About the experience of storing corn in sleeves
Cygnet, a company that has been operating with grain storage sleeves since 2012, has shared its experience in storing corn.
How to Prepare the Ground and the Grain for Packing?
The company loads corn into grain sleeves as it is the primary crop delivered to the silo. According to Serhii Hutsuliuk, while all grains can be stored in sleeves, oilseeds—such as sunflower and soybeans—must be packed with considerable caution to reduce the risks of grain breakage.
At Cygnet, between 30,000 tons and 180,000 tons of corn are packed into sleeves. Notably, the largest volume at the grain elevator in the village of Andrushky was packed in 2021—108,000 tons into 501 sleeves.
A fields nearest to the grain elevator after a fresh harvest is selected as the site for laying the sleeves (aiming for the minimum possible hauling distance of 5–7 km). The area is disked (to remove stubble) and leveled to eliminate furrows. Regarding the stubble, it must be removed from the field as it poses a fire hazard.
Sleeves are laid at a distance of about 1.5 m from one another. It is best to position the sleeve along a slope—this ensures natural drainage. Consequently, it will not sit in water during rain or snowmelt.
Upon packing, the corn grain must be dry and clean: moisture content at 14.5%, and foreign impurities at 2.0%.
“We dry the corn grain and transfer it to a silo for 24 hours to let it cool down. Then we load it onto grain carts and haul it to the field for packing into polymer sleeves. If this rule is followed, the grain stores well and does not spoil. However, the higher the grain moisture and the ambient temperature during packing into the sleeve, the shorter the grain storage shelf life will be,” says Serhii Hutsuliuk.
Serhii Hutsuliuk identifies the vulnerability of the film to mechanical damage as a downside of this storage method. Although the film is durable (with a thickness of 230–250 µm), it is still not metal—there is a risk of depressurization caused by rodents and birds. However, as Serhii admits, they have not yet encountered such a problem at the “Cygnet-Center” elevator, because they do not keep the grain in the sleeves for an extended period.
“As practice shows, there isn’t such a quantity of rodents in the fields that could heavily damage the sleeves. Furthermore, a mouse can only damage a sleeve at the loading points, where it is insufficiently tightly packed and has folds. This area can be treated with rodenticides. Generally, we consulted specialists on this matter, and for long-term storage, they recommend placing mousetraps between the sleeves (across the entire area). Then the rodents will run toward the bait,” notes Serhii Hutsuliuk.
How is Grain Loaded and Unloaded?
Specialized machinery is required for loading and storing grain in sleeves, namely grain bagging and unbagging machines. Cygnet utilizes three sets of such machines manufactured by the “Kobzarenko Plant” for its two grain elevators.
The operating principle of bagging machines is simple: grain is poured into a receiving hopper, from where it is transported by a screw conveyor into a tunnel and compacted. The unbagging machine also features an auger mechanism.
If you have any questions remaining, please call Oleksandr Chernenko at +38(050)388-83-05, as he knows everything about storage technology in grain sleeves.
Based on materials from Latifundist.com