farmgate: Manage Your Crop Carefully As It Entered Storage.
The challenges of the growing season have certainly returned in the form of challenges to the harvest season. Delayed crop maturity; narrow harvest windows; and long lines at elevators which close in the afternoon to dry down the grain they receive in the morning. Farm-stored grain will be a challenge for many producers to keep it in condition, particularly with a heavy dose of mold present in the field, and light test weights due to a pre-mature termination of the growing season. Grain storage management will be a priority for nearly every farmer this fall.
There will be a solution to the issues, and that is the checks that are written for propane and electricity at your bin site. While those are not user friendly, there will be few alternatives according to grain management specialist Charles Hurburgh at Iowa State University. In a recent newsletter he says, “This would not be a good year to take chances that wetter corn will keep and can be absorbed in the spring/summer.” Hurburgh, an ag engineer, and agronomist Roger Elmore urge farmers to consider the shelf life of the grain, which is a function of the moisture and temperature of the grain. Their chart of maximum shelf life ranges from 150 month shelf life for corn at 13% moisture and 40ºF temperature to a 27 day shelf life for corn that is 18% moisture and has a storage temperature of 80ºF. If you have corn at that temperature and 24% moisture, it may go out of condition while you are eating lunch.
Hurburgh says temperature can be held constant with aeration, and unaerated grain will shorten its own shelf life as it gives off heat and moisture as it spoils. Corn with lower tests weights, such as that which has been impacted by diplodia or other fungi, will spoil about twice as fast as corn with higher test weights. And Hurburgh says shelf life will be used up the longer the corn is held in the bin at high moisture before being dried. He says the shelf life of grain will be determined by everything that is done to the grain from the point of harvest.
• Fines and cracked kernels will spoil faster, so check combine settings.
• Grain that starts to heat has used up its shelf life.
• Cool grain quickly and minimize variations between the field and the dryer.
• Aerate wet corn immediately, since overnight storage in a truck can impact the shelf life.
Three phases of aeration are recommended by Hurburgh:
1) Lower temperature by steps: low 40’s in Oct., high 30’s in Nov., and 28-35º in Dec.
2) Maintain temperature with intermittent aeration, 28-35º in Jan. & Feb.
3) Keep grain cold in the spring, seal fans, and ventilate headspace intermittently.
4) Do not store wet corn in bunkers or flat storage where airflow is restricted.
If your harvest progress exceeds your ability to haul corn to the elevator, Hurburgh suggests a phased approach to drying, despite the extra labor involved. He says dry to 17-19% moisture, then finish your drying after harvest is complete. If you are storing for any length of time, keep the corn with the heaviest test weight for the longer haul, and move your lighter test weight corn out as soon as possible. Hurburgh reminds farmers to not mix corn from two harvests because the old crop may have mold that will spread with the help of the warmer and wetter new crop. He also recommends removal of the center core and use a temperature probe every two weeks.
Summary:
Grain storage will be a significant challenge, because of the potential for mold in the harvested grain, and the fact that short harvest windows are forcing a lot of wet grain to be harvested and put into the bin. Grain needs to be aerated and temperature gradually reduced over the next two months to bring the grain temperature down to where it can be held into the spring without spoilage. Wet grain needs to be dried, but with high moisture grain being harvested, a two phase approach may allow some initial drying to retard spoilage, with final drying after harvest is complete.
Posted by Stu Ellis on October 19, 2009 12:00 AM to farmgate