing more complex grain handling systems at the farmgate,” said Wegman. “Farm labour is a challenge alright; the more efficiencies you can build into your grain handling systems, to help themmanage through the tighter labour force in the farm sector, the better.” Many farmers, Wegman said, are very interested in elevated leg-and-drag systems that operate at a 7,500 to 20,000 bu/hr capacity. He said the most common capacity requested is 7,500 to 10,000 and it’s rare people want less than 7,500 for any setup. The most common bin order is for 30,000-bushel units with flat bottoms. As well, there is increasing interest in 75,000- and 100,000-bushel bins. These bins often come in pairs, and a farmer typically adds two each year for a number of years depending on their storage goals. Wegman encourages farmers to begin their homework immediately following harvest as he labels the entire process of upgrading the handling and storage systems to be a one-year project. “It’s become accepted in the industry that when you’re looking at investing multi-millions of dollars into a handling system, they take time to design and ensure that a customer has got the right details in their system,” he said. “Our experience is that they will start the process in the winter, with the expectation that we can get the product installed, ready to go for the upcoming harvest.” A farmer needs to consider the footprint of their farmyard or bin site and determine what’s possible and work from there. Also, consider the power and, if no three-phase has been trenched to the site, what that will cost. For the Rumpfs, their panel was upgraded from 400 amps to 1,200 to accommodate their new dryer. As well, the land itself must be properly designed and later prepped before any concrete can be placed. Any work a farmer can do ahead of time will save money on their overall bill. Future expansions should also Perry Rumpf turns the control wheel for the distributer head, which puts the grain down the correct spout and off to its intended destination.