Cleaning Rotten Corn in the Harvestore

[@whitebored7193]

Thanks for the video! I've been in many Harvestores and usually after I left them, they were NEVER that clean again! I just posted this in your 2012 look inside a Harvestore video and thought some of your viewers would enjoy reading about how a Harvestore is built. After an hour or so of trying to remember details, here are my memories of being a "Profesional Builder" of Harvestores, some 40 years ago at Valley Harvestore Systems, Hawley Minnesota. "Thanks for the video! 40 years ago when I was in college, I used to build Harvestores. I think that we built 60 of them that summer. It was a great job, working dawn to dusk, with only rainy days off. No time to spend money! We worked on commission, so the more we finished, the more money we made. In the late 70's and early 80's there was a big push to get big or get out of farming. Lots of new barns with milking parlors. I think we had seven guys on the crew, two inside pushing bolts and applying two lines of sealer (above and below each row of bolts), two with air wrenches and two with hand torque wrenches. I may be dead wrong, but I think it was 150 ft/lb of torque they were set at... as for the sealer, it was in caulking tubes and applied with a caulking gun. I think it was called A.O. Smith Sealer#79... if it got on your clothes, it was there for good! We wore playtex gloves and used baby powder to keep from blackening anything we touched. When we got to the farm site, there was a "tub" a concrete foundation with a short ring of glass covered steel, and pallets with the blue glass fused to steel sheets, bags of bolts washers & nuts. The BIG ones had over 10,000 bolts. The first thing we did was measure the tub ring for consistency, to make sure it was aligned and circular. I think that we had one that we refused to build on because of the contractor's bad job with the tub. We then put up the scaffolding, which was +/- 4' off the ground, depending on the site. We would then put the screw jacks PTO/wench inside the tub and mount them to the floor and fasten the first ring together, making sure the Flag and nameplates were facing the direction that the farmer wanted, then we would build the roof, the white steel panels. After the roof was complete we would jack it up and put in the next 5' high ring, until it was complete. The top rings were the thinnest steel and the bottom the heaviest, so each skid had the pannels in order. The panels were moved up to the scaffolding with an electric winch. The wench motor was in the center of the tub and the cable went up the center and was guided on a dolly, with rolled on top of the roof, Each row of bolts were pushed out from inside and a washer and a nut screwed on, then tightened with the air wrenches and torqued with the wrench, then the sealer that was flattened out by the tightening was smoothed over like caulk, with our platex glove covered fingers, so there were no gaps, inside or outside the structure. I think that before the bags were installed, we would pressure test the Harvestore by pumping air in and one man on a dolly would spray soapy water over all the seams to see if there were any leaks and if there were they were sealed. Thanks for the chance to test my memory! BTW, I was born on a farm but from 6 years old, lived in town. I helped out now and then with farm work, was in the FFA, but it just was not the time to START farming in the mid 70's. I ended up being a golf course greenskeeper for 10 years, screwed up my back and now I've been a university librarian for 20+ years."

[@andywintz959]

A lot of respect to your mom! She was working hard!

[@workhardlivefree3818]

Giving Kudos and a shout out to Your Mother... That Woman is a machine!!!

[@step2191]

Indeed!

[@jenncox2642]

Farm women are some of the strongest women there are. Your Mom ROCKS. I am always amazed....my 4 foot 8 aunt could work most grown men into the ground and then cook, clean, and raise 3 huge sons.

[@ronaldspruill2247]

@@jenncox2642 That was before millennials came along!

[@MatthewHoag77]

Now *THAT* is a Dirty Job! I hope you are feeling okay after all of that nastiness. Good to see everyone pitching in to help. Yay, teamwork!

[@dwaynemurphy814]

What a family, Dad and mom always their to lend a helping hand. Got to love a farming family.

[@JimEstep12071]

Glad to see you all taking care of your lungs!

