bulk grain storage ideas

[sawfish99]

I am considering bulk grain delivery for our farm, but need to figure out storage first. For anyone else who is using bulk grain, what is your storage solution and pros/cons of the setup. Pictures would be great and details about how much you can hold in the container as well.

Ideally, I would like to have bulk storage of goat feed, 2 varieties of chicken feed, 2 varieties of horse feed, and possibly rabbit feed. 1 centralized storage area would be ok. I prefer to make stuff myself and also prefer to make it portable (as in, if we move able to take to the next farm).

 

[20kidsonhill]

we are using the plastic 55 gallon barrels, and cutting the top off of them, We get a ton of feed at a time (40 x 50lb bags) and each barrel can hold close to 300lbs of feed(6 bags).

But I am sure there are some wooden bins that you can make that would work for you. I have seen some nice ones at other farms.

 

[Roll farms]

We use old freezers.

 

[Goatherd]

Like 20kids, I use the 55 gal barrels, just in metal. These were food-grade barrels that held juice so no chemicals to worry about. Bought them from a person on CL. Works great and no problems with moisture damage or rodents.

 

[sawfish99]

I found a local dealer that sells 3ton silos for about $1700 delivered. I am considering 1 for chickens, 1 for horses, and 1 for goats. It would take about 3 years in savings from purchasing the bulk vs bagged feed to recover the cost. Of course, if I continue to expand the farm, I recover the cost faster...

 

[sawfish99]

I already use a lot of barrels around the farm for various projects. I am really looking for something that a grain truck can fill instead of buying bags by the ton.


Roll - The freezer idea is interesting. Do you ever have problems with the bottom layer of the feezer grain being spoiled?

 

[20kidsonhill]

How long will it take you to use 3 tons of feed? Our feed mill has to have a minimum of 3 tons to deliver it in bulk, otherwise we have to buy it in bags.

If we get a bag at a time it is 11.50 right now.
if we get half a ton, 20 bags, it is a 50 cents per bag savings
and if we get 1 ton, 40 bags, it is 1 dollar per bag savings.


We don't use enough feed most of the year to justify 3 tons, It only keeps for about a month in the summer months.

 

[sawfish99]

Our mill will deliver in 1.5 ton increments (about a 9-12 month supply) and I can mix and match various products to increase the delivery. For goat and chicken feed, buying in bulk I would save about $5 per 50lb bag.
I was looking at the 3 ton silo because it is the smallest available but still give room to exand if I add more animals.

 

[autumnprairie]

I have several of the heavy plastic water or industrial soap containers 250 gal I think, I am pretty sure they hold about 1/2 ton of feed but I would have to go get it several of those would work nicely I think. I like the freezer idea too.

 

[20kidsonhill]

Our mill will deliver in 1.5 ton increments (about a 9-12 month supply) and I can mix and match various products to increase the delivery. For goat and chicken feed, buying in bulk I would save about $5 per 50lb bag.
I was looking at the 3 ton silo because it is the smallest available but still give room to exand if I add more animals.

9 to 12 months is a long time to keep feed in storage in a silo or even in bags for that matter. Have you asked your feed mill how long they would expect the feed to keep?