PSEP Fumigation Recertification

Nebraska Extension PSEP Author

11/21/2019 Added

21 Plays

Description

Carol Jones, Oklahoma State University, goes on-site to discuss key points in storing and fumigating grain for pesticide applicators.

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[00:00:00.714](upbeat music)
[00:00:19.370]Hello, and welcome to the recertification
[00:00:21.440]for the fumigation category, number 11 on your license.
[00:00:25.250]Today, we will hear an in-depth coverage
[00:00:27.610]of the topic by Dr. Carol Jones
[00:00:29.460]of Oklahoma State University.
[00:00:31.530]She will be discussing safety, different procedures,
[00:00:34.720]and many other important points relating to the topic
[00:00:37.760]to help with your recertification.
[00:00:47.140]Greetings, I'm Dr. Carol Jones
[00:00:49.500]from Oklahoma State University's
[00:00:51.060]Biosystem and Ag Engineering Department,
[00:00:53.820]and it's my privilege to be here in Nebraska
[00:00:55.972]with you in this lecture
[00:00:58.280]as part of your continuing education
[00:01:00.310]for your fumigator's license
[00:01:01.900]to be a fumigator in the state of Nebraska.
[00:01:05.650]We want to look at stored products today
[00:01:07.950]from a holistic viewpoint,
[00:01:10.100]what your part as a fumigator plays
[00:01:12.521]in keeping grain in good condition,
[00:01:14.600]it's just very important that we need
[00:01:16.690]to see what the bigger picture of that is.
[00:01:19.460]I would assume that many of you also are responsible
[00:01:22.480]for maintaining the grain in your storage facility
[00:01:25.380]whether you're a commercial applicator
[00:01:27.810]or a farmer with your own production
[00:01:30.030]and your own storage facility.
[00:01:32.500]The lecture today is about temperature and moisture
[00:01:35.610]and the combination of those and how that interplays
[00:01:38.500]with insects and with mold.
[00:01:41.090]Many times we find that the conditions
[00:01:43.734]that are right for insects are also right for mold,
[00:01:46.650]so it's hard to talk about one without talking about both.
[00:01:50.100]So as we launch into today's lecture today,
[00:01:52.810]we want to talk about why we do what we do,
[00:01:57.140]what's our object of storage, what's our objective.
[00:02:00.310]And the objective is to take a stored product
[00:02:03.290]from the time that it's harvested
[00:02:05.320]to the time it ends up on somebody's dinner table
[00:02:07.700]and keep it in the best condition that we possibly can.
[00:02:10.830]And fumigation is a piece of that.
[00:02:13.380]We fumigate to kill the insects
[00:02:15.600]that keep us from maintaining that quality
[00:02:18.090]of the product that we put into storage.
[00:02:20.470]It's not the only piece, but it is a piece of that process.
[00:02:24.040]We're gonna talk about the whole system today.
[00:02:27.180]We'll talk about safety, we'll talk about insects,
[00:02:29.740]we'll talk about moisture,
[00:02:31.150]how does the moisture get into the grain,
[00:02:33.550]what happens when it's not managed properly
[00:02:36.340]once the moisture is in the grain.
[00:02:38.070]So bear with me and we will get through
[00:02:40.100]some technical information and hopefully
[00:02:42.030]it will help you do your job as a fumigator better.
[00:02:45.780]I know all of us have opened up the Instagram
[00:02:49.490]or the newsfeed for the day or an email,
[00:02:52.260]and the news has said an employee
[00:02:54.560]just fell into a grain bin.
[00:02:57.000]Well, is that really what happened?
[00:02:59.630]As I looked through many of our participants
[00:03:03.030]in our workshops here in Oklahoma,
[00:03:04.680]especially with a Carhartt jacket on,
[00:03:06.450]I don't think very many of us fit
[00:03:07.910]through that 24-inch hole in the top of a grain bin.
[00:03:11.720]But that being said, it can happen.
[00:03:14.510]What generally happens though is we've got material
[00:03:18.050]that's stuck on the walls, we're walking down grain
[00:03:21.150]with the auger running, maybe a bridge breakthrough.
[00:03:25.950]What really happens is the grain's gone out of condition,
[00:03:28.860]and our employees or even ourselves have had
[00:03:32.100]to enter that grain bin to remediate the problem.
[00:03:35.150]That grain will not go out into the reclaim system,
[00:03:38.690]to the discharge of that bin, we can't unload it
[00:03:41.160]because there's big clods,
[00:03:43.390]maybe it's stuck to the side of the wall.
[00:03:45.930]Maybe we can't get the sweep auger to move.
[00:03:49.250]So all of these things cause our employees
[00:03:51.300]to go inside the bin.
[00:03:53.160]The key to keeping employees out of the bin
[00:03:56.220]is to keep the grain in good condition in the first place.
[00:03:58.940]There's no reason for them to enter the bin
[00:04:01.000]and risk losing their life in our bins
[00:04:04.150]if the grain's in good condition
[00:04:05.560]and we can get it out of the bin at the end of the season.
[00:04:08.640]So, fumigation, how does this play into all of that?
[00:04:13.180]Well, we're gonna see that as go through this presentation.
[00:04:17.500]As you can see on the PowerPoint here today,
[00:04:19.780]that top picture is a really ugly picture.
[00:04:23.420]As a fumigator, you might encounter that.
[00:04:26.290]You might be asked to go into a bin
[00:04:28.430]to apply a top dressing of phosphine or some other product.
[00:04:33.370]If you see this kind of facility
[00:04:36.410]with this kind of a problem in it,
[00:04:38.260]let's see if we've got a better picture of that.
[00:04:41.270]Here we have moldy grain.
[00:04:43.300]If you were to see this in a bin,
[00:04:44.980]I would hope none of you would enter that bin.
[00:04:47.280]What you wouldn't know as you looked into this bin though
[00:04:50.750]is that they had a big mold problem.
[00:04:53.050]Hopefully this would never happen
[00:04:54.590]in a Nebraska farm bin, or a commercial bin,
[00:04:57.470]but this is a very unsafe working condition
[00:04:59.670]and we can see that employee is making a lot
[00:05:01.510]of really bad mistakes in his work in that bin.
[00:05:04.890]So mold, it came from someplace,
[00:05:07.600]moisture, obviously is the culprit
[00:05:10.470]or the reason he has mold in his bin.
[00:05:13.280]I would predict that there's insects in that bin also.
[00:05:16.700]If the conditions are right for the mold,
[00:05:18.690]the conditions are right for insects as well.
[00:05:21.810]We'll look at some other pictures here,
[00:05:23.490]this one is of some mold in a steel-lined concrete facility
[00:05:29.180]and actually that mold goes 120 foot down
[00:05:32.000]to the bottom of that bin.
[00:05:33.340]It came from a leak through the manhole
[00:05:35.840]and started the entire way down to the bottom of the bin.
[00:05:40.440]The next picture is of an employee in a bin,
[00:05:43.240]and I don't know, but it looks to me
[00:05:44.900]like he's kicking the sweep auger along,
[00:05:47.390]and that tells me that for some reason
[00:05:50.050]that material in the bin, this happens to be corn,
[00:05:52.640]would not flow into the sumps and out of the bin
[00:05:54.903]into the reclaim system.
[00:05:56.840]If we go to the next picture,
[00:05:58.410]we can see the other side of that corn.
[00:06:01.500]And as you notice there, it looks more like a mountain range
[00:06:04.720]instead of a nice slope of corn.
[00:06:07.780]All material has what we call angle of repose,
[00:06:10.770]that means that with the horizontal
[00:06:13.200]the grain will make an angle with the horizontal,
[00:06:16.900]this is the angle of repose here.
[00:06:19.310]And a good quality grain, especially for corn,
[00:06:23.440]is about 30 degrees, each grain has its own angle of repose.
[00:06:27.940]The higher the moisture content,
[00:06:29.910]the higher that angle of repose is.
[00:06:32.520]As we look at that picture
[00:06:33.770]that looks a lot like a mountain range,
[00:06:35.710]we see some peaks in it
[00:06:37.630]that are more than a 30 degree angle.
[00:06:40.380]Those peaks indicate to me that we've got moisture problems,
[00:06:44.590]maybe some trash in the bin,
[00:06:47.210]maybe some insect development,
[00:06:48.810]but most definitely some mold.
[00:06:50.610]And that material clearly would not go
[00:06:52.550]out the reclaim system and the sweep auger can do its job.
[00:06:56.410]So that employee had to enter the bin.
[00:06:58.550]What happens if one of those areas of mold
[00:07:02.220]collapses on top of him?
[00:07:04.290]Well, a good day just turned into a really bad day,
[00:07:06.930]and we don't want that to happen in your bins
[00:07:08.600]and we sure don't want it to happen to you
[00:07:10.370]as a fumigator or a worker going into a bin.
[00:07:13.590]This next slide tells us a little bit about
[00:07:16.360]where the moisture problems come from.
[00:07:19.270]And as you look at those pictures,
[00:07:21.870]one thing you might notice is all of them have
[00:07:24.170]to do with some kind of temperature change
[00:07:26.820]or a biological activity, particularly a temperature change.
[00:07:30.880]Now, I know, Oklahoma, we have some really big swings
[00:07:33.700]in temperature and I think Nebraska does too,
[00:07:36.540]in fact, I've observed that this week in Nebraska.
[00:07:40.700]Any time you have more
[00:07:41.760]than a 15 degree temperature differential
[00:07:44.650]from the air in the grain, condensation happens.
[00:07:49.550]It's like taking the iced tea glass
[00:07:51.300]out of the refrigerator in August
[00:07:53.000]and putting it on the kitchen table,
[00:07:55.460]you get water on the outside of the glass.
[00:07:57.650]And the water didn't come from the glass itself,
[00:08:00.310]that comes out of the air.
[00:08:01.827]And grain does the same thing.
[00:08:03.780]When we have that 15 degree temperature difference,
[00:08:06.950]there's gonna be condensation.
[00:08:09.000]Our jobs as managers is to handle that condensation
[00:08:12.610]so that it doesn't remain in our grain
[00:08:14.970]and set up a great environment for insects and for mold.
[00:08:19.100]We see at the bottom of that picture
[00:08:20.580]I've got insects circled, little grain bin with insects,
[00:08:24.080]with an insect in it and it's circled.
[00:08:26.160]Insects also respire, they have bodily fluids
[00:08:30.450]that they excrete, and as they do what insects do,
[00:08:34.570]multiply, eat our grain, they set up
[00:08:37.260]an environment there that only grows.
[00:08:40.120]Doesn't get smaller, it grows and it grows fast.
[00:08:43.100]In my research recently,
[00:08:44.830]we were looking at lesser grain borers
[00:08:46.700]and we had two jars of lesser grain borer in the lab.
[00:08:50.750]One jar was a month old,
[00:08:52.650]actually it was six weeks old,
[00:08:54.400]the other jar was two weeks old.