[@cassiuspuckett8789]

OMG!!! That's a job I always hated, cleaning a harvestore for the next years crop. Cause there was no way to do it easy. You work and shoveled, and pitched all by hand till it was cleaned out. Very hard work, and you were glad when it was done. Nice video Ryan. Thanks for sharing....

[@bethfrazier414]

Good hard work never hurt nobody. Shoveling a 30 to 40 pound load is a good core exercise as long as not throwing it too far. My Yoga daughter constantly reminds me when I shovel ice and snow off the driveway, my “core needs work”. Haha Love your vids

[@samson1200]

Tell your daughter you are a slow learner and ask her to demonstrate the proper way to shovel all the stuff.... repeatedly. lol

[@pup9et]

Your mom is a hard working women. Bless her heart.

[@d6joe]

Take the air floor out of the bad bin when you take it down. Put it in the harvestor. Cut a hole for the fan. Then you can give it some air, no more rotten corn.

[@rigmover158]

d6joe you can bolt a fan to the door easily. But I’d rather have them sealed still

[@robwillingham2235]

Very impressed with how hard your mom works! Seems like a good woman!

[@tonyburelle6633]

Man, no one can say you're not hard workers, that's an ass busting job, the kind I always put off as much as I could, but in the end, you do what needs doing on the farm regardless of smell, thanks for a reminder of the " good old days "

[@laurasanbei7603]

Absolutely love how you show us everything it takes to live/work on a farm. You guys are amazing.

[@tomcox6737]

Ryan, as you noted, Harvestores are mostly antiques. Having a little bit of Harvestore experience, I may know my answer before I ask, but it would seem to me that harvestores with a minor amount of modification, such as roof venting, grain-bin flooring and fans, they could be excellent dry grain bins.

[@mikedobson2988]

Thanks for the videos, and kudos to your mom for pitching in.

[@HM-0410]

Lots of love to your mom for shoveling that big pile of rotten corn. You need to find a old massage therapist after shoveling all the corn. A family that works together stays together. As always another great video. When will the videos you traveled doing be coming out and will they be on your you tube channel or another channel? Looking forward to harvest time. Always enjoy your videos at this time.

[@edniemyjski3303]

my neighbor puts 500 bushels of dry corn in the bottom of his harvestor then ads hi-moister on top.then he injects a small tank of co2 gas when silo is full works vary good.

[@patkelly7999]

A team effort, many hands make light work:):)

[@05xlt]

I spent two summers building and tearing down bins and silos. I miss it a lot actually, but I in no way miss the smell of mold corn!

[@jordanroberts1519]

Question Ryan: All this new construction on the farm the last 2-3 years, what is your total plan for the main farm? What buildings need to go down and what do you want in their place? What about your's and Travis's place? Could be a good 'Farm Plan' type video describing what you want, a drone shot with edited markings with you and Travis voicing over what goes where.

[@swissy_2263]

what you need is a false floor, thats what we did to ours and put a fan on the outside, it works well

[@patriots106]

You made my back hurt just watching you guys.

[@bigt6359]

Gotta love farm moms!!!!

[@southernfarmer8526]

Our old grain vac is a headache sometimes but after watching all that shoveling I’ll take it over my back going out again! You’ll find out you got a lot more friends when the word gets out you got one though! Lol

[@HughzieTube]

Rocket can hold the camera steadier than some of the people posting on YT.

[@ginggur17]

Hard graft lads indeed. A job well done.

[@jurassicfever8254]

Three years ago I found your chanel by this video. Amazing what happened since then

[@leol1682]

Very good video Ryan , love all the family at work .

[@doclull1989]

Hey Ryan!! Hey Travis!! That is one job I wouldn't want to do.

[@zachgriggs1264]

Growing up on a farm was fun and a good learning to drive so many other things after my grandpa past away in 2007 we had to sell Bc I was to young to take over the farm I miss it so much

[@andrewash9230]

I'm really enjoying this channel since I found it. It's good for someone who's used to doing even smaller-time farming. Our largest machine is an old IH 1066 Turbo. ;)

[@debelibobo]

Maybe someone mentioned it but I think a little, electric powered garden tiller could help you a lot with "grinding" that moldy corn into smaller chunks that augers can handle with ease...

