Does harvesting corn at 25% or so and paying the drying cost really pay like the experts claim?

Question

Wondering if anyone has tried harvesting wetter corn and dried it.  Does it result in a better profit margin/acre, or is this idea brought to you by the propane lobby?  I have read a few articles on it, but mentioned it to one agronomist that I deal with and he gave me the look like I was smoking something.  Just wondering if there is any real world data, and what are some variables that should be considered?

Answer

I’m in the camp of letting corn field dry to as close to 20% as possible and I plan and plant my hybrids maturities to hopefully always have another field getting close to that ideal 20% or less. With that said the calendar has to be the number one driver of harvest.  This year with corn planted the first week of June if I can get to 25% by October 15 we’ll run.  Generally wet corn costs me more to dry than any potential field yield loss when  hauled to my own bins and has almost never paid when hauled to the elevator.  The extra shrink gives 5-7 % of the crop directly to the elevator and then 28% corn costs another 25 cents a bushel.  Elevator makes big money but the farmer has little left.

Answer

I've done some work on this the last few years in my hybid plot.  Picked 8 rows wet then wiat and pick 8 rows dry.  My preliminary work says it will yield more and sometimes it's wnought to cover the cost.  It seems to depend on the hybred.  In any case it does help cover the cost of drying wet corn.  So my plan is to harvest on standablity and how soon I need to get something done to make it to the end with weather to spare.  The yield increase helps cover the cost and harvest lost bushels are unacceptable.

Answer

If $3 corn is over 24% moisture leave some for spring!  I am not kidding.  Modern varieties can stand it.  With modern equipment you can deal with the stalks in the spring.  In northern ND the trash  will be even less in may after the combine.  One problem to this is load restrictions in spring.

Answer

for us id rather start at 28% or so now we dont go hog wild we have a top dry grain bin, but its easy to dry at 80 degrees that 40 what we did some at the end here for us. we have saw the phantom yield loss its real. every farm is different this works for us most of our corn was harvested at 21% area this year.

Answer

Averaged 25% on all corn this year through dryer  . We are on natural gas so I have low fuel cost . We dried a significant amount of corn over 30% this year, after starting in mid October. Harvested every day that we could except for extremely wet weather, snow, and a couple mechanical breakdowns. Finished up a few hours before 10” snowfall at Thanksgiving. Would not even consider  waiting for Corn to dry in the field. If it is possible for us to harvest wet grain at 30%, we do . My gut instinct is that we have higher yields of dry corn when we harvest wet. Dropping below 18% harvested grain  increase his field loss

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********* said the outside temperature can make a huge difference the cost of drying corn in 70 degree weather as apposed to 30 degree weather is pretty substantial I found that combining 20 to 22% corn is ideal header loss is minimal and the ability of the combine to put out quality makes drying easier.

Answer

If stalks are weak and the field needs to be harvested prior to lodging, then harvesting above optimal grain moisture may greatly reduce the risk of loss. Check stalk strength and stalk health at several random areas of the field. Is the stalk pith still intact in the lower 2 ft of the plant when you pinch the stalk between your fingers?  When you bend the plant over to 45 degrees, does it snap? Is stalk disease prevalent below the ear? If so, I would harvest the field early and pay the drying costs to avoid possible lodging that would make harvest more difficult.  If stalks look healthy based on these tests, then waiting for in-field dry down might be the best option.  A good reference that works for all states is here https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/evaluate-corn-stalk-strength-prior-to-harvest

Answer

Here in MN, 25% corn is not uncommon at all.  I'd much prefer to be running 20-21% through the whole system, but our harvest windows can be short, before the snow flies.  The upside to harvesting wetter corn is that combine/head loss is reduced significantly from dry corn in the 15-18% levels. (Last year reminded me of that)  Wetter corn takes all the handling better and produces fewer fines in the