[00:08:56.980]I could feel heat in the jar that was a month older
[00:09:00.800]than the newer jar, and it was about 20 degrees difference.
[00:09:04.170]And that came just from the insects respiring,
[00:09:07.590]carrying on their general activities of eating
[00:09:10.370]and making more insects.
[00:09:12.270]The jar that was six weeks old,
[00:09:14.730]you couldn't even recognize the grain
[00:09:16.700]that was originally in there.
[00:09:18.130]They had turned it just to powder,
[00:09:19.830]and it was starting to get really smelly,
[00:09:21.980]really wet, just a bad environment.
[00:09:24.690]The jar that was two weeks old,
[00:09:26.210]you could still see the wheat
[00:09:27.260]that the lesser grain borer were raised on.
[00:09:29.990]So the point being is insects will set up an area
[00:09:33.730]that causes you moisture problems also.
[00:09:36.710]And as those moisture problems grow,
[00:09:39.140]the heat builds up, and eventually if not remedied
[00:09:43.930]or the crop is not moved,
[00:09:45.880]you could have spontaneous combustion.
[00:09:47.940]And that's just not something we want to have in our bins.
[00:09:50.710]As we look at some of the other pictures in this slide,
[00:09:53.920]we see one where the clothespin is on the guy's nose.
[00:09:57.744]Everyone knows what bad grain smells like,
[00:10:01.030]whether you're in the grain industry or not,
[00:10:03.280]we all know when it smells bad.
[00:10:06.150]So one of the best sensors that you have
[00:10:08.420]is right there on your nose.
[00:10:10.140]Now, as a fumigator you know that monitoring
[00:10:12.500]is very important, and I would tell you or anyone else
[00:10:16.200]that if you're using phosphine,
[00:10:18.470]nose isn't the first place you start.
[00:10:20.500]First place you're gonna start is with your monitors.
[00:10:23.440]But to detect mold outside of the fumigation arena,
[00:10:28.213]many times we can just smell,
[00:10:30.700]and if you smell an off smell,
[00:10:33.000]we need to be locating where the problem is.
[00:10:36.740]Next slide shows some information about mold,
[00:10:39.840]this is the general molds that we see in grain.
[00:10:43.690]There's two kinds, there's field molds
[00:10:46.270]and there's storage molds.
[00:10:47.610]Some of them are the same, some of them
[00:10:49.760]have their own particular environment.
[00:10:52.610]As you'll recognize several of those,
[00:10:54.420]there's some penicillin in there, there's aspergillus,
[00:10:57.170]a lot of the aflatoxin molds are listed there.
[00:11:03.300]What I want you to notice mostly is though
[00:11:05.330]the moisture content that's required to grow those molds.
[00:11:08.610]And they start at 16%.
[00:11:11.080]If you have mold in a bin, you can take it to the bank
[00:11:14.600]that someplace in there, there's some grain
[00:11:17.030]in an environment that has at least 16% moisture content.
[00:11:20.690]Some of the molds require up to 20 and 25%,
[00:11:23.880]but our baseline is 16%.
[00:11:27.170]If you're storing 18% corn, you have a real risk for mold.
[00:11:32.322]If you're storing 11% wheat, not so much.
[00:11:36.700]So moisture content is just really important to us.
[00:11:40.520]So we need to check our storage temperatures,
[00:11:43.150]we need to check how long we're storing that product,
[00:11:46.322]because the longer it's in storage,
[00:11:47.690]the more risk that you're accepting
[00:11:50.180]for insects and for moisture to develop.
[00:11:52.890]Need to look at the maintenance of your facility.
[00:11:55.350]Do you have leaky structures,
[00:11:57.080]are there cracks in your foundation?
[00:11:59.320]We'll look at some pictures of places I'd like
[00:12:01.530]for you to investigate when you go out to look in a bin.
[00:12:05.470]Perhaps your aeration system is not working
[00:12:07.930]as good as it used to,
[00:12:09.340]or maybe you have a new employee
[00:12:10.750]that doesn't understand how to manage
[00:12:12.510]that aeration system to remove the moisture
[00:12:15.360]out of the head space and to temper your grain.
[00:12:18.280]So we're gonna talk about each one
[00:12:19.720]of those different things today
[00:12:21.690]and hopefully give you some information
[00:12:23.710]to pass on to your employees
[00:12:24.980]or maybe even think about yourself.
[00:12:27.220]I don't think any of these things
[00:12:28.470]are gonna be new information to you,
[00:12:30.050]but it's kind of nice to revisit some of those things
[00:12:32.600]we've known for a long time.
[00:12:35.100]Here we have a chart that talks
[00:12:36.600]about the safe storage period for soybeans in days.
[00:12:43.082]If you go out on the web, you can find these kind of charts
[00:12:46.010]for every crop that you handle,
[00:12:47.467]but I just pulled one for soybeans today.
[00:12:51.240]What this chart does is shows you temperature
[00:12:54.090]down the left-hand side.
[00:12:56.010]We've got 35 to 90 degrees,
[00:12:58.100]and across the top we have soybean moisture content,
[00:13:02.230]percent wet base, we've got 10 through 22% there.
[00:13:06.230]And in the middle we have a bunch of numbers,
[00:13:08.720]and those numbers are all days.
[00:13:10.880]So let's say we have soybeans at 80 degrees
[00:13:15.180]and 14% moisture content, we go across at 80 degrees
[00:13:20.840]and 14% we see 47 days.
[00:13:25.020]If my soybeans are at 80 degrees,
[00:13:28.010]then 14%, I should have 47 days of safe storage
[00:13:33.560]before they start to degrade
[00:13:35.120]and develop mold and insect problems.
[00:13:37.890]That seems simple enough.
[00:13:39.480]But what happens if the farmer had those on his property
[00:13:44.370]at 90 degrees and say 15%
[00:13:49.830]and he had it there for seven days?
[00:13:51.920]Well, if we go to our chart and it says 90 degrees
[00:13:54.560]and 15%, they had 16 days of safe storage.
[00:14:01.180]And he held it for seven or eight days,
[00:14:03.390]he's already used half of the viable life of that soybean.
[00:14:08.680]So that tells you that when you get it
[00:14:10.770]into your environment and you're at your 80 degrees and 14%,
[00:14:14.940]you only have half of the 47 days left for viable storage.
[00:14:20.290]Now, is it a precise science?
[00:14:23.000]No, it's not.
[00:14:24.380]And you can sit there with your watch and count the days
[00:14:26.850]and you're probably not gonna be very accurate.
[00:14:29.320]But it gives you an idea of relatively how long
[00:14:32.840]you can store a product at the higher temperatures,
[00:14:36.300]the moisture environment.
[00:14:38.140]It may help you understand when you need to fumigate,
[00:14:41.550]when are the conditions gonna be good to fumigate,
[00:14:44.270]when do we need to sell that product
[00:14:46.450]ahead of something else that's storing a little bit better.
[00:14:49.770]Many of the things we talk about today
[00:14:51.220]will help you make some marketing decisions,
[00:14:53.780]what bins should you keep long-term,
[00:14:56.230]what bins to move on out or move to another location.
[00:14:59.840]So I advise you to go out on the web,
[00:15:01.890]look for some of these safe storage period charts
[00:15:06.960]for different grains and keep those in your arsenal
[00:15:09.790]of tools for managing your grain.
[00:15:15.470]Integrated pest management,
[00:15:17.100]that's really what I've been talking about, IPM.
[00:15:20.680]And if you read the trade journals,
[00:15:22.630]I'm sure you've run across that term before.
[00:15:25.750]But what IPM is, is all of our tools
[00:15:29.480]that we have to keep grain in good condition,
[00:15:32.090]and it also keeps a safer environment for us
[00:15:34.760]and ultimately we're gonna make more money
[00:15:37.120]because our grain's in better condition,
[00:15:39.030]that's really a goal we all, we've all gotta make money.
[00:15:42.120]So we have to keep our grain in good condition,
[00:15:44.340]keeps it safer, we make more money,
[00:15:46.320]and we live to fight another day.
[00:15:49.070]So the steps in your tool box for IPM
[00:15:52.420]are to clean your grain bins, clean the grain,
[00:15:55.860]and clean your equipment.
[00:15:58.270]Sometimes we forget about the equipment
[00:15:59.780]outside of our grain bins.
[00:16:01.682]Are your augers clean?
[00:16:03.660]Are the trucks clean?
[00:16:05.320]Are your customers' facilities clean?
[00:16:08.080]Any time you bring grain in from another piece of equipment
[00:16:12.180]it's had the opportunity to collect insects
[00:16:14.690]that are in those other pieces of equipment,
[00:16:17.030]so cleaning is just really important to us.
[00:16:20.160]Sealing and repairing those bins.
[00:16:22.480]As a fumigator, in your fumigation management plan,
[00:16:25.970]one of those steps should be
[00:16:27.370]to inspect your structure or your facility.
[00:16:31.860]Has it developed any leaks?
[00:16:34.150]Do you see any missing bulbs?
[00:16:35.960]See any cracks that weren't there
[00:16:37.520]the last time you fumigated?
[00:16:40.400]Seal and repair those problems in your bin.
[00:16:43.630]Keeps out the insects, keeps the moisture out,
[00:16:46.610]and it also gives you a lot of information
[00:16:48.990]about the stability of that structure.
[00:16:51.883]It's a good time to check it when you fumigate.
[00:16:55.100]Empty bin treatments, there are several fact sheets,
[00:16:58.470]I know Oklahoma state has some,
[00:17:00.520]but the land grant universities have fact sheets also
[00:17:04.630]about empty bin treatments.
[00:17:06.180]Once you've cleaned that bin, perhaps it's a good time
[00:17:09.210]to put some preventative treatments down
[00:17:12.980]before you load the crop into the bin.
[00:17:15.595]Then you want to load that grain carefully.
[00:17:17.610]I'm gonna show you some pictures
[00:17:18.940]about how important that is.
[00:17:21.230]You want to manage your aeration
[00:17:22.720]once you get the crop in the bin,
[00:17:25.290]and then we want to monitor for problems.
[00:17:27.600]It's one thing to manage, if you don't monitor,
[00:17:30.400]how do you know you have a problem?
[00:17:32.350]So monitoring is critical,
[00:17:33.990]it's a very important part of IPM.
[00:17:36.790]And then fumigate when it's necessary
[00:17:38.910]and when it's appropriate.
[00:17:40.540]I know most of us fumigate twice a year,
[00:17:42.670]at least in Oklahoma, and I think from the people
[00:17:45.220]I've talked to in Nebraska you kind of do the same thing.
[00:17:48.590]We fumigate at Labor Day and we fumigate at Memorial Day.
[00:17:54.020]And the reason we do that's because it's a four-day weekend,
[00:17:56.540]has nothing to do with the insects.
[00:17:58.440]We've got four days, the other employees are gone,
[00:18:01.260]it's a good time to fumigate a bin without people around.