[@nathanbrodeur]

What I would recommend is giving the bin a pressure washing the bottom 3 rings

[@kevinwillis9126]

Thanks for sharing guys..

[@dav1099]

be a good time to fix that floor sweep in that bin. thanks for posting

[@darylbruning8622]

should have got Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs to help.

[@jetegtmeier71]

love it. after all they always had Mike "Shoveling the pit" LOL

[@tedwpx123]

working mom pretty hard there guys.... ,I know everyone pitches in on the tough jobs

[@jeffkuipers1030]

OH I SO REMEMBER THOSE DAYS WHEN I WAS FARMING AND HAD TO DO THE SAME THING (hated it so much).

[@chucklesx]

Would you think of getting a local fabrication company to make up an internal cone to install in the bottom of the harvestore? It would at least stop the build up of corn around the edges.

[@taco44051]

That does seem a good idea to me! But I'm no farmer. Makes me wonder why the bottom of the silo isn't a cone shape?

[@ernestdougherty3162]

Yo mama good video Ryan your mama jumped right in there and helped and your dad had the whole family doing it that's great that's what it's all about getting the job done glad to see you got that cleaned out

[@lidsman2221]

The inside walls looked like they had mold and dirt all over them will you be cleaning that off also? Thanks for the video.

[@chrischapman8205]

Look at that beautiful bean footage

[@johnstoffel5885]

Next time you have to do that job get yourself a small electric garden tiller and it will break up those clumps and make shoveling it out much easier.

[@jeffschlagel5632]

Do you guys ever clean the mold off the sides of the silo? Maybe why you have so much rotten corn.

[@Well_I_am_just_saying]

I was thinking the same thing. I just posted a comment a few minutes ago asking if they are going to use a pressure washer on it.

[@dylanbutler6532]

Great video as always Ryan!

[@HowFarmsWork]

Thanks Dylan! You've been randomly selected to receive a free hat! Shoot me an email at [e-mail] for the code!

[@roryfitzsimons5693]

Love ur vidos ryan keep up the good work and be safe around the farm

[@geraldskaggs3903]

Another great video, Mom knows how to work.

[@haydenpeplinski8532]

Hope to see that bin up and running again soon

[@kvandyke252]

Hire a vac truck next time . Would be worth every penny

[@Woodsfarms]

Man I’m glad our harvestor has the 2 speed drag chain style and drag chain sweep over that crummy auger style lol

[@thomaslyon2112]

Man what a rotten job,I thought I missed living on a farm until I watched this vid.thanks for the reminder

[@bluemtnsman]

From 1200 miles away I could smell the stink of rotted corn. UGH!! NEVER underestimate the power of a determined mom. Spreading the mess over a field was a good idea,,, you'll get some nutritional benefit I suspect. Thanks for the tag along video sir.

[@slamjam590]

Easy job. I climb up into a slio every 3 days depending how much i throw down for the cows below. Big fork and a lot of sweat gets about a five foot pile. Corn silage BTW.

[@marknebraska8432]

Thousands of dollars wasted!!

[@slamjam590]

@@marknebraska8432 how so

[@tylereldridge6945]

Roll that beautiful bean footage! Rocket reminds me of Duke too. Haha

[@pyroman6000]

Wow- you guys sure know how to have a good time! Ugh, I remember doing this each year when the corn silage silo emptied out. (concrete stave. top unloader) There'd be several inches of wet STANKY sour silage at the bottom, that we'd have to hand pitch out. Man, what a foul stink... We'd be reeking afterwards- called it Farmer #9, lol.

[@blackangusfarms3871]

U guys never stop working but a farm u have to work !

