Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Here's where I've been...

The promised video of our bin going up.  Sorry - no cool soundtrack.  (The crane was for the roof auger.) 

The bin is 42' diameter, 42,000 bu., approximately 56' at the peak.



The camera I used is here.


Photos were taken every minute and the camera shuts off at night.  I edited out the weekend.  There is no viewfinder, so I had to check the video after it was shot.

I was really impressed with iMovie for editing.  Very easy to learn. I got it made in about 30 minutes from the avi files. Maybe later I'll add comments or music.

My thanks to my old friends at Yardstor in Ridge Farm, IL.   And the folks at Cargill.

Special thanks to Erich and Aaron.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

John nice bin--hey did you know somebody put an cargill advertising sign on it???////// now we as you rent a fair bit of ground and have storage for all our owned ground plus a little,,I always had concerns on losing rental ground and then what do I do with storage??? or do you figure on being savy enough too pick up extra ground if that happens?? lastly,,,with terrific prices the past few years I questioned about wisdom of storing lots of grain with only a small carry,but you must have a different view ((and finally I will concede that you have a lot better marketing-business plan than I)---still a nice bin and you are always first in line-regards-kevin

John Phipps said...

kevin:

Gosh - I hadn't noticed the sign!! What the heck? Actually, that's why I can guarantee corn going over $4.75 in the next 3 years.

We build bins because we farm with tiny equipment, and do not farm outside our township. Our theory is keep a 6 row combine on station 95% of the time and then haul the grain out at leisure. (Now that Aaron's home that would be my leisure). We're too far from our elevator to keep up with any machine.

Grain bins are a sunk cost, so not using them doesn't bother me. However, we try very hard to not lose rented land: we pay top-market prices, improve the land, and work to make the owner feel we are caring for the property better than any other competitor. So far, so good.

We also buy land when it's next to us. I think we just put the top of the market in this summer, BTW.

Keith said...

Nice job on the movie, John! Much "smoother" than the one I posted. I think I'm going to have to buy one of those garden cameras. I can think of all kinds of uses for it.