[00:18:05.970]Not saying that's the most economical
[00:18:07.740]and the most efficient for maintaining our insect problem,
[00:18:13.380]but that seems to be the real world.
[00:18:15.960]If we're monitoring, we can fumigate when it's necessary
[00:18:19.070]to probably save ourselves some money.
[00:18:22.330]So let's look at sanitation and sealing first
[00:18:24.640]to keep the moisture out.
[00:18:26.720]Your mother probably told you that cleanliness
[00:18:28.850]was next to godliness, well cleanliness
[00:18:31.410]is next to insectlessness too.
[00:18:34.641]It's a great way to keep the moisture out,
[00:18:38.200]to keep the insects out.
[00:18:40.100]Insects can harbor in the smallest amount of flour
[00:18:43.330]and dust that you can imagine,
[00:18:45.230]and it does not take them long
[00:18:47.320]to multiply into a big problem.
[00:18:49.410]In those jars I was telling you about in my research lab,
[00:18:53.160]we put 50 lesser grain borers in a jar.
[00:18:55.880]We came back six weeks later, we counted 1,100
[00:18:59.891]had grown from that first 50 lesser grain borers.
[00:19:04.340]So it doesn't take long for these populations
[00:19:06.760]to get out of hand.
[00:19:08.030]You don't want to be bringing any in from last year,
[00:19:10.870]you don't want any to reside in your bin.
[00:19:13.250]So being sure to clean out all of your structures
[00:19:16.920]and your handling equipment is really important.
[00:19:21.400]Okay, especially on steel bins.
[00:19:23.760]We have bolts, and in Oklahoma,
[00:19:26.210]we have had a rash of missing bolts lately.
[00:19:29.320]I'm sure Nebraska's heard about our earthquake problem here,
[00:19:33.510]I'm not sure that's the whole reason we're missing
[00:19:36.180]a lot of bolts in our state,
[00:19:38.190]but we've sure seen an increase.
[00:19:40.000]This is something that you'll want to inspect
[00:19:42.230]in your structures as you go out to fumigate.
[00:19:45.020]This picture up here on the right-hand corner,
[00:19:48.360]we see that there's some grain over there
[00:19:50.830]on the right side of that overlaying sheet.
[00:19:55.950]That overlaying sheet actually was in line
[00:19:59.010]with the edge of that grain,
[00:20:01.010]something has caused this bin to shift
[00:20:03.690]and the panels have pulled apart.
[00:20:07.080]So it's one thing that we've got holes in the bin.
[00:20:10.400]If you get very many of these holes,
[00:20:11.610]they will equal actually the size of a door being open.
[00:20:14.720]That's sure not a good thing.
[00:20:16.380]But what's even more worrisome about this picture
[00:20:19.870]is that that bin has shifted almost a half inch
[00:20:22.890]just in one panel.
[00:20:24.290]What about the rest of the bin, why is it shifting?
[00:20:27.370]Is our grain inside so wet that it's expanding
[00:20:31.300]or swelling up and putting extra forces on our bin?
[00:20:35.070]For some reason this bin is not stable,
[00:20:37.470]and so if you were to see this situation,
[00:20:40.690]not only do you want to fix it,
[00:20:42.040]you want to replace it with some good bolts,
[00:20:44.130]and good being grade five or eight,
[00:20:47.150]and we seem to have a better luck
[00:20:49.470]with American made bolts recently.
[00:20:52.960]You want to fix that to keep the insects
[00:20:54.820]and the moisture out,
[00:20:56.660]but you also want to ask,
[00:20:58.760]why do we have this problem to begin with?
[00:21:01.190]So look for those missing fasteners,
[00:21:03.630]be sure and replace them, and then ask yourself,
[00:21:06.430]why did the bolt sheer in the first place?
[00:21:10.030]Doors are another place that you should inspect.
[00:21:12.930]As we look in a grain bin, the forces come down
[00:21:15.534]the stiffeners and their job is to take the force
[00:21:18.376]of that bin all the way down to the foundation
[00:21:21.977]or the ground, whatever your concrete structure
[00:21:24.335]underneath that bin happens to be.
[00:21:27.585]The force needs to go all the way to it.
[00:21:29.827]So we come down this stiffener and then all of a sudden
[00:21:31.830]we have a door cut out of it, okay?
[00:21:35.120]Where's the force gonna go?
[00:21:36.890]It has to be transmitted by that door all the way down
[00:21:40.390]to the foundation.
[00:21:42.030]Some doors do that better than others.
[00:21:43.970]In the picture, we see an old farm bin here
[00:21:46.470]that has obviously had some years on it.
[00:21:49.320]In fact, when we took the right-hand picture,
[00:21:51.940]we pulled feed sacks up from around that door
[00:21:54.900]where the farmer had stuffed them in there
[00:21:56.710]just to keep the grain in and the mice and the insects out.
[00:22:01.830]This is an area where you can get a lot
[00:22:03.920]of information about that bin.
[00:22:06.040]If there's cracks in it as we see above the door here,
[00:22:09.050]that means some instability in that bin
[00:22:11.710]and the sheets are starting to pull apart and fail.
[00:22:16.420]The place that needs to be repaired can get
[00:22:18.740]some good vital information about your bin,
[00:22:21.240]the condition your crop may be in on the inside.
[00:22:24.850]Rust gives us an indication about the crop
[00:22:27.410]on the inside also.
[00:22:29.240]I've got pictures of four different rusts here.
[00:22:31.530]We have white rust on the outside,
[00:22:33.740]which looks fairly innocent, but the white rust
[00:22:37.420]on the outside is a good indicator
[00:22:39.210]we have rust on the inside.
[00:22:41.110]So if you see white rust on the outside of your bin,
[00:22:43.820]go inside as soon as the crop is, of course,
[00:22:46.410]down below this areas and look
[00:22:48.290]to see if you have some rust on the inside.
[00:22:51.700]That inside rust is not a good thing,
[00:22:54.260]it's something you're going to have to remedy.
[00:22:56.790]Let's go down to the bottom right-hand corner.
[00:22:59.240]We see red flaking rust.
[00:23:01.540]That is what you would expect on the backside
[00:23:04.300]of that white rust, and if it's down towards the bottom
[00:23:06.960]of the bin, it's a problem.
[00:23:08.600]Structurally, moisture's going to come in there,
[00:23:12.900]in fact, it already has, that's why the rust is there.
[00:23:15.603]It's a very common occurrence,
[00:23:17.210]particularly in farm bins or older bins.
[00:23:20.810]The red rust flaking in the lower right-hand corner there
[00:23:25.490]can happen from two different things.
[00:23:28.630]As you see, in that bin, you can see where the level
[00:23:32.760]of grain's been, that's where our red goes up there
[00:23:35.470]to the top, and then you see steel color above it.
[00:23:38.980]We've got some holes actually in this bin.
[00:23:41.550]That's tell me there was high moisture content in there.
[00:23:44.440]There's one other place that that kind of degradation
[00:23:47.120]can happen and that's from repeated,
[00:23:50.130]high doses of phosphine.
[00:23:53.260]Phosphine will attack metal and over time
[00:23:55.290]it can do this to a galvanized steel bin.
[00:23:59.040]More than likely, though, as we look in this bin
[00:24:01.440]down towards the bottom, we see some darker areas.
[00:24:04.700]That's high moisture grain.
[00:24:06.540]This has had moldy grain in it.
[00:24:08.570]So this is what it does to a bin
[00:24:10.500]when you have moldy grain.
[00:24:12.680]Look at the top right-hand corner there.
[00:24:15.270]We seem some rust in the roof of the bin.
[00:24:18.657]You know, don't worry too much about this.
[00:24:21.330]If you look up in the inside and you see rust
[00:24:23.990]on the back side or maybe some mold up there,
[00:24:26.800]you might be concerned.
[00:24:27.940]What that tells you, if you see that on the inside,
[00:24:30.940]is that your headspace has got condensation in it
[00:24:33.497]and your vent and exhaust fans aren't working
[00:24:36.370]as well as they should.
[00:24:37.860]If you don't see any problems on the inside,
[00:24:40.380]then this rust on the top is caused from pollution.
[00:24:44.050]You may be next to a highway,
[00:24:46.530]some kind of combustible engines, combustion engines
[00:24:49.480]around this facility.
[00:24:51.100]I don't worry too much about that.
[00:24:52.750]They're generally not going to rust all the way through
[00:24:54.590]and they generally don't degrade your roof too much.
[00:24:57.840]The key is, is there rust on the inside?
[00:25:00.880]So these are things you want to look at
[00:25:02.450]when you're inspecting your bin to see if it's
[00:25:05.240]in good condition.
[00:25:07.780]The next slide is actually the bottom of a bin
[00:25:11.330]that has rusted and you can see
[00:25:12.660]that stiffener as it comes down.
[00:25:14.580]It doesn't meet up to the bottom of that bin.
[00:25:18.200]That needs to be repaired in pretty quick order.
[00:25:22.370]The forces can't go from that stiffener down
[00:25:25.140]to the concrete.
[00:25:26.570]It's letting in moisture, the problem's just growing,
[00:25:29.610]getting worse.
[00:25:30.627]We need to repair that stiffener by putting another piece
[00:25:34.850]of stiffener underneath it, not next to it,
[00:25:37.330]but underneath it, so that the forces go
[00:25:39.990]all the way down to the ground.
[00:25:42.240]In the next slide, we see a gentleman applying
[00:25:44.570]a white material to the bottom of a bin.
[00:25:47.230]this is kind of a new process for us here in the U.S.
[00:25:50.680]I've not see a lot of it
[00:25:52.150]and we don't know a lot about it yet.
[00:25:54.600]The material is lot like rhino lining,
[00:25:57.030]the lining you would put in a pickup bed.
[00:25:58.970]It's not the same, it's stretchier,
[00:26:01.010]but it kind of reminds you of rhino lining.
[00:26:04.610]It's job is to keep the moisture out of the bin.
[00:26:07.750]It won't help the structural integrity of the bin,
[00:26:10.930]but it will help keep the moisture out.
[00:26:12.810]We don't know for how long yet.
[00:26:15.240]We'll keep you apprised of how we see this
[00:26:18.450]as it goes to 10 and 12, 15 years of use.
[00:26:21.780]Looks like a good thing at this point,
[00:26:23.470]so the jury's out, we'll keep you posted.
[00:26:26.090]But it's something you might consider.
[00:26:27.950]In Europe, China, Australia, they're putting this
[00:26:31.270]over the entire bin and completely sealing the bin.
[00:26:34.420]They're having good luck with it, so kind of
[00:26:36.640]keep an eye on your trade journals for that product.
[00:26:39.940]Let's go to preparing grain and loading it.
[00:26:43.210]We all know that clean grain's going to store better
[00:26:45.163]than not clean grain.