[@bradchoq]

oh, man, I would've rented a gain vac for that job, but chunks might have not worked very well. Also, Sukup makes a floor, fan, & power sweep kit for harvesters- We have one in a 25' x 34' unit. holds 15400 bushels. took the blower pipe and spout down. We use a 10x71 Westfield auger to fill the structure. Way faster than the blower. Also, the blower damages food grade white too much. IF you feed it, maybe using the blower isn't a bad option. However, you couldn't fill it very full because air doesn't push up through cracked grain very well. They put an air vent in the center hatch of the roof. We also got rid of the air bags to increase capacity and plugged the air bag holes.

[@bryanginder5903]

Have the silo pressure checked to see if the bags are good or not make sure the seals around all the doors an hatches are good that will help on keeping good corn. If you can every year clean around the center gearbox in the center.

[@TheVideoSteve]

Wow … you need a vac/ chopper system for that job, but they sure are pricy. Air floor sounds like the best idea. Lotta hard work by the whole family. Love the American Farmers. Great video......

[@markenge9348]

My uncle had a 24 foot diameter bin dryer for his seed corn. It had a perforated metal floor about 15" above the concrete floor where the air blew under the bin. It always got a lot of rotten corn like you have here. AND being I was the smallest skinniest low man on the totem pole I got the job of crawling under this metal floor on my belly with nothing but a garden hoe to tediously rake every bit of the filth outside the dryer. There were metal supports holding up the floor every couple of feet so that you could only crawl with your arms outstretched above your head and slowly wiggle yourself in and out of the dryer raking the corn out as you go on your belly. After doing this miserable job for a couple of hours I had almost reached the other side of the dryer with my cleaning. It now took several minutes a trip to wiggle in and out. When I was all the way in and under on one of my final trips I hit a nest of yellow jackets which stung me several times before I could back myself out. It was torture but I didn't die of anapolactic shock.

[@spotcorn9338]

I love your videos! Your just so down to earth, love that you guys work together as a family. Just curious what kind of dog is Rocket he is so beautiful?

[@andreww.9939]

Rocket is a golden retriever

[@kb7722]

Brings back childhood memories of our dairy farm... though I had blocked those out for good. Haha

[@jetegtmeier71]

do you need to power wash the inside to get rid of any residual mold or will it be air tight enough when you fill it to prevent any new growth ?

[@deanreinke1148]

I’ve drive down that lane at your first “Farm Day” when I got to go with my “Work Wife”!

[@piquat1]

Protip on the mask. Store it in a zip lock bag, freezer type if you have one. The activated charcoal in the carbon element is ALWAYS sucking contaminants out of the air. It will last longer if you store it sealed.

[@TheFarmersLife]

We have two 50’x20’ Harvestores we store soybeans in. We cut around some green areas during 2013 harvest. Got a little too much green apparently into one silo. Still have crap coming off the wall in 2019, but I think it’s just about gone now.

[@jeremerandles7373]

Thankfully I never had the pleasure of that job on the farm. But reminds me of throwing tires on the plastic covering the trench silo. All that icky nasty water in the old tires! Yuck!!

[@ericleblanc1467]

Always a good idea to wear a mask in those conditions. I only wish all those years ago I was in the hay mow I had wore something also.

[@johnm6279]

Should have just piled it up in the field and burnt it the ash is better for your soil than the rotten moldy corn.....Just passing along some old wisdom. 👍🏻😁

[@ronaldspruill2247]

OMG. Are you kidding? There are moonshiners in N C that would kill for that stuff. 😁

[@willardway3037]

We always piled it up and let it turn into compost for the vegetable garden in the future. Mixed with what we would take from the hog houses. Always had a nice garden when feeding 3 families it took a rather large garden about 5 acers.

[@midweststormchaser3203]

I always enjoy watching this channel, because I learn so much every video. This is so helpful because I would like to do some Hobie farming when the time comes!

[@fitzieindoorsoutdoorsadventure]

I really like your channel because I really like to learn about farming!😀😀

[@nicholass3487]

That looked like a fun job to do

[@jefffiorin]

Great video. Really enjoy them.

