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TONICA, Ill. — Bill Sherman III made the decision several years ago to invest in on-farm storage and now enjoys the flexibility and harvest efficiency the system provides.
The fourth-generation corn and soybean grower and his father put up their first grain storage bin on his father’s nearby homestead in the early 1990s and another on his own homestead in 2001. Since that time, the Shermans continued to work with GSI and add on to the storage system.
The main farm location now consists of nine dry and wet bins, continuous flow dryer, dump pit, overhead load-out, conveyors and total storage capacity of 350,000 bushels. He also has another 250,000 bushels at other farms, including his dad’s home place.
“Some of them on the other farms we’ll put dry corn in from here, and we also put soybeans in some of them. I also raise seed soybeans and I store some of those. It just depends on the situation,” Sherman said.
Long-Term Plan
He recommends expanding over time rather than an all-at-once investment.
“I did not want to add bins all at once. I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money at one time, so we added as we could afford. You could spend a lot of money and lose land that you rent or something like that, so we did a little bit at a time and added as time went by. We have also added more land to our operation over time,” he added.
The big step was made in 2013 when a GSI continuous flow dryer, additional grain storage and grain legs were installed on Sherman’s home site.
One year later, Sherman had an overhead load-out bin installed. Another bin was added in 2019.
“I got tired of drying corn in drying bins. It’s pretty slow plus the capacity is very time-consuming and it’s a lot of work,” Sherman said.
“This is our central drying location and we haul out of that bin and fill other bins with dry corn, therefore you don’t have to be checking and it’s easy to watch this one here and run it, especially at night here where I live. It’s worked out very well.”
Continuous Flow Dryer
Sherman’s interconnected system through GSI is centered on a continuous flow dryer. A wet holding bin is connected with the continuous flow dryer and when the dryer “calls” the corn from the wet holding bin is moved into the dryer.
The dryer holds 1,875 bushels of corn and rated to remove five points of moisture from that amount of corn in one hour. As the corn dries down, the dryer automatically unloads the corn and moves it to another designated storage bin.
The drying system features a GSI Vision dryer control system allows operators to modify plenum and grain temperatures on-screen. The Vision system features a low voltage safety circuit and a safety disconnect on every dryer.
Each safety is monitored individually and its status displayed on-screen. The system also tracks the dryer’s history and all shutdowns are logged with time and date information.
GSI’s optional Watchdog software program allows remote monitoring of dryer functions such as moisture, temperature and dryer status from a web-accessible device.
The load-out has a 5,500 bushel capacity and can load 1,000 bushels onto a truck in a couple of minutes.
“Our bins are plumbed into the dry leg which can shoot the grain into the overhead for load-out when we haul out to market it. It’s very handy. It’s probably the some of the best money I spent because with us having the bins at other farms you can run the dryer and put the corn directly from the dryer to the load-out and have a guy filling the bins on the other farms as the dryer is drying. You don’t have to handle it again,” Sherman said.
One recommendation Sherman emphasized for those looking into upgrading with a dryer is electricity availability at the site.
“We’re at the end of the line here. I probably would have built a bigger dryer but I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get enough power for the next size. Power availability is the most critical part. If you can’t get the power you might as well forget it,” he said.
Quick installation
T&S Quick Enterprises at Blackstone, a GSI dealer, installed Sherman’s grain storage system over the years, providing the continuity needed to add-on over the years.
“I got started with GSI because Quick Enterprises had done some work on a grain system for a friend of mine and he said he was pleased with the work they did that included installing a continuous flow dryer,” Sherman said.
“Quick Enterprises’ service and everything is very, very good. I’ve had their service people come here at 10 o’clock at night if I needed something and they got me going. They do everything they can to help you. They carry parts for the dryer. You can’t ask for much more than that.
“Another nice thing is they do the concrete work, the bin erection and they can also wire it for you if you’d like. That meant a lot to me, just talking to one business. When you build the next bin they know what they did the previous time with wiring and different things. That’s one reason I went with them. I’ve been happy with them. I’ve been happy with the GSI bins and GSI dryer.”
Sherman has found numerous advantages to investing in grain storage, drying and load-out system on his own farm.
“Our family operation does not have livestock so having grain storage on the farms gives us the flexibility to market our grain anyplace. You’re not locked into one elevator and it also lets me haul it, so it gives me work to do to spread out my workload throughout the year to keep me busy. That’s another advantage,” he said.
“I have three semi-trucks and it provides work for them. We don’t do any work for hire, we just haul our own stuff.
“My philosophy is instead of writing a check to a grain elevator to do the work for you; I would rather do the work myself, control my own destiny, my own hours and build equity in my own grain system.”