[00:26:47.540]So if you've got some really dusty, trashy grain,
[00:26:51.248]it generally pays for itself to clean it
[00:26:53.810]before you put it in storage.
[00:26:56.250]Now's a good time to put those grain protectants down.
[00:26:58.800]We want to talk about coring.
[00:27:00.340]We want to talk about leveling.
[00:27:01.730]I've got some pictures to show you.
[00:27:04.560]This is what happens when we don't core a bin.
[00:27:07.820]If you think about your experiences with grain in storage,
[00:27:12.300]you've probably noticed that the fine material always
[00:27:14.720]goes to the middle, the trash goes to the outside.
[00:27:18.280]Well, that fine material in the middle is generally
[00:27:20.820]where we find our mold and our insects as well.
[00:27:23.730]If you think about your experience,
[00:27:25.570]where you have the most problems is at the top
[00:27:27.640]and the middle.
[00:27:28.930]The reason is we've got that fine material
[00:27:31.950]that has collected there.
[00:27:33.620]Our aeration system can't get through that fine material.
[00:27:37.160]Aeration takes the path of least resistance.
[00:27:40.340]Kind of like your teenage kids.
[00:27:41.960]Path of least resistance.
[00:27:43.560]But it's going to find its way between the kernels
[00:27:46.950]of your product and that's how it makes its way
[00:27:49.910]through the bin.
[00:27:51.670]If we have fine material that is blocking those areas
[00:27:54.820]between the kernels, then the air goes some place
[00:27:57.560]where it can get through easier.
[00:27:59.610]That's what we call the static pressure is lower.
[00:28:02.450]It never makes its way through the area
[00:28:04.250]where we have the most problems.
[00:28:06.370]Our remedy for that is to core the bin.
[00:28:09.420]Put a load in, pull a little bit out.
[00:28:12.570]Try to redistribute that back in on top of the bin.
[00:28:16.640]That does two things, it's helps to level that top surface,
[00:28:20.290]again, the air takes the path of least resistance.
[00:28:23.120]It'll take the shortest path, which is at the walls.
[00:28:26.420]If we can level that top surface by either with a spreader,
[00:28:29.460]if you're lucky enough to have a spreader,
[00:28:32.226]or by coring that bin and pulling that peak down.
[00:28:35.310]Also, coring gets rid of that fine material in the middle
[00:28:38.220]and hopefully we can distribute it over the top of the bin.
[00:28:41.760]So pull a little bit up after you've put a load in.
[00:28:46.950]Nobody in Nebraska would ever do this, right?
[00:28:49.970]Just like Oklahoma farmers, we've got one more truck,
[00:28:53.290]we can get it in that bin.
[00:28:55.400]Well, if your walls go all the way to the roof,
[00:28:59.260]you're putting a lot of forces onto a roof
[00:29:02.350]that was not designed to handle forces.
[00:29:05.240]You can damage a grain bin by doing this.
[00:29:08.760]From a fumigator's standpoint, you can't fumigate that.
[00:29:12.550]How are you going to get any circulation of the air
[00:29:14.693]and the fumigant down into your product?
[00:29:17.810]We can't even observe the top surface.
[00:29:20.930]Your aeration system can't work in this situation
[00:29:24.720]because there's no place for the air to go.
[00:29:26.840]We can't get to the exhaust fans.
[00:29:29.140]We can't get to our passive vents.
[00:29:33.200]You want to load that bin to the wall height and no further.
[00:29:39.780]Another good reason to core.
[00:29:41.360]Keep that level at the wall height
[00:29:44.420]and not get up into your headspace with your product.
[00:29:49.370]So let's move on to aeration.
[00:29:50.840]We talked about aeration and how it doesn't work
[00:29:53.930]when your bin is that full.
[00:29:56.235]Why do we aerate?
[00:29:58.570]The reason we aerate is to control the insects and the mold
[00:30:01.123]and the moisture content in our bin.
[00:30:04.030]All of those are interactive with each other.
[00:30:06.870]If we can keep our temperatures below 60 degrees,
[00:30:10.390]insects don't do what insects do,
[00:30:12.470]they don't eat our grain, and they don't make more insects.
[00:30:15.400]If we can get it down below 40 degrees,
[00:30:18.500]most of them will die, they at least go dormant.
[00:30:22.420]That's pretty easy for you all in Nebraska
[00:30:24.240]to get your temperatures down below 60.
[00:30:26.190]Us in Oklahoma, not so much.
[00:30:28.320]But in Nebraska, 60 degrees is fairly easy to achieve
[00:30:31.860]with your aeration systems using your cooler temperatures.
[00:30:35.450]Of course, you're going to aerate after you fumigate.
[00:30:37.590]That's one method we use to evacuate your phosphine
[00:30:42.370]down below the .3 parts per million
[00:30:44.610]when you can open up that bin.
[00:30:48.000]We want to use our headspace, ventilation opportunities
[00:30:52.680]that would be your exhaust, your power exhaust fans.
[00:30:56.150]Your passive vents work in combination
[00:30:58.880]with your aeration system.
[00:31:01.740]Now this is something that we really need to discuss.
[00:31:04.990]The matching of vent spacing with your aeration system.
[00:31:09.600]Generally, in a new system, they are matched.
[00:31:12.420]The surface area of your vents has to match
[00:31:15.500]the production of your fan.
[00:31:17.690]But in older systems where we retrofitted another fan
[00:31:22.060]onto an older bin that already has the vents spacing on top,
[00:31:26.800]they may not be matched.
[00:31:28.190]If it's a negative pressure fan,
[00:31:30.730]you can collapse a roof really quickly.
[00:31:33.050]If it's a positive pressure fan, in other words,
[00:31:35.610]we're blowing in the bottom, the air comes out the top,
[00:31:38.820]if there's not enough surface area for that air
[00:31:41.390]to exit the bin, it blows moisture
[00:31:43.829]into the roof of your bin.
[00:31:45.350]It will actually rain in your bin.
[00:31:48.470]When you retrofit a fan system to an older bin,
[00:31:52.270]be sure and have a discussion with your dealer
[00:31:54.950]about how many vents you have,
[00:31:57.340]and ask if you need to add more.
[00:31:59.560]One more is always a good plan.
[00:32:01.800]It's better to have too much than not enough.
[00:32:05.170]Are you lucky enough to have an automatic controller
[00:32:07.400]on your fans?
[00:32:08.540]Some of us, the automatic controller is your thumb here
[00:32:11.620]that goes out and turns the fan on and off.
[00:32:14.460]Either one can be very effective.
[00:32:17.080]The economists tell us that the automatic systems
[00:32:19.920]will pay for themselves in two years, I don't know.
[00:32:23.030]Ask your University of Nebraska ag economist
[00:32:26.993]to check that out for you.
[00:32:29.130]That's what we find down here in Oklahoma.
[00:32:32.000]What an automatic controller does
[00:32:34.120]is it sits there and looks at the outside temperature,
[00:32:36.920]your grain temperature, and the relative humidity,
[00:32:40.330]24/7 and makes a decision, yes, it's a good time
[00:32:44.400]to aerate, or no it's not.
[00:32:47.020]It doesn't have to take the kids to basketball practice,
[00:32:49.670]it doesn't have to hire and fire people,
[00:32:51.560]it doesn't' have to accept trucks in the middle
[00:32:54.110]of the night, it doesn't have to load out rail cars.
[00:32:56.470]All it has to do is run your aeration fans.
[00:32:59.190]Economically, that is a big benefit for you as a manager.
[00:33:04.080]Let's talk about headspace condensation.
[00:33:07.260]The condensation in your headspace again is caused
[00:33:09.700]by that 15 degree temperature difference
[00:33:12.830]and so whenever you have a cold front comes through,
[00:33:16.340]and you've had warmer days before
[00:33:18.180]where your headspace is maybe a little warmer.
[00:33:21.920]That temperature difference over 15 degrees
[00:33:24.340]will cause some condensation.
[00:33:26.700]That's what those power exhaust fans installed
[00:33:29.610]on your bin are good for.
[00:33:31.390]Those power exhaust fans are not there to aid
[00:33:34.700]the performance of your aeration fan.
[00:33:36.720]They're not designed to do that.
[00:33:38.980]Their job is to vacuate the air inside the headspace
[00:33:43.970]to the outside air.
[00:33:45.620]They're going to pull air through your passive vents
[00:33:48.230]and exhaust it out through the power exhaust fans,
[00:33:51.040]and they do an excellent job of that.
[00:33:53.780]Don't rely on those power exhaust fans
[00:33:56.300]to make your fan system work better.
[00:33:58.860]Their job is to evacuate the headspace.
[00:34:03.240]Let's talk about when to run those fans.
[00:34:05.520]If you're not lucky enough to have the automatic fan system
[00:34:10.100]and you're making the decisions about when to run the fans,
[00:34:13.810]there are some rules you need to keep in mind.
[00:34:16.390]I always say, when you're putting grain in the bin,
[00:34:19.720]run the fan continuously until you get the same temperature
[00:34:23.580]throughout the whole bin.
[00:34:25.110]If you have temperature cables,
[00:34:26.450]you can read those temperature cables
[00:34:28.590]and see where your temperature front lies in that bin.
[00:34:32.750]If you don't have temperature cables,
[00:34:34.750]you can expect it's going to take 150 hours
[00:34:38.950]at a tenth of a CFM per bushel,
[00:34:40.730]if your fan is rated at a tenth of a CFM per bushel,
[00:34:43.830]it'll take 150 hours to get that temperature front
[00:34:46.500]all the way through a bin, regardless of the size.
[00:34:49.400]If you have a fan system that's twice as big,
[00:34:52.120]and you have two-tenths of a CFM per bushel,
[00:34:55.230]it only take you 75 hours to get that cool front through.
[00:34:59.810]What that does is reduce the risk to you of insects
[00:35:03.580]and mold beginning to form,
[00:35:05.720]reduces your need to fumigate,
[00:35:08.460]it reduces the opportunity for mold.
[00:35:11.700]More aeration is actually insurance to you.
[00:35:14.690]But you want to aerate as soon as possible,
[00:35:17.060]while you're binning that product.
[00:35:19.030]And reduce it to 60 degrees, if at all possible.
[00:35:23.110]Then you want to wait for the average temperature drop
[00:35:26.250]a little bit more.
[00:35:27.520]Run your fans again before you get into the winter.
[00:35:30.660]Then you want to seal those fans off for the winter.
[00:35:34.480]Think about it, an aeration fan has an opening
[00:35:38.010]about like so.
[00:35:39.027]If you got a couple of those, that is a lot of openings.
[00:35:42.290]For that fan to work, it's got to be a straight open shot
[00:35:45.270]from the outside right into your bin.
[00:35:47.650]Would you leave a door open that large on your bin?
[00:35:51.860]Probably not.
[00:35:53.140]Well, then we need to seal those fans off
[00:35:55.460]when we're not using them,
[00:35:56.670]because you have basically left a door open in your bin.