[@Well_I_am_just_saying]

Are you going to use a pressure washer to clean the inside walls of the Harveststore? It seems as if it would be pretty easy to do, just a bit messy.

[@glenfredrickson2881]

If you are not filling the harvestor to top put several big pieces of dry ice on top of the corn. When it melts the CO2 will force all the oxygen out the top and then you can seal it up. No oxygen, no mold. Probably be a good idea to have the Harvestor service people check the airbags for leaks when they fix the unloader. Good luck.

[@SLCFarms]

Some mild re-structuring of that wall with a header and you could drive skid loader inside and only shovel once. At least cut out half the work and wouldn’t cost very much to do. Props on all the shoveling.

[@donmcmannamy3409]

Need to someway to put the 2 angers together to span that distance between the two . and once empty powerwash the sides and floor of that thing

[@MikeL-vu7jo]

this is a great one for Mike Roe and the dirty jobs TV show

[@JussiValkila]

We started to harvest oats. Great video!

[@Tractorista44]

Ufff ese trabajo lo he hecho yo y es de lo peor... Buen vídeo Ryan!! 👍

[@SomeGuyFromOttawa]

Wow, the glamours side of farming! 😉. Lol Any plans or removing any of the Harvestores?

[@HowFarmsWork]

Talking about taking down the cement silo, no talk of the harvestores yet

[@MatthewHoag77]

@@HowFarmsWork Will you ever upgrade or fix the bin at your place so you can keep more corn there, since your personal herd is increasing? (Not immediately, just down the road.)

[@jankotze1959]

Action packed, very nice

[@johnhunter273]

Good thing all the pros are providing answers for your farmer! LOL"A little hard work never killed anyone" LOL because all the other work on the farm just might!!

[@kurtherdering6740]

Get a good harvestore corn unit unloader for in there, have a sweep auger in the bottom so it takes the bottom out first. Mold problems solved.

[@rickgregg6026]

Nice to see mom in a video...

[@frostgfx]

Does it make sense to power wash the inside of the harvestore to prevent mold on the metal surfaces or no?

[@joelwindsor525]

We always had the cement silos never had to deal with one of these and from what I've seen glad I never had to

[@EastTexasRanching]

Great video. Best part of a hard job like that is seeing that bare floor.

[@tdgreenbay]

Maybe you fellas should just do dry corn and convert the harvestore to a forage unit..... for corn silage for the calves get you a dry corn bin and crack or grind it for em. My dad used 2 40 foot harvestores for forage along with dry chopped and baled hay for many years from 1952 to the 1990s. The advantages of spreading that down wind means it wont stick to you like sloppy manure ehh. Been in them old harvestores lots cleaning out and painting the floors every year with linseed oil

[@shanemurray1424]

Ever heard of a wheel barrow 😂

[@bigunone]

Does it get moldy because it leaks? While vac maybe expensive how expensive would it be if you guys go down with bad backs?

[@eeeeweeezeee]

I like the perspective from Rocket. Also, thumbs up for PPE! Wear that mask! Don't become old and sick a day earlier than you have to be!

[@theyarddogs4100]

I would think I would make that a priority to clean every year instead of waiting for that big of its clean out. Carl

[@ghavila1766]

I wondered why you didn't just park the bobcat with the bucket just outside the door.

[@3069mark]

I was wondering the same thing. Or even set up the short auger and the spreader outside the door.

[@piperdoug428]

Took Momma Bear to show the young pups "what's what" eh? i was sitting thinking "there's a doorway begging for a loader bucket right there and then mom steps in. And yeah a grain vac is a must you wouldn't need the blower running then, we have around 45 flat bottom bins that get cleaned each year and REM vacs are a game changer.

[@tractorsold1]

We stopped doing that with our silage Harvestore when we kept silage running through it all year. It sure has been a long time since I've done it.

[@watchvidz9771]

Well done - that's really gross, hard work!

[@stuartsplace100]

use to clean out the cement silo where i worked every year after the unloader took out all it could,lots of work

[@oldcroneysgarage9739]

That looks fun