OPTIMUM SILOS CASE STUDY: COROWA, NSW
In 2017, the Optimum Grain Silos and Augers team met Phillip Clifton and his three brothers and father at their property just north of Corowa, to talk about long-term grain storage solutions for the family mixed-farming business.
By November 2017 we had two silos up, with more to follow in 2018. Phillip describes the transition to storing his grain in silos as “a no brainer.”
“We had been using grain bags, shovelling, tidying up… And we decided to make the leap and transition to storing in grain silos, right on the edge of the 2017 harvest.”
Phillip explains how that year, the barley harvest went straight into their brand new Cyclone silos.
“When you’re running a lot of machinery around the paddocks, you need staff there, making sure everything’s working well, not running trucks into town and back over and over.”
“You have to keep things moving during harvest.”
Even after just one season storing their grain in silos, there was a noticeable difference in cash-flow and logistics for Phillip and his family, who looked at four different manufacturers when making the decision to construct long-term grain storage.
“We looked at options, but we always came back to the Cyclone Silos from the guys at Optimum.”
In addition to the grain silos themselves, the Clifton’s set-up also featured Optimum’s unloading augers; made in house in our workshop in Young, NSW.
“The unloading auger was a great addition.”
To load their silos, Phillip and his family went with the PTO swing away auger, which can unload and get the truck back out onto the paddock in around six minutes.
“Getting the trucks back out quickly is so important.”
“We were running two chaser bins, but now that we’ve got silos we only need to run one, with three trucks rotating between loading, unloading, and transporting.”
In addition to logistical and economic benefits, Phillip shared a few more reasons why he would recommend a Cyclone Silo from Optimum Silos to any Aussie grower.
“We’ve had no issues with bugs or weevils, and with the aeration control unit built in, it’s so easy to cool the stack to temperature where we know it will be safe from moisture and mould damage.”
“Hygiene is important too. The Cyclone Silos are so easy to clean out, two guys go in and it’s done in 40 minutes.”
In wrapping up his chat, Phillip pointed out that they’d left enough room in the paddock to expand their grain storage capacity in the future, and look forward to putting up a few more Cyclone Silos with the team from Optimum Silos in the future.