[00:36:01.290]So when you're aerating, put a cover over it.
[00:36:04.420]A cover being a piece of wood,
[00:36:06.590]maybe some plastic with tape on it.
[00:36:08.750]Something to keep the air and the insects and the snow
[00:36:12.430]and rain from going in your aeration fan.
[00:36:16.410]Now we need to understand the concept called EMC,
[00:36:20.010]or equilibrium moisture content.
[00:36:23.550]This is what the automatic fan controllers
[00:36:26.840]are actually doing.
[00:36:28.870]They have what we call an EMC chart programmed
[00:36:32.305]into them for your kind of grain.
[00:36:34.510]That's why you'll have to tell it
[00:36:35.890]which kind of grain you have.
[00:36:37.890]This is an EMC chart for soybeans.
[00:36:40.320]A lot of good information in this chart.
[00:36:43.560]What this chart tells you is
[00:36:45.780]that a certain relative humidity,
[00:36:48.500]and a certain temperature, that grain is going to want
[00:36:52.010]to be at one particular moisture content.
[00:36:55.770]Now our example on the PowerPoint here
[00:36:57.720]shows 80 degrees Fahrenheit and 80% relative humidity,
[00:37:04.160]and we see where those two columns meet.
[00:37:07.140]Those soybeans are going to be at 15% moisture content
[00:37:11.930]with those conditions over a period of time.
[00:37:13.600]Doesn't happen in five minutes.
[00:37:14.970]It takes it a while to equilibrate.
[00:37:17.420]Those soybeans are going to try to be 15% moisture content.
[00:37:21.360]If you're trying to keep them at 14%,
[00:37:23.990]it's not a good time to run your aeration system.
[00:37:27.300]You're wasting energy.
[00:37:28.380]You're wasting electricity, which you've gotta pay for.
[00:37:32.202]Knowing how to use these charts,
[00:37:34.450]and they're available on the web,
[00:37:35.920]for all of your grains, really helps you decide
[00:37:39.430]whether it's a good time to run your aeration fans or not.
[00:37:43.540]That's what the automatic controllers are doing,
[00:37:46.320]it's not rocket science, it's the EMC chart.
[00:37:49.760]So go out on the web and download some EMC charts
[00:37:52.690]for your particular crops.
[00:37:55.180]North Dakota State University has them on their website,
[00:37:58.000]we have some, most of your land grant colleges
[00:38:00.560]have this available.
[00:38:01.820]Many of your aeration system providers, the dealers,
[00:38:05.800]will have these available to you, also.
[00:38:08.140]Helps you make that decision
[00:38:10.220]about whether you want to run your fans.
[00:38:14.170]Let's move on to monitoring.
[00:38:15.480]Without monitoring, none of this works.
[00:38:18.740]You've got to have some kind of a monitoring system
[00:38:22.570]to know as a fumigator, did I do any good?
[00:38:26.580]Do I need to fumigate?
[00:38:28.640]Do I have mold?
[00:38:29.990]Do I have leaks in my bin?
[00:38:32.660]Is it raining in my bin?
[00:38:34.360]Because I'm blowing moisture up into the headspace
[00:38:36.770]and I can't get rid of it.
[00:38:38.200]We've got to have ways of monitoring our product.
[00:38:41.860]As I look into some really bad situations
[00:38:44.780]that have happened in the United States recently,
[00:38:48.280]what I find is bins that haven't been cleaned,
[00:38:51.840]they haven't been monitored, and it was a surprise
[00:38:54.810]when something bad went wrong in there.
[00:38:57.310]Grain does not go bad overnight.
[00:38:59.440]It happens gradually.
[00:39:01.560]If we can catch these things early on,
[00:39:03.910]we can remedy the problem before it becomes a disaster.
[00:39:07.641]The fix is cheaper than the consequences, always.
[00:39:11.960]We want to look at our insect and rodent traps.
[00:39:14.750]We want to look at our temperature cables,
[00:39:17.070]some temperature cables even have what we call
[00:39:19.100]moisture content sensors in them.
[00:39:21.350]The sensors are actually relative humidity sensors
[00:39:23.927]and they're using that EMC chart
[00:39:25.820]to predict a moisture content.
[00:39:28.450]We want to visually inspect our product.
[00:39:31.510]We want to smell it, we want to look
[00:39:33.910]on the outside of our bins.
[00:39:36.100]All of these things are important for monitoring.
[00:39:39.240]We may even want to sample.
[00:39:41.260]You know, if we pulled a sample
[00:39:43.070]out of the discharge of our bins,
[00:39:47.250]that's where we're going to find some insects also.
[00:39:49.690]Insects will be in the top, they'll be down
[00:39:51.880]at your discharge points,
[00:39:54.180]because that's the easiest meal for them.
[00:39:56.600]Sampling many times will give you some good information
[00:40:00.060]about your insect activity.
[00:40:02.630]I've got pictures of insects here.
[00:40:04.870]All of these we see in storage.
[00:40:08.010]What they all have in common
[00:40:10.720]are that they're mold-eaters.
[00:40:12.630]They will not be in your bin unless there's mold there.
[00:40:16.840]So if you're sampling your bins
[00:40:18.500]and you look at your traps and you are able
[00:40:20.890]to identify foreign grain beetles, minute mold,
[00:40:25.460]hairy fungus beetles, it's 100% guaranteed
[00:40:29.390]there's mold in there some place.
[00:40:30.357]You don't know where but you need to find it
[00:40:33.013]because these guys won't be there
[00:40:35.060]if there's not something for them to eat.
[00:40:37.390]Other things you're looking for in your traps are,
[00:40:41.050]are my populations growing?
[00:40:43.040]Maybe they're getting less.
[00:40:44.180]If they're getting less, maybe you don't need to,
[00:40:46.030]hold off on that fumigation a little while.
[00:40:47.940]You may not need to fumigate right now.
[00:40:50.820]If the populations are growing, yeah, we need
[00:40:53.980]to start talking about when we're going to fumigate
[00:40:56.740]because they probably will not turn the corner
[00:40:59.580]and go back down until mid-winter.
[00:41:02.590]Maybe we need to change our pest control method.
[00:41:05.480]Maybe we need to put in a closed-loop fumigation system
[00:41:08.280]so we can distribute that fumigant
[00:41:10.340]throughout the bin a little better.
[00:41:12.330]Those are all decisions you can make,
[00:41:14.520]but you can't make them unless you monitor.
[00:41:18.780]Insects and molds always end up in clumps.
[00:41:23.080]They turn the grain into a fine powder
[00:41:26.860]that's a prime place for mold to develop.
[00:41:29.810]Mold is a living entity and it attacks the weak.
[00:41:34.000]Weak kernels, kernels that have been cracked,
[00:41:37.730]have some kind of fissure in them,
[00:41:39.900]they're in danger of mold.
[00:41:43.190]If you don't have temperature cables,
[00:41:45.490]you can measure the exhaust of your aeration fans
[00:41:48.630]and get a pretty good idea of the temperature in there.
[00:41:51.360]If you do have temperature cables,
[00:41:53.950]as you come down that cable with the different sensors,
[00:41:57.690]you may have some that say 70 degrees, 80 degrees,
[00:42:00.950]one that says 200, then 70 and 80 degrees.
[00:42:05.350]That 200 tells you that's a hot spot.
[00:42:07.940]If it says 256, 256 is an indicator
[00:42:11.950]for an electronic problem.
[00:42:13.630]Your temperature cable has a problem.
[00:42:16.090]But if it says anything but 256,
[00:42:18.960]that's the temperature at that particular point
[00:42:21.070]and you need to move that grain
[00:42:22.740]or disturb that hotspot any way you can
[00:42:26.610]because it's not going away on its own.
[00:42:30.930]What about grain bags?
[00:42:33.290]We've got grain bags in Oklahoma.
[00:42:35.130]I know you do in Nebraska.
[00:42:36.380]I've seen them out in your fields.
[00:42:38.570]Grain bags are a good temporary storage
[00:42:41.370]for less than four months.
[00:42:43.130]They're lower cost than structures,
[00:42:47.069]they're low cost structures.
[00:42:48.600]They're good for segregation.
[00:42:50.060]Perhaps you have a few loads that have some quality
[00:42:53.650]that you want to market separately from your other product.
[00:42:57.487]It's a good place to segregate.
[00:42:59.960]The downsides are is they're very difficult
[00:43:01.348]to monitor internally.
[00:43:04.220]In order to monitor them, you have to break
[00:43:05.890]the plastic barrier and that's one thing
[00:43:07.510]you don't want to do.
[00:43:09.440]Wildlife like to break that plastic barrier.
[00:43:12.700]That's free dinner in there.
[00:43:14.180]That's always a monitoring thing with grain bags,
[00:43:17.430]is to watch to make sure that you've not had
[00:43:19.730]any wildlife breach that barrier.
[00:43:23.230]The perimeter will almost always have mold in it.
[00:43:26.080]You're going to, you just accept the fact
[00:43:28.340]that the bottom and probably up at the top
[00:43:31.200]you're going to lose the product to mold.
[00:43:33.950]How much depends on the temperature differences,
[00:43:37.150]but those two areas are almost always a problem
[00:43:40.720]for some mold.
[00:43:42.230]It does require some land area preparation.
[00:43:45.230]The slope needs to be so that you don't have puddles
[00:43:48.720]of water around your grain bags.
[00:43:51.970]You need some equipment to load and unload these.
[00:43:54.950]The first bag you put out may not look good.
[00:43:56.800]It takes some practice.
[00:43:58.500]The first one we did, the brakes went out on the tractor,
[00:44:01.320]so our bag looked like a pregnant caterpillar.
[00:44:05.863]It got better with practice.
[00:44:07.500]But it will take some equipment and some practice
[00:44:09.540]to load and unload these
[00:44:10.700]but they are a good temporary storage method.
[00:44:13.630]The insects can't get into them,
[00:44:15.570]as long as there's no breaches.
[00:44:17.900]They will continue to live in there
[00:44:21.090]until they run out of oxygen.
[00:44:23.130]Most of the crops that we have in the Midwest
[00:44:25.700]of the United States are not moist enough
[00:44:28.610]to get to the point that there's not oxygen in there.
[00:44:31.750]That's something we find in other countries
[00:44:34.080]that are handling high moisture products.
[00:44:36.570]Insects eventually produce CO2, it displaces the oxygen
[00:44:40.940]or they use up the oxygen and then it becomes
[00:44:42.980]a toxic environment for the insects.
[00:44:45.550]We can't count on that in the Midwest.
[00:44:48.610]Insects may be a problem if you put them into the bag,
[00:44:51.450]they're gonna live.
[00:44:52.710]So you may pull out grain that's been damaged with insects.
[00:44:57.520]Let's kind of summarize a little bit here.
[00:45:01.010]Our tool box has good grain condition management techniques.
[00:45:05.470]Condition going into the bin is important.
