Dave H, I been thinking

notjustair

Well-known Member
Do you have any hog producers or the like in your area? I would have no problem buying corn that was a little higher in moisture cause this time of year it will keep for the week it would take for the hogs to eat it out of the big feeder. Maybe there's someone close that will buy your corn from the field when it drops a few points, I bought several loads from the field this year that way. This year is one to take it in the shorts for sure. The beans were super spotty and ended up doing just above insurance on most fields. I'm not to excited about the way the winter wheat is starting out, either.
 
Hogs, no. Can't think of anybody with any significant numbers. The biggest livestock operation in the area is a dairy and my wife knows at least one member of that family. She was thinking of asking them. I pointed out that the last time I had extra hay around they sent a guy down who took it and never mentioned paying for it. They also own about a third of the county and do a lot of cropping themselves.

Just out of curiosity, how long will 30% or higher corn stay useable in the winter? If I leave a gravity wagon full of it sitting around is it gonna start to heat inside? I need to keep around 200 bushels for myself. Trying to figure out a way to do it.
 
if temps always stay below freezing , it mite keep fine ,,.if you keep in a wagon ,but you never know what is going on ,, I would rotate to another wagon every week if its no more than,,. 20 percent ,, 30 percent,,best way to keep that corn is on a wood floor platform no more than 2 feet deep ,in the winter monthes only ,, you can take 4 inch sewr plastic pipe , rig up a fan , pour over the coil you don't need to have a outlet ,, you are in Michigan rite ?? ,,why is your corn still 30 percent ,, I always raise some white open pollinated corn , IT don't like to dry down either ,, usually pik on ear , last yr it was flattened by wind and had to shell it ,had 300 bu last yr that the whiskey folx loved ,, said moisture was fine for them ..
 
All the corn in the field around here is 34-36%. I have talked to several people. We had a late Spring, and then it rained a lot. Couldn't get on the fields to till or plant. Mine went in the first week of June. Many planted after I did. I am in good company. Fella down the road's family has been farming so long they have a county road named after them. He planted after I did and it is still standing there. Just the way it is, and I am good with it. I think I stand to learn more this year than if everything went 100% as planned.
 
,dad said ,. ,,As Long AS YOU KEEP TRYING ,,.You are gonna learn somthin new every day , .. just try not to beat yourself up over failed lessons LOl ,,. BUT LEARN THEM ..
 
Dave,

If it was mine and I wanted to keep 200 bushels in a gravity box, I think I would take it to the local elevator, let them run it through the dryer, and then run it back into your wagon. Trying to keep 30% corn any length of time in a gravity wagon will not be easy especially if you get a spell of warm weather. By just paying for drying, you will save the shrinkage and test weight deductions. Now it is possible that your local elevator might not be setup to do this. Anyhow, that would be my suggestion. Good luck.

Al

PS: Also, the late planting was not the only issue this year. We didn't have enough degree days to get the corn to maturity in my part of NE WI. A lot of corn that was planted for grain was sold and chopped for silage by some of the big dairy farmers in my area. A friend of mine who has been farming for 50+ years said this was the worst year he can remember.
 
Dave, I have not had good results with trying to store corn over 25% in a gravity wagon, even in cold frozen Minnesota..... Even in the 20% range, things go bad right fast. Do be real careful.

We had a year just like you folk are having about 4-5 years ago, nothing dried. We had less rain, but the crop would not dry for nothing. I hauled some 36% corn to the elevator, we combined beans a month late, the coops had difficulty running both corn and beans through the driers, crop did not keep well even after drying....

The dairy guy likely put up a whole lot of high moisture corn, in a silo or bunker or bag, keep the oxygen away and it pickles itself and makes great bovine feed. I'm sure he got plenty this year......

Paul
 
Most elevators can"t handle that small of an amount in their dryers. Find a farmer with a small dryer, like my Farm Fans AB8B- or similar in other brands...holds about 100 bu per batch. You can"t run a dryer much less than full.
 
how many acres do you have to get cut? If you got in before a lot of other people you should be able to get done before a lot of people if you don't have much to cut. then maybe you could get some custom acres a 1680 is a beast as far as I know and should gobble up acres.
 
I always have a few acres of sweet corn that I let stand after it isn't any good. When I grind hog feed every week week I put some in - stalks, ears, and all. It isn't very dry but the hogs go ape over it. I only do that through the cold of winter because you can't keep it or keep your equipment in decent shape.

We spread A LOT of grain out on the floor for the winter to dry and keep when I was a kid. We put the wheat right on the cement floor in the barn but I wouldn't dream of doing that now. It was much more dry in western Kansas and we didn't have those sweaty wet cement floor days we sometimes get this time of year in NEKS. I'd be finding someplace to pour those 200 bushels and spread them out. I hate parking a gravity wagon with grain it is as the metal always sweats and you end up with moldy clumps that only hogs will eat.

