Having enough storage space to hold grain until the market calls for it is always preferable in the grain business to not having enough space and having to ship shortly after receipt.
That was the situation at Five Star Cooperative’s branch elevator in Scarville, IA (641-568-3351), which added another 790,000 bushels of upright storage in 2021.
“We’re using it for corn this year, and probably for soybeans next year,” says Site Lead Mike Orlowski, who has been with Five Star for five years serving as site foreman at various locations prior to becoming site lead at Scarville early in November 2021. “With the new tank, we won’t have to ship out everything right away.”
The new addition brings total storage at Scarville to 2.33 million bushels.
In addition to the new Sukup corrugated steel tank, Five Star also added a dump pit feeding a 20,000-bph Sukup bucket elevator. “That will speed up the receiving process and help farmers get their crops in before frost,” Orlowski says. “We’ve had issues in the past with truck wait times during harvest, but this addition will work to improve that for our members. We’ve already seen this get better this harvest.”
As contractor and millwright on the project, Five Star awarded a contract worth between $3.5 and $4 million to Hawkeye IA Grain Systems, Hawkeye, IA (563-380-7399). Orlowski notes that Hawkeye was the contractor that built a greenfield elevator for Five Star at Lawler, IA in 2019.
Hawkeye began construction late in June 2021, and work proceeded quickly. The new tank began receiving corn in August, although final work on reclaim systems was just finishing up when Grain Journal visited in early October.
Tank and Leg
The new Sukup corrugated steel tank is 105 feet in diameter. With an 8-foot concrete stem wall, eave height of 99 feet 1 inch, and peak height of 127 feet 9 inches, it’s the largest tank Sukup manufactures in that diameter.
The tank is outfitted with outside stiffeners, flat concrete floor, Sukup 5,000-bph paddle sweep, two sidedraw spouts, and a 24-cable TSGC grain temperature monitoring system. It also includes Greene Galvanized Stairs commercial sidewall stairs and roof safety package. Level indicators may be added later.
The roof is designed with a maximum load capacity of 100,000 pounds, which should be enough to hold whatever winter can throw at it up near the Minnesota border.
Aeration is supplied by four Sukup 40-hp centrifugal fans at 1/7 cfm per bushel through in-floor ducting, with the assistance of nine 2-hp roof exhausters.
Two tanks over from the new one, Hawkeye built a new 900-bushel mechanical receiving pit and a Sukup 20,000-bph receiving leg. The leg is equipped with a single row of Maxi-Lift 18x8 HD-MAX low-profile buckets on 7-1/2-inch centers, mounted on a 20-inch belt. The leg is supported by a Hyland Systems 14-foot-x-14-foot-x-158-foot tower.
The leg deposits grain into a Northland two-way valve. From there, grain travels to storage via Sukup overhead drag conveyors.
After the level of grain in the new tank falls below the sidedraws, grain is deposited through a series of 13 sumps onto a Sukup 10,000-bph drag conveyor in a 7-foot-tall above-ground tunnel. Grain makes its way through a series of above-ground 10,000-bph reclaim drags back to an existing 15,000-bph receiving leg.
Ed Zdrojewski, editor
Five Star Cooperative
New Hampton, IA • 641-394-3052
Founded: 1916
Storage capacity: 28 million bushels at 14 locations
Annual volume: 60 million bushels
Annual revenues: $490 million
Number of members: 2,160
Number of employees: 200
Crops handled: Corn, soybeans
Services: Grain handling and merchandising, feed, agronomy, energy, hardware store
Key personnel at Scarville:
- Mike Orlowski, site lead
- Cory Mathahs, agronomy sales
- Susan Bray, scale operator
Scarville Supplier List
Aeration fans • Sukup Mfg. Co.
Bearing sensors • 4B Components Ltd.
Bin staircase • Greene Galvanized Stairs
Bin sweep • Sukup Mfg. Co.
Bucket elevator • Sukup Mfg. Co.
Catwalk • Hyland Systems, Inc.
Concrete • Larson Construction LLC
Contractor • Hawkeye IA Grain Systems, Inc.
Conveyors • Sukup Mfg. Co.
Electrical contractor • Hare Electric, LLC
Elevator buckets • Maxi-Lift Inc.
Engineering • Raker Rhoades Industrial; Lahey Architects Inc.
Excavation • Ries Excavation, Inc.
Grain temperature system • Tri- States Grain Conditioning Inc.
Millwright • Hawkeye IA Grain Systems, Inc.
Motion sensors • 4B Components Ltd.
Motors • Toshiba International
Roof system • Sukup Mfg. Co.
Speed reducers • Dodge
Steel storage • Sukup Mfg. Co.
Steel tank erection • Lowe-Con Inc.
Surveying • Veenstra & Kimm Civil Environmental Surveying
Tower support system • Hyland Systems, Inc.
Truck probe • Gamet Mfg. Inc.
Valve • Northland Design & Mfg.