[00:45:07.880]Aeration management's important.
[00:45:10.110]Monitoring's important.
[00:45:12.250]Recordkeeping, how do you know when the last time
[00:45:14.770]you cleaned your bin or replaced bolts or replaced the fans.
[00:45:18.740]Recordkeeping's very important.
[00:45:20.620]If you're a commercial facility,
[00:45:22.200]OSHA requires you to keep certain records,
[00:45:24.470]so be sure you understand what those are.
[00:45:26.910]Fumigator records are everything.
[00:45:29.060]I cannot tell you how important recordkeeping is
[00:45:32.470]to fumigators, so be sure that you're on top
[00:45:34.890]of your A-game there as a fumigator.
[00:45:39.030]Fumigate when needed.
[00:45:40.260]Market poor quality grain quickly.
[00:45:43.540]Now let's talk a little bit about training.
[00:45:45.440]If you have employees that work for you.
[00:45:48.370]You know, I was thinking the other day
[00:45:50.400]about football season.
[00:45:52.040]We don't expect our football team to sit down
[00:45:54.700]and watch a 15-minute basic training video
[00:45:59.050]and then go out and win the state championship, do we?
[00:46:02.600]We're expecting our employees to sit down,
[00:46:05.080]and watch a 15-minute video and go out
[00:46:07.220]and put their life on the line.
[00:46:08.780]That's not fair.
[00:46:10.190]So you need to help those employees understand
[00:46:12.580]what it is you do and why you do it,
[00:46:15.230]what's safe, what isn't, and keep repeating that to them.
[00:46:19.820]Just like we keep repeating to our quarterback,
[00:46:22.120]the things he needs to do to be successful.
[00:46:24.840]Repeat these basic principles to your employees
[00:46:28.420]so they can understand and make the right decisions
[00:46:31.830]as they go about their job.
[00:46:34.770]We want to fix the problems from the outside and on time.
[00:46:38.930]If we see mold, move that grain, market it,
[00:46:42.590]get it out of the bin.
[00:46:43.520]It's not getting any better.
[00:46:45.400]If we can break up clumps from the outside,
[00:46:47.800]that's what we need to do.
[00:46:49.470]Maybe we need to call in a remediation company
[00:46:52.180]that has the big equipment
[00:46:53.530]to break up a really bad situation
[00:46:56.150]like we saw in one of the first slides.
[00:46:58.500]That's not a job for a country elevator.
[00:47:01.670]That is a job for a commercial reclamation company
[00:47:05.740]to come in and break up the problem from the outside.
[00:47:09.620]Maybe we need to look at zero entry sweeps.
[00:47:11.930]I'm a big proponent of zero entry sweeps.
[00:47:14.846]They're like bin sweeps, only on steroids.
[00:47:20.110]They're huge, they're powerful, they break up clumps,
[00:47:23.560]they move grain that we could not move any other way
[00:47:26.520]other than going in and moving it manually.
[00:47:29.760]They will save you a lot of entrances into a grain bin,
[00:47:33.071]worth the investment.
[00:47:35.150]Of course, an aeration control and monitoring system
[00:47:38.330]is your communication with your grain bin.
[00:47:41.060]Temperature cables and monitoring systems
[00:47:43.450]are how you talk with your grain.
[00:47:45.440]So all of those are things that you can put
[00:47:48.730]into your environment, into your business,
[00:47:52.130]and eventually they will save you money,
[00:47:54.280]maybe not the first year, definitely starts
[00:47:56.560]at the end of the second year.
[00:47:58.000]Makes for a safer work environment.
[00:48:00.830]Process changes.
[00:48:02.140]We've talked about equipment a lot.
[00:48:04.640]How about process changes, the way you do things.
[00:48:08.210]Lock out, tag out.
[00:48:09.960]I have to tell you is so important.
[00:48:13.780]The losses that we've had, personal life losses,
[00:48:16.890]in the U.S. this year, many of them, a majority of them,
[00:48:21.390]could have been prevented by locking out
[00:48:23.690]and tagging out equipment.
[00:48:25.170]De-energizing the bin.
[00:48:28.070]There's just, you just have to try.
[00:48:29.630]I know it takes longer to get your job done,
[00:48:31.990]especially cleaning out a bin, to turn off all the augers,
[00:48:35.990]go in, fix, come back out, turn them back on.
[00:48:39.860]That's the only safe way to work in there.
[00:48:42.657]It's gotta be a rule in your system.
[00:48:47.670]Have written housekeeping procedures so that you know
[00:48:51.310]when the last time you cleaned out that bin was,
[00:48:53.180]and when you're planning on doing it again.
[00:48:55.410]If you do have an accident in your facility,
[00:48:59.850]it's one of the things that OSHA's gonna want see.
[00:49:02.800]If you're a smaller farm and you're not under OSHA,
[00:49:07.140]those are guidelines for you to keep up
[00:49:09.120]with your maintenance.
[00:49:10.110]Be sure you have some written housekeeping procedures.
[00:49:14.520]Have a written bin entry and cleaning procedure as well.
[00:49:18.250]It's another thing OSHA is gonna want to see
[00:49:20.460]if you're a commercial facility.
[00:49:23.270]It didn't happen if you didn't write it down.
[00:49:25.050]I know you've heard that before
[00:49:25.927]and it is very true.
[00:49:27.860]So have these procedures that you can hand to an employee,
[00:49:31.350]or to another manager, and say this is how we do it
[00:49:34.770]every single time.
[00:49:35.990]We've got our bin entry permits, we're air-monitoring,
[00:49:39.540]we've locked out, tagged out,
[00:49:41.410]we've done everything correctly.
[00:49:43.430]It's how you remind your employees also
[00:49:45.270]what they're supposed to do.
[00:49:47.090]And then have a discipline policy.
[00:49:49.150]What happens if an employee doesn't lock out and tag out?
[00:49:53.310]Are you just going to say, hey, do that next time, Joe?
[00:49:56.440]Well, Joe gets in a hurry and he doesn't do it next time.
[00:50:01.060]He might die that time.
[00:50:02.820]Can you afford that? No.
[00:50:04.760]So a discipline policy so your employees know
[00:50:07.327]that when they do one of these big mistakes,
[00:50:10.000]they do something that you've told them not to do
[00:50:13.100]for their own safety and for the good of your company,
[00:50:16.470]they're gonna lose their job.
[00:50:18.320]However you need to put that into place in your operation,
[00:50:23.070]please do.
[00:50:24.130]Employees need to understand how important this is.
[00:50:28.430]Use all of your tools to keep your grain in good condition,
[00:50:32.200]keep your workers safe, and dollars in your pocket.
[00:50:35.450]That's what IPM is about.
[00:50:37.340]You as a fumigator play a big part in that
[00:50:40.030]because insects and mold are not our friends,
[00:50:43.970]they're our enemies, and fumigation is how we handle that
[00:50:47.030]in the United States.
[00:50:48.467]But as a fumigator, if you don't understand all
[00:50:50.550]of this other systematic thing that works with the insects
[00:50:54.270]in your bin, then you're working without a full tool set.
[00:50:57.960]Please be sure and keep these things in mind.
[00:51:00.100]Clean, seal and repair, load the bin carefully,
[00:51:03.840]manage your aeration, monitor, train your personnel
[00:51:07.880]and yourself, market at a good time so you can get rid
[00:51:11.140]of the bad stuff and you don't keep it too long.
[00:51:13.760]Manage your people with the discipline policy
[00:51:16.120]and with training.
[00:51:17.620]Manage your facilities so that we see that everything
[00:51:20.600]is in good repair and our bins are stable
[00:51:23.440]without a lot of structural problems.
[00:51:25.660]Plan ahead, be safety-minded always.
[00:51:30.140]Create a see-say, as our kids say, see, say.
[00:51:33.680]You see something, say something about it.
[00:51:35.830]Create a see-say environment in your facilities
[00:51:40.150]so that when you have an employee that sees something
[00:51:42.790]that just doesn't seem right, make sure that he understands
[00:51:46.740]he can come to you and talk about it.
[00:51:48.350]Maybe it's nothing, but maybe it is something.
[00:51:52.580]Keep that safety-minded culture in mind
[00:51:55.770]and put it in place in your operation.
[00:51:58.270]Keep current, read the magazines, the grain journal,
[00:52:02.048]some of the other magazines, high plains journals,
[00:52:04.640]all of those have really good educational pieces in them.
[00:52:08.890]I know Nebraska has a plethora of good journalism
[00:52:12.480]out there for you, so keep yourself current as a fumigator,
[00:52:16.040]that's one reason you're here today is to keep current.
[00:52:19.940]With that, I'd love to entertain any questions you have
[00:52:23.340]and I hope to see you again soon.
[00:52:25.190]Stay safe, keep your grain in good condition,
[00:52:27.510]keep your people alive, and make some money.
[00:52:30.060]Thank you.
[00:52:31.866](upbeat music)
[00:52:37.989]We're at Frontier Co-op,
[00:52:39.270]we appreciate them allowing us to use their facilities today
[00:52:42.910]to give you some useful information.
[00:52:46.279]We're inside Frontier's flat storage here,
[00:52:50.540]we're right in the middle of corn and soybean harvest,
[00:52:53.270]so we're beginning to load this flat storage.
[00:52:55.960]As you can see in the background, we've got aeration tubing,
[00:52:59.160]we've got the beginnings
[00:53:00.590]of our grain piles inside this storage.
[00:53:03.490]We have temperature cables, really nice facility here
[00:53:07.770]that they can use for flat storage.
[00:53:09.710]Flat storage gives us some different things
[00:53:12.940]to think about on safety, on fumigation.
[00:53:16.950]Obviously fumigating a building this size
[00:53:19.830]and in this configuration can give us
[00:53:21.800]some pretty good challenges.
[00:53:24.730]To get a good fumigation is difficult
[00:53:27.640]with a flat storage building but we can still do that
[00:53:30.077]and it can be successful.
[00:53:32.120]Right, let's first talk about safety.
[00:53:33.840]When we enter a facility we want to be sure
[00:53:35.910]and check in with the scale house
[00:53:38.450]or the main office to sign in.
[00:53:41.520]There's been more than one or two instances
[00:53:43.920]where someone was lost in the facility
[00:53:47.420]and maybe they didn't even know they were there,
[00:53:49.720]and then they didn't come home for dinner,
[00:53:51.310]so we have to go find them.
[00:53:53.100]There's accountability with that sign-in procedure.
[00:53:55.900]We also want to make sure we've got on
[00:53:57.600]whatever high-vis garments, any helmets,
[00:54:01.830]any eye protection that that facility requires.
[00:54:04.710]These are all safety things that are meant to keep
[00:54:07.440]our workers, our employees, and our visitors safe.
[00:54:10.980]So we have our high-vis, this is what
[00:54:12.460]Frontier would like us to wear
[00:54:14.630]and I appreciate their mindfulness for safety.
