Farmers are harvesting corn and soybeans for storage over winter. Listed below are points to remember to help prepare grain for storage while maintaining its quality.

• Make sure there is good water drainage away from the bin. Leaks at the bottom or through the fan opening will cause damage.

• Clean empty bins of all old grain; clean around the outside of all bins; remove spilled grain and debris and control growth of vegetation around your bins.

Combine or sheller should be cleaned and sprayed at the end of season and again at beginning. Contact your local chemical dealer for an approved product for spraying harvesting equipment, bins and directly on grain.

• Use grain cleaner or fans to take trash out of new grain. Run the aeration fan in your bin when filling. Broken grain will increase the cost of drying and make ideal conditions for a restriction of airflow, insects and spoilage.

• Replace worn out grain augers (150,000 to 200,000 bushels). Worn out augers damage grain.

• Use a spreader in the bin to keep grain level (electric model for wet grain, gravity type for dry grain). Do not cover up opening between bottom of roof and bin wall. If the grain must be peaked in the roof, draw out 100 to 150 bushels after filling or make a dimple in center of the peak. This will stop the chimney effect of air circulation in your bin.

• Dry grain to safe moisture level. Corn and oats should be at 13 percent for storage for nine months or more and wheat and soybeans at 11 to 12 percent (high protein grain has to be dryer).

• If a farmer has a sterile bin, remove 200 or 300 bushels of grain and run it back through the auger into the bin. Be careful to run falling grain past a fan or through a cleaner to take out debris. With sterile systems, debris can accumulate in the center of the bin.

• Cool grain down between 35 to 40 degrees for storage over winter (insects are inactive at these temperatures). In March or April, when outside air temperature reaches 40 to 60 degrees, run aeration fans to warm the grain to equal outside temperatures. Place a thermometer on top of the grain if air is moving upward through the bin or at the fan exit if the air is moving downward to show when the grain reaches your desired temperature.

• Watch batch dryers. Each batch could be dried to different moisture contents. High-capacity dryers' sometimes dry the outer area of corn, but not in the center. Moisture in the center of the grain migrates out after it's put in the bin.

High temperature drying will often cause stress cracks in your corn. Corn will then break up when it is being moved. Some buyers won't take cracked corn.

Also, be aware that temperature adjustments must be made for a moisture test. Having a fan at the grain cleaner's exit is an added plus. Contact your chemical dealer for an ideal time to apply approved materials to grain being transferred to storage bins.

• Cover the fan and unloading auger opening at the bottom of bin to stop air circulation after grain is cooled for storage.

• Airway tubes on walls are a plus when drying. Airway tubes are a must if the drying bin wall panels are sealed on horizontal edges. This eliminates wet corn or walls and future moldy corn.

• Around May 1, treat the top of the grain with insecticide. Vapona strips suspended above grain prevents Indianmeal Moths from coming in to lay eggs.

Luke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.