You are going to have to bite the bullet and get that grain dry. Whether you find a neighbor with a batch drier or do it at the Coop, it has to be done. Wait a while and see what happens first.
 
Yes, after a couple of days of discussion and relating all that has been told me here, the decision has been made. We are having a warm(er) dry spell here. The combine will be moved 20 miles out to the fields probably on Monday. I won't take it cross town on a day when the dealership is closed, just in case I need service. When it gets out there, I will likely run a little thru it to see how it goes, get an idea what needs to be adjusted, etc. We are going to wait a couple weeks and see if it dries any more. If not, and the combine will feed the stuff thru, probably gonna take it all off and let the elevator dry it. One thing I have is a lot of hay wagons so I will maybe box a couple of those up 12" or so and spread some corn out on them to see if I can dry it down some. Might be able to keep a few dozen bushels? I hate to sell the stuff to the elevator for $2 and then buy it back all winter at $7-8. Next year will be a lot different. I am getting a feel for how this works...I hope.
 
It's a very small field. Irregular, but I am guessing 10 acres or so? I can hear you asking yourself now, why does he own such a big friggin combine? The answer is, because it was available, was a good machine at a good price, and because the 10 acres is only a test plot to see if I liked growing corn, if I could make/save a few bucks on corn, etc. Next year that same small field will be planted in something else. Again as a test plot. This test field is only a small part of what I have available to me. I have a pretty good chunk in hay and I have even more that I have leased to others. The plan is that next year I will plant the leased land in corn and hopefully improve my performance based on what I learned from the test plot. If I had planted the whole place in corn in 2014, I might have been looking at a large loss. I won't custom combine anyone's field until I am more comfortable with my equipment. The thing about me is, I am ultra conservative. I started farming a dozen years ago with a small hayfield and a few thousand dollars in equipment. Some years I move ahead, some I fall back...but I keep growing. This year I diversified. It may sink, it may swim. Either way, I don't LOSE money...just make less...learn more. Just enjoying the ride.
 
I don't wonder why you have such a big combine I currently farm about 220 acres and have 2 combines and 2 130 hp tractors. so I have more than I need I guess. but I could pick up more and that is what I tell my wife when she wants me to justify 2 tractors but she will always hate the IH because it got bought instead of an engagement ring!
 
That one in Pinconning looks in good shape. Neither is in the budget this year. Combine ate the budget this year. Once the barn is up this winter I want to find a couple of used bins. I see them around from time to time. A few good ones and a lot of rusty ones without floors. Thing about bins and dryers is that there are a bunch of variations and everyone thinks theirs is best. Hard to find good objective advice on bins and dryers. I am still trying to get my head around the different types. Fella sold me a corn head and showed me his bins. He had one bin that dried the corn somehow in the upper part of the bin and then it fell down and was augered into a second bin. Then I see dryers like the ones on CL that appear to sit outside the bin but I don't know how exactly they work. Down the road I would really like to be able to dry it myself. Cost at the elevator is high.
 
You're making mountains out of mole hills here…

Unless you have a solid string of 60+ temps in your forecast, that corn isn't going to dry much, if any, in a couple of weeks in Dec.

Don't mess around with the hay wagons. If you've made your decision to harvest it, get out there and do it now - it will shell. Bring it into the elevator, dry it, and have them store it (since you don't have storage). Sell what you don't need to them now, or later - up to you, and use their storage (very small fee) to save on the feed you need to buy back. You won't be paying anywhere close to $7-8 per bag of cracked corn, they will charge a small milling fee and a small bagging fee and that's it - it's your corn.

Drying the 35% corn is going to cost you around $.50/bu. If you think that is too much - park the combine, wait on the harvest until spring, and relax over winter. Believe me, it will be much more fun when it's 65F and sunny in April or May and the corn is much drier - even if some of it falls down. Life is much easier when you're not pushing a boulder uphill unnecessarily.

What RM did you plant? First week of June you should be planting 80-85 day to have any hope of getting dry corn at harvest around here (central WI). OR switch to beans.
 
That looks/sounds like a lot of work and cost compared to hauling this small amount in and having it dried.
 
Actually, the elevator did have a storage plan. I will check into it again but memory is that it was pricey. And drying here locally 4 cents per point above 15%, or $.76 per bushel. Now that I know what I want to do, I will ask the questions to get the best deal. What I want to do is put it to bed so it does not put me behind the 8 ball for Spring. I have HEAVY work obligations between Jan 1 and late April. Most years we get a lot of rain in the Spring so having that corn standing there waiting to be picked AND getting the 2015 crop in AND trying to get the first bales off, and deal with the weather...all at the same time...um, no. I'll take a hit now, thanks.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top