[00:54:17.690]Also, when you're moving around a facility like this
[00:54:21.200]make sure that you look for slip and fall hazards.
[00:54:24.630]During harvest, we're always in a hurry
[00:54:28.278]and maybe cleanliness is not something that's a priority
[00:54:31.984]at the time that, so be mindful of your fitting
[00:54:36.196]and things that are in your way
[00:54:37.816]as you move around a facility.
[00:54:39.780]When we work in a flat storage, obviously,
[00:54:42.020]we have grain that is piled in piles
[00:54:45.640]and we can see with this grain here, corn.
[00:54:50.120]We have an angle of repose that is very heathy.
[00:54:53.460]The angle of repose is what the grain makes
[00:54:55.710]with the horizontal.
[00:54:58.030]For corn, it's going to be around 25 to 30 degrees.
[00:55:02.980]The wetter it is, the steeper that angle of repose will be.
[00:55:08.370]So this is good quality corn.
[00:55:10.436]You can look at it and see it's very consistent.
[00:55:14.550]That's one thing when you enter a grain bin,
[00:55:16.570]you always want to look for is if you have any places
[00:55:19.920]in that grain pile that have a steeper angle
[00:55:22.630]of repose than the rest of it.
[00:55:24.930]That would indicate some high moisture content
[00:55:28.060]and perhaps some mold, insect activity,
[00:55:32.040]causing a higher moisture content in that point.
[00:55:35.080]So this all looks really good.
[00:55:37.670]Obviously, we're just starting to fill this flat storage.
[00:55:41.721]They also have their aeration tubes.
[00:55:43.960]This is a really nice set-up here, designed very well,
[00:55:48.230]as you can hear in the background, we've got aeration
[00:55:51.030]already beginning, that's really important to do
[00:55:54.320]as you load a bin so we can get consistency
[00:55:57.790]in the temperature and moisture content
[00:55:59.900]as the grain goes into their facility.
[00:56:04.030]That temperature cable coming down, that'll be important
[00:56:07.020]to us as we hold this grain for a longer period of time.
[00:56:10.980]Sometimes in those temperature cables, we'll notice one spot
[00:56:14.540]that spikes a higher temperature than all of the others.
[00:56:17.820]That would indicate that there's a high moisture content
[00:56:21.640]with heating going on around that spot.
[00:56:24.320]We would want to remedy that as soon as it's identified.
[00:56:27.450]An example would be if the rest of the grain
[00:56:30.177]is at, say, 40 degrees, 50 degrees Fahrenheit
[00:56:34.990]and then all of the sudden, we've got one spot in the grain
[00:56:37.890]that's spiking at 90 or 100.
[00:56:40.780]There's something wrong in that spot,
[00:56:42.970]and it's not going to remedy itself.
[00:56:45.270]At that point, we either need to move that grain
[00:56:47.710]or, that's probably the best response, is to move it.
[00:56:51.510]But it needs to be remedied, we need to find out
[00:56:53.640]if that's insect activity or if it's mold.
[00:56:56.760]Do one of the two, it's not going to get better.
[00:56:59.320]We gotta fix it.
[00:57:01.210]If we look through here,
[00:57:03.270]you see the peaks on the grain pile.
[00:57:07.200]That gives us some aeration challenges
[00:57:11.590]because air takes the path of least resistance.
[00:57:15.090]The air is going to go the shorter side of that pile
[00:57:18.470]before it goes to the taller point in that pile.
[00:57:23.630]As our aeration goes through there,
[00:57:25.030]we're not getting much air through that peak.
[00:57:27.640]That seems to be where our problems happen.
[00:57:29.920]Insects love that top middle part.
[00:57:33.340]It's easy access for them.
[00:57:34.910]They like to set up housekeeping there
[00:57:36.750]because it's easy in and out.
[00:57:38.570]But that's not where our aeration is going.
[00:57:40.900]So that's a management problem, particularly in flat storage
[00:57:45.120]because we don't always get that peak leveled off.
[00:57:47.800]In a bin, a silo, or a steel bin, it's easier
[00:57:51.570]to level that top peak off than it is in a flat storage
[00:57:55.440]unless you have the equipment up in the ceiling
[00:57:57.500]to do that leveling.
[00:57:59.920]But it's real important to level that peak off.
[00:58:02.220]Your aeration system is not doing its job
[00:58:05.850]very efficiently unless you level that top peak.
[00:58:08.690]It'll take the path of least resistance
[00:58:10.790]and you'll have good circulation on the edges
[00:58:14.040]but not in the middle where our problems really exist.
[00:58:18.700]To fumigate a flat storage like this structure
[00:58:20.760]gives us some real challenges.
[00:58:23.350]It's large for one thing.
[00:58:25.500]Sealing a flat storage building is a tough thing to do.
[00:58:31.090]Holding that fumigant in place long enough
[00:58:33.560]to get a good kill is a real challenge.
[00:58:36.430]Some managers will load the fumigant in with the product
[00:58:40.530]as they're loading it, that's really not too much
[00:58:42.760]of an option in a flat storage
[00:58:44.700]because it goes in at so many different times.
[00:58:47.830]There's really two things that you can do.
[00:58:50.180]You need to put on your respirator, probably an SEBA unit
[00:58:55.930]to go in and place the fumigant throughout the building.
[00:58:59.930]Right now, this would be easy to do
[00:59:01.183]because we can walk around.
[00:59:03.380]That's not the case once this gets full.
[00:59:05.970]The preferred way of fumigating a building
[00:59:08.110]like this is to have a closed-loop fumigation system
[00:59:11.640]which actually is a set of tubing on the outside of the bin,
[00:59:15.830]the storage, and it takes the gas off the top,
[00:59:19.100]re-injects it at the bottom.
[00:59:21.260]Takes quite a bit of work to set up a system like that
[00:59:24.650]in a building this size but it will save lots
[00:59:28.660]of money and lots of fumigant
[00:59:29.550]and you can actually get a good fumigation
[00:59:32.050]on a building like this.
[00:59:33.410]It's not unusual to have a inefficient fumigation
[00:59:38.200]in a building like this.
[00:59:39.190]It's really hard to reach all of the corners
[00:59:42.458]and not get leakage in a facility like the one we're in.
[00:59:47.330]A closed-loop fumigation system in a building
[00:59:50.980]for a flat storage is a real efficient way
[00:59:53.420]to achieve your fumigation success.
[00:59:56.920]Aeration is one of your tools to keep your grain
[00:59:59.570]in good condition, it's a vital tool particularly
[01:00:02.270]with corn and soybeans and to maintain your moisture content
[01:00:06.680]at a safe level.
[01:00:08.580]But for an aeration system to work effectively,
[01:00:11.550]it's not just the air you put into the building,
[01:00:14.420]it's how that air exits the building or the grain bin.
[01:00:18.990]In this structure, you see that we have vents at both ends.
[01:00:23.800]Those vents have to be sized to the size
[01:00:26.830]of your aeration system.
[01:00:28.640]There's been more than one manager
[01:00:30.310]that was confounded by rain inside of his bin
[01:00:34.370]because he had air going into the bin,
[01:00:37.030]but not enough vent space for that air to exit the bin.
[01:00:40.780]Therefore, the moisture collects on the top of the building
[01:00:43.930]or the silo and rains back down on his grain.
[01:00:47.750]We don't want that to happen.
[01:00:49.170]That's a disaster at the top of the grain bulk.
[01:00:52.320]It also makes for the bridging that happens
[01:00:55.090]particularly with corn.
[01:00:57.110]Then the corn won't come out of the grain bin.
[01:01:00.040]That's just a problem all the way around.
[01:01:01.530]Very unsafe situation.
[01:01:03.600]So those vents on the side or the top of a bin
[01:01:07.240]or flat storage are a part of that aeration system
[01:01:11.220]and they're part of your plan to keep your grain
[01:01:13.270]in good condition.
[01:01:14.950]As a fumigator, one of your jobs is to keep
[01:01:17.730]that fumigant inside the structure that you're treating.
[01:01:22.398]So sealing, sealing is your friend.
[01:01:24.940]We need to be able to seal that facility
[01:01:28.410]so that the gas will stay in and insects will stay out
[01:01:34.160]as much as possible.
[01:01:35.670]But it also helps your aeration system to work
[01:01:37.860]and to be more predictable.
[01:01:39.310]I want to point out some sealing they've done
[01:01:41.470]on this flat storage that I think is really done well.
[01:01:45.040]You can see at the end of their aeration tube here
[01:01:48.920]they've got foam placed, that's the great stuff
[01:01:53.350]for hot stuff, there's several brands available.
[01:01:56.120]It's closed-cell expanding foam, you always want
[01:01:58.890]to use closed-cell expansion foam.
[01:02:01.800]There is an open-cell and it doesn't work.
[01:02:04.120]You need the closed-cell foam.
[01:02:06.400]They've taken the large spaces that were open and filled
[01:02:10.940]that with this closed-cell foam insulation,
[01:02:14.580]and it expanded.
[01:02:15.740]They've also done the joints
[01:02:17.510]between the aeration tubes here.
[01:02:20.330]That will last, I've seen it last as long as 20 years,
[01:02:24.500]maybe even longer.
[01:02:26.060]May not look the best but it sure does the job
[01:02:28.960]and it's a permanent seal.
[01:02:31.270]We can also see that they've done the same
[01:02:36.220]where they had a join between their steel structure
[01:02:40.000]and the concrete.
[01:02:41.610]Insects find any little nook and cranny to get
[01:02:44.703]into a building and the gas does the same.
[01:02:47.730]So does your aeration system.
[01:02:50.210]So they blocked that off
[01:02:52.290]with the closed-cell foam insulation.
[01:02:55.030]Really nice way of sealing around a building
[01:02:58.490]and around your aeration tubes.
[01:03:00.660]Any time there's a break in the building,
[01:03:04.640]break meaning an open space or where your aeration system
[01:03:08.518]can vent to the bin or into the flat storage,
[01:03:11.234]there's going to be an air gap there.
[01:03:13.680]And that air gap can be any place from insect-size
[01:03:17.330]to several inches and the closed-cell foam is a good way
[01:03:20.680]to seal up those larger spaces.
[01:03:23.630]It's cheap, lasts a long time, does a good job.
[01:03:27.600]Very important to seal up where the aeration system
[01:03:30.250]comes into a facility or you're just blowing air out,
[01:03:33.550]losing your fumigant, and letting the insects in.
[01:03:36.943]We've moved out to Frontier's big steel bin.
[01:03:40.140]These are fairly new bins and very well maintained
[01:03:44.230]and good quality bins.
[01:03:46.310]I want to talk about the clean out that they're doing
[01:03:48.910]on the inside of this bin, to the finish of that
[01:03:51.820]so we can refer back to it.
[01:03:54.172]As you can see, they're removing
[01:03:55.740]last year's long-term storage material out
[01:03:59.060]of the bottom of the bin.
