Call me crazy, but I just had an idea for a corn crib. I think I know where I can buy an old cotton wagon that has the wire cage sides on it. It also has tandem axles front and rear. This about a 35' long by 8' wide rig. It seems to me if a man made a roof for it, and put some vertical supports toward the middle of the wagon frame, this would make a good crib. It has a solid metal floor which could be overcome by covering the floor with pallets to allow for airflow from the bottom. Of course the roof would need to have doors to open for elevating corn into the wagon/crib. There would always be room for improvements down the road for a floor conveyor and such. What are your thoughts? I appreciate all comments and criticism. Thanks, David
I don't know if weight capacity would be a problem, but I would check that first. I think ear corn weighs about 28 pounds per cubic foot, so it would be pretty easy to figure the weight depending on the height of the wagon. If you know the brand of the wagon, it should be easy enough to find the weight capacity online to check against the weight of the ear corn. Remember to add a little weight allowance for the roof and other "after-market" additions in your ciphering. Even if the weight capacity is sufficient for ear corn, you might consider anchoring it side-to-side. I am not familiar with cotton or its implements, but ear corn might be more of a top-heavy load, and subject to tipping in high wind conditions.
Keeping it off the ground will minimize rodent issues and make scooping into your grinder or sheller much easier (over and down instead of picking up each scoop). Portability would be a plus, as well. Keep us up to date on your progress.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think all of the old corncribs were no wider than 6 feet. If you got any wider than that I think there was issues with corn not drying properly and or molding. However I don't know if two more feet would make that much of a difference I don't have much experience putting corn in cribs maybe some of the more seasoned veterans on here could help you with that .
Valid point, depending on Kentucky's climate and the moisture percentage of the corn when it is picked. We have corncribs in Iowa that come in all shapes, sizes, and building materials. Our round squirrel cage cribs are 16 foot diameter with concrete floors and a corn tunnel across the middle of the floor (no vertical flume). We usually wait until the corn is 19 percent moisture or lower to pick, but since we only pick about 10 acres each year (combine the rest to shell corn), we don't have to push the calendar and the moisture. We usually have a little mold in the ears right down on the concrete, but it doesn't really spread up into the rest of the corn. Our single crib, which has a lean-to for equipment storage on the north side, hasn't held ear corn for years. It is 6 feet wide, but with a wood floor. I don't remember any mold issues in that one, but it has been a while. Both uncles had the bigger barn-style cribs with two cribs on each side, a drive-through lane in the middle, and overhead bins for small grains. The crib sections are wider than 6 feet. One uncle had a concrete floor, with the same minor mold issues as our squirrel cage floors. The other uncle had wood floors elevated on concrete foundations, but I don't remember if he had spoilage issues or not.
There are still several of the old round concrete corncribs standing in our area of southwest Iowa. They had holes for air flow, and appear to have been built similar to concrete silos. Most have two round cribs connected with a roof across the top and equipment storage in the middle, and appear to be about 16 feet in diameter. I have also seen a couple with 4 interconnected round cribs under the same roof. I always heard that air flow and spoilage was a problem in those, but they sure look neat.
Iowa has pretty cold, dry winters, which allows for good drying before spring humidity. We always filled roofed cribs to the top to keep snow from blowing on top of the corn. When we built snow fence corn rings, we always used them first, so they didn't really have time to spoil. How is the climate in Kentucky? If you don't have a good drying season, you might make sure that the corn has dried well in the field before you pick it. Probably 19 percent moisture or lower, but much below 15 percent and it will be shelling in the picker.
Our winters are cold but probably not bitterly cold as you might experience further north. As for moisture, we have low humidity for the most part. We have more rain events during the winter months as compared to snow you guys see further north. I probably wouldn't fill the crib/wagon completely full. Possibly 3/4 full in height which would be maybe 5' high.
You might consider filling it to the roof, but only filling 25-30 feet of length. I know that will concentrate your weight unevenly on the wagon chassis, but it usually works better to fill roofed corncribs all the way to the roof. That way, moisture (rain or snow) only runs off of the vertical sides of the corn in the crib, rather than getting on top of the corn and wetting the whole pile. Less corn gets wet, and that wet corn dries down faster.
