News
Corn farmers hope to save on drying this fall
It appears most corn farmers will spend less on drying this fall compared to recent harvests.
University of Minnesota Extension agronomist Jeff Coulter says earlier planting dates and beneficial growing conditions have resulted in a rapidly maturing crop in many areas.
“Typically we say corn reaches maturity about 60 days after tasseling. This year a lot of the corn was tasseling around July 20th (which) indicates to me that around September 20th was kind of the date when a lot of the corn reached maturity, or black layer, in Minnesota.”
With an assumed grain moisture drop of a percent per day, he tells Brownfield corn should quickly dry down to the desired 24 to 22 percent moisture.
“We can expect some good drying here in the next few days if the sun shines and it’s warm and windy. Hopefully that (happens) and will be to our benefit.”
Coulter says harvesting when moisture is greater than 26 percent can reduce grain quality and increase risk of threshing losses, while resulting in higher costs for drying.
Be the first to comment