Corn mostiure at harvest

john in la · Nov 30, 2018

Being a person that knows only what I read or hear from others about row crops let me ask you guys a question.

I often see on here you guys talking about waiting to harvest until the crop dries down as much as it can in the field.
With all this talk one can only assume you guys do not believe the university study on a thing called phantom yield loss where it is better to harvest the corn early at 20 to 25% moisture and pay the drying fee.
The Right Moisture to Harvest Corn

Bob Bancroft · Nov 30, 2018

I prefer low 20's. Drying is slow above 25. I had corn get to an unusual 16-17 in the field this year, and I could see shelling at the header. Nothing phantom about that!

But as with many things, it's not as simple as it may appear. Test weight is affected by when, and how, and how fast grain is dried. As well as grain quality/crackage/fines.

Something I don't ever see the experts address, is how much extra fuel, time, and wear and tear handling wet grain[water] results in.

JD Seller · Nov 30, 2018

John as soon as the corn gets under 22-23% we start harvesting for market. Once it is under 30% we harvest for feed.

The yield loss is a fact. It also gets worse in a wet fall like this one too. The longer the corn is unharvested the more starch is lost by the ear/plant using a small percentage of
it.

We harvested dryer corn this year because of field conditions. On one field we harvested about half of it at 21% and then got four inches of rain in the next two weeks. So we finished the field three weeks later. The yield dropped from 268 BPA to 255 BPA. The moisture dropped to 16%. Additional ear drop and the plant using starch did the rest.

Around here the PEAK yield is right around OCT 1 on average.

flying belgian · Nov 30, 2018

I'll start at 24%. I do everything myself on 400 acres so if I don't get going I'm not going to get done. Usually have 1/3 my corn out by time beans are ready.

centash · Nov 30, 2018

The right time to harvest corn is a moving target dependent upon cost of drying, progressive yield loss, price of corn, ability of variety to stand, time of year....so any university study has taken the average of these variables.....which may or may not be applicable to any given harvest.
Ben

JohnS1970 · Nov 30, 2018

Bob, you've said a lot in your last sentence. Pretty sure everybody on this post has harvested more bushels in their lifetime than many, many experts. A lot of harvesting operations in farming are hitting the best average and hoping the weather doesn't mess with you too much.

Corn mostiure at harvest

john in la

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Bob Bancroft

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JD Seller

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flying belgian

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centash

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JohnS1970

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