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October 14, 2020

Maintaining hygienic conditions in grain silos

by Rebecca Sherratt, Features Editor, Milling and Grain

The demand for sustainable feed and food production continues to grow as the human population rapidly increases, and as a result of this the correct storage of raw materials and feed becomes only more crucial in the bid to reduce waste.

We have discussed before, in Milling and Grain, various methods to correctly store your raw materials, the best solutions to choose and how to implement proper storage systems, but another issue is also the notoriously difficult task of cleaning your silo or grain bin. How exactly is the best way to ensure your solutions and products remain sanitised and hygienic?

There are a variety of reasons why it is crucial to correctly empty and sanitise your storage solutions, ranging from the threats of insects, mycotoxins, damp and material build-up.
 


Combatting the damp: Aeration is key
Clean, dry materials are essential for high quality final products. If your raw materials such as grain, soybeans etc are not dried adequately, damp can spread throughout the silo and cause tremendous damage. Fine particles can restrict airflow through the grain mass and make it difficult to thoroughly dry the raw materials within the silo, as well as regulate temperatures.

To minimise risk of particles preventing proper airflow, broken kernels, fines and undesirables should be removed from the bulk materials to increase the quality of the stored product. If silos and bins cannot easily be screened, then professionals recommend removing smaller loads of grain, one section at a time, to check through in stages. Whilst this solution might not be the speediest, it proves to be an effective and thorough solution.

Between 14 and 15 percent moisture content is considered the sweet spot when analysing moisture content within raw materials. At this level, the moisture balance prevents the risk of mould growth, but is not too low that farmers may spend a significant sum of their budget keeping their harvest drier than is required.

Combatting insect and rodent infestations: Conducting thorough cleans
Insects are potentially one of the biggest issues when dealing with storage solutions. Removing infestations is rarely a simple process, as infected equipment and harvests can transfer over to seemingly clean harvests and other materials.

Traces of old grain and other raw materials must be removed from combines, truck beds, augers, grain carts and other products used in the storage process. New grain must, under no circumstances, ever be placed on top of older grain within a silo or grain bin, as this can lead to further infestation.

Insects cannot live on extremely dry grain (dry grain being grain with 10% or less moisture content), so there are other benefits to keeping your materials dry. As they are cold-blooded, grain insects become inactive at temperatures any lower than 13C (55F).

There is also the threat of mice and rats contaminating raw materials and feed, which can be prevented through several different methods. Mice and rats are privy to burrowing underneath silo and bin foundations, so the outside of your storage solution must mitigate this risk. Tall weeds surrounding your silo must be removed and the surroundings of silos must be analysed to ensure water drains away from the bin foundations.


Read more HERE.
 

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.

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