[01:04:00.060]They have a large sweep auger,
[01:04:03.670]one of the zero-entry sweep augers that makes it possible
[01:04:07.258]to move that material out without individuals going in
[01:04:11.450]and doing a lot of work on the inside.
[01:04:14.060]When you're cleaning out a bin, you want to make sure
[01:04:15.720]that you remove all of last year's grain
[01:04:19.120]that resided in the bin and where the insects have
[01:04:21.710]probably spent the winter in there.
[01:04:24.060]If you can get rid of all of that old material
[01:04:26.440]then you start with a new group of insects
[01:04:28.830]for the next year.
[01:04:30.040]We want to start from zero on our insect population.
[01:04:33.600]So cleaning out is really worth your time
[01:04:35.953]and your money spent to do that.
[01:04:38.457]You want to sweep as much as possible out.
[01:04:40.990]We want to be sure we removed any molding material
[01:04:44.010]or the old grain that would attract more insects
[01:04:47.660]or maybe even pollute your next year's grain
[01:04:50.693]that you're going to put inside.
[01:04:52.720]So, safety-wise, don't go in without everything being
[01:04:56.570]locked out and tagged out.
[01:04:58.720]If we look at our incidents recently,
[01:05:01.220]or even over the past couple of years,
[01:05:03.630]the biggest percentage of our deaths in grain bins
[01:05:06.170]has happened when there has been equipment energized
[01:05:09.090]while the individual's inside the bin.
[01:05:12.100]Not only is it the law but it's also safety-wise
[01:05:16.560]just really important that you lock out and tag out
[01:05:19.620]before you enter into a grain bin.
[01:05:21.940]That means everything energized except your aeration system
[01:05:24.817]and your lighting system needs to be de-energized
[01:05:27.970]and locked out, tagged out.
[01:05:30.260]Please go over that with your employees and any other people
[01:05:33.910]who are working around your facility.
[01:05:35.720]It's just paramount that we de-energize that bin.
[01:05:40.450]Some other things we want to talk about
[01:05:42.160]on this bin are how they've done a good job
[01:05:44.170]of sealing this bin for aeration.
[01:05:47.030]We can look around their aeration,
[01:05:50.160]the transition going into their bin,
[01:05:52.860]and it's been sealed well so fumigant will stay inside,
[01:05:56.160]the insects stay out.
[01:05:58.150]Another thing, this time of year is a good time
[01:06:00.300]to inspect the outsides of your bin for structural issues.
[01:06:06.000]During the winter, many times things shift
[01:06:09.350]so we may have weather things that happen to our bins,
[01:06:13.130]or maybe just age takes over.
[01:06:15.540]But the things you want to inspect are the concrete areas,
[01:06:19.530]do they have cracks in them, has there been any flaking?
[01:06:23.800]We need that integrity to be really strong and sound
[01:06:27.680]because that's the foundation of our bin.
[01:06:30.520]If we look up, the walls of the bin,
[01:06:32.620]it needs to be straight.
[01:06:34.310]The stiffeners need to be all in a line.
[01:06:37.320]One thing that we really need to pay a lot of attention to
[01:06:40.550]is whether it's missing any bolts.
[01:06:42.770]Those bolts, when a bolt is missing,
[01:06:46.960]it indicates two things.
[01:06:48.510]It can either be the bolt broke or the bin shifted
[01:06:51.690]and pulled that bolt loose.
[01:06:54.237]The bolt breaking is the best thing that could happen.
[01:06:56.490]You don't want that bin moving and shearing your bolts.
[01:06:59.790]So replace those with good grade bolts,
[01:07:03.520]usually American-made bolts we get a little longer use
[01:07:07.210]out of them.
[01:07:08.130]So grade five, grade eight, bolts are required.
[01:07:11.460]Get with your bin manufacturer, they can help
[01:07:13.310]you make that decision.
[01:07:14.300]It is really a good time, right now
[01:07:17.020]when you don't have grain in the bin to check
[01:07:19.890]to see if you're missing any bolts.
[01:07:21.540]That keeps your grain in, keeps your bin integrity in place,
[01:07:25.910]keeps the fumigant and air inside.
[01:07:28.570]Just for the longevity of your bin,
[01:07:30.193]it's important that it has all the bolts in place.
[01:07:34.700]When we were inside the flat storage building, we looked at
[01:07:38.308]and talked about the vent spacing and the vents
[01:07:42.250]that are required for an aeration system.
[01:07:44.730]We're outside, looking at a big steel bin now
[01:07:47.320]and this is a really good example of venting,
[01:07:50.700]proper venting for an aeration system.
[01:07:53.980]The vents down at the eaves are passive vents
[01:07:56.923]because they're elbow vents.
[01:07:58.610]Each one is about one to one-and-a-half square foot
[01:08:02.200]of surface area.
[01:08:04.740]That allows the air coming in to the bin
[01:08:06.920]to go back out of the bin.
[01:08:09.614]The one up at the top, the larger vent with the fan in it
[01:08:13.130]is a powered exhaust vent.
[01:08:16.540]It's job is to take the condensation out of the headspace.
[01:08:20.680]It's job is not to go through any of the aeration come in
[01:08:25.743]from the bottom, it's not big enough to do that.
[01:08:28.570]But they're very important in getting rid
[01:08:31.500]of the condensation that forms up in the top of that bin.
[01:08:36.250]You'll notice that the powered vent is up at the peak,
[01:08:39.320]while the passive vents are down close to the eave
[01:08:42.950]and that's a really good way to locate those vents.
[01:08:48.040]One thing we want to consider from a safety standpoint
[01:08:51.220]year round is truck traffic around the facility,
[01:08:54.010]but particularly at harvest time.
[01:08:56.760]Our truck traffic increases just a lot at harvest time.
[01:09:02.530]Here we have a truck that's dumping.
[01:09:05.030]He's already been over the scales
[01:09:07.070]and when he finishes his dump, he'll go back
[01:09:09.350]over the scales to weigh out.
[01:09:11.720]Truck traffic can be very heavy and everybody is in a hurry
[01:09:15.980]at harvest time.
[01:09:17.460]So watching the truck patterns as they move in and out
[01:09:21.210]of a facility is critical and warning people who walk
[01:09:25.720]around a facility is paramount, so that they're aware
[01:09:29.600]that truck traffic is heavy and to watch out for trucks.
[01:09:35.850]Here we are, out of the wind
[01:09:37.270]in the concrete house here at Frontier.
[01:09:40.130]This facility is a really good example
[01:09:42.560]of how a facility grows through the years.
[01:09:44.660]They have their old traditional annex-style concrete silos.
[01:09:50.150]They have a couple of new McPherson-style concrete houses,
[01:09:54.760]they also have the steel bins that we were at,
[01:09:57.087]and the flat storage.
[01:09:59.250]Management of a facility like this is pretty complex.
[01:10:03.740]We have our traditional bin board here.
[01:10:06.350]Keeping that bin board current is really important
[01:10:09.567]for the management in a facility.
[01:10:12.030]Everybody needs to communicate about where the storage is
[01:10:16.000]in the facility and what's going in and out.
[01:10:18.647]From a management standpoint, knowing how long that crop
[01:10:22.440]has been in a particular bin is really critical.
[01:10:26.190]If we hold product through the winter and on into the spring
[01:10:30.870]knowing what the challenges are in a particular silo
[01:10:33.730]is kind of an art.
[01:10:35.800]The longer the product is in storage, the more problems
[01:10:39.207]it can give us, the more risk that you take financially.
[01:10:43.260]Concrete bins are notorious for being very stable,
[01:10:47.280]their walls can be as thick as four foot,
[01:10:49.850]so they insulate quite well.
[01:10:52.110]That being said, if you put wet material
[01:10:54.700]inside a concrete bin, you've got even bigger problems.
[01:10:58.180]It can expand enough to crack the bin.
[01:11:02.920]Of course, on a steel bin, that's really a bad thing
[01:11:05.320]to have happen.
[01:11:06.153]Soybeans are notorious for swelling when they're too wet
[01:11:09.930]and could actually completely collapse the bin.
[01:11:12.980]Concrete bin can be aerated.
[01:11:15.500]It's a little harder to do that because of the height
[01:11:18.830]and the static pressure by the tall structure
[01:11:22.912]but they can be aerated and they're very successful
[01:11:25.930]when it's designed properly.
[01:11:28.040]From a fumigation standpoint,
[01:11:29.750]a closed-loop fumigation system is very effective
[01:11:32.710]on a concrete structure and it's very easy to install.
[01:11:36.330]What the closed-loop system does in a concrete silo
[01:11:40.440]is it re-distributes the fumigant,
[01:11:44.120]which is a very hard thing to do in a really tall structure.
[01:11:47.660]So it takes that gas from the top headspace
[01:11:50.420]and reinserts it back in the bottom of the bin,
[01:11:53.110]and we get a better kill.
[01:11:54.600]Insects are notorious to live in any of the access points,
[01:11:58.670]which are going to be up at the top,
[01:12:00.520]any of your side unload spouts.
[01:12:03.850]Particularly down below the concrete silos
[01:12:07.810]where the discharge is at the bottom,
[01:12:11.080]insects love to live down in that area.
[01:12:13.700]It's easy access for them.
[01:12:15.130]It's hard for us to clean out that point.
[01:12:18.200]They really like to set up housekeeping there.
[01:12:20.600]So a closed-loop system will allow you to get that gas down
[01:12:23.890]into the bottom of the silo and kill those populations
[01:12:28.345]that have exploded down at the unloading points.
[01:12:31.380]When you were growing up, your mother probably told you
[01:12:33.580]that cleanliness is next to godliness.
[01:12:35.970]Well, in the grain industry, it's next to insectlessness.
[01:12:40.490]Insects love to live in spoiled grain,
[01:12:43.290]so cleaning and sweeping up spills is really important
[01:12:47.920]so they don't have a place to harbor.
[01:12:50.620]Of course, their next step is to go inside your bin
[01:12:54.080]for even a better dinner.
[01:12:55.730]Cleaning up those spills as we dump grain
[01:12:58.210]or move grain is just really important
[01:13:00.140]from a trip and fall aspect as well.
[01:13:04.092]A broom is our friend.
[01:13:06.300]Our friend here in the video is doing a great job
[01:13:09.080]of cleaning up whatever spills from that truck
[01:13:11.500]that we just dumped.
[01:13:12.850]It's very important to keep these spills cleaned up
[01:13:15.380]every time because they can sure build up
[01:13:17.870]in a long day of emptying grain.
[01:13:21.072](upbeat music)
[01:13:28.090]We've covered a lot of material in this training.
[01:13:30.860]We hope that the information presented here today
[01:13:33.130]makes you take a look at your practices involving fumigation
[01:13:36.480]and that it can help you continue your work
[01:13:38.510]in a safe and effective manner.

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PSEP Fumigation Recertification

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