Mother Nature Forces a Change of Plans for Bellingham Farmers Elevator
When Bellingham Farmers Elevator started an expansion project to add a steel tank, outbound truck scale, and grain dryer in the spring of 2022 at its headquarters elevator in Bellingham, MN, little did General Manager Josh Ludvigson know it would grow into a two-year project that included six new steel tanks.
“Our plan for 2022,” explains Ludvigson, “included a new tank to handle the increasing number of bushels our farmers were producing, a second scale to speed up truck traffic, and a large grain dryer to replace a small, outdated dryer.”
Everything changed on May 12, 2022 when winds exceeding 100 mph struck the 5-million-bushel elevator. The new tank, over 75% erected, was destroyed along with five nearby steel tanks.
The cooperative immediately hired Lee Farms Excavating to clean up the downed tanks, which took approximately three weeks. West Side Salvage was brought in to pick up the damaged grain. “We were fortunate,” says Ludvigson, “We only lost about 5,000 bushels of grain.”
Besides the tank under construction and five existing steel tanks, the high winds also tore down a bucket elevator, support tower, and fill conveyors.
Once the damage was assessed, Ludvigson reached out to the project contactor, J&D Construction, Montivideo, MN, to focus on replacing the tank that had been under construction.
Working with the tank manufacturer, Behlen Mfg. Co., J&D erected a 105-foot-diameter tank on the existing foundation of the tank that had been torn down and had it ready to receive corn for the 2022 harvest.
Next on the to-do list was to replace the five tanks damaged by the storm. The cooperative had J&D stay on the site to replace the five damaged tanks.
“We have a long-term relationship with J&D,” says Ludvigson. “ We have used them for all kinds of projects over the years. When we need them, they show up immediately and always give good service.”
Using their existing foundations. work on the five tanks began in late August 2022 and all five were erected by Cross Country Construction by Thanksgiving. In total, the five new Behlen tanks include:
• 105-foot diameter, 95 feet to the eave, and 124 feet to the peak – 771,000 bushels.
• Two 105-foot diameter, 92 feet to the eave, and 120 feet to the peak – 747,000 bushel.
• 105-foot diameter, 78 feet to the eave, and 107 feet to the peak– 650,000 bushels.
• 105-foot diamater, 62 feet to the eave, and 91 feet to the peak – 505,000 bushels.
• 78-foot diameter, 85 feet to the eave, and 106 feet to the peak – 383,000 bushels.
Four of the six flat-bottom tanks have outside stiffeners and 10,000-bph Prairie Land Millwright Bin Gator bin sweeps.
Each 105-foot tank has five 50-hp AGI Airlanco centrifugal fans delivering 1/10 cfm per bushel. The 78-foot tank has four 50-hp AGI Airlanco centrifugal fans delivering 1/5 cfm per bushel. Each tank has a Tri-States Grain Conditioning grain temperature system.
Work on rebuilding the elevator’s grain handling system started in spring 2023. It included a second receiving pit located in a new 70-foot-by-72-foot Ceco Building Systems pre-engineered all-steel receiving building. The 12-foot-x-30-foot pits feeds two new 20,000-bph Schlagel bucket elevators outfitted with 20x8 Tapco HD buckets.
The legs are enclosed in an 18-foot-x-16-foot-x-200-foot Warrior support tower that has a wrap-around stair system.
Once grain is elevated, it goes through an Innovative Ag Products 20,000 bph gravity cleaner prior moving to the three new 105-foot tanks on the site’s south end.
A 20,000-bph Schlagel drag conveyor sends grain to two sets of Schlagel 20,000 bph conveyors, one filling one tank and the other two tanks. A 9 1/2-foot-x-9 1/2-foot-x-114-foot Warrior support tower supports the two conveyors.
Grain is reclaimed from all five tanks by 20,000-bph Schlagel drag conveyors back to the two bucket elevators. The tanks also have side drawoffs for emptying.
Besides the tanks and material handling system, a second truck scale from B-Tek was installed to handle outbound trucks. A CompuWeigh truck scale management system was installed to speed up and automate truck receiving.
A Gamet Apollo truck probe was installed to replace an aging probe. The GSI Zimmerman 10,000-bph grain dryer that was to have been installed in 2022 was up and working for the 2023 harvest.
Now that the project is finally complete, Ludvigson says the elevator is much faster handling farmer’s grain. “The second pit and CompuWeigh truck receiving system has sped up truck traffic through the elevator by 25-30%. Ninety percent of our customers get probed, weighed, dumped, and weighed again in eight to 10 minutes,” he says.
Also in 2023, the cooperative completed a project at its satellite elvator in Louisburg, 8 miles to the east. According to Ludvigson, a 100,000-bushel old wood crib house was torn down, and J&D Construction put in a 91-foot diameter Behlen tank (454,000 bushels), a new truck scale, bucket elevator, and support tower. The project increased the elevator receiving capacity from 10,000 bph to 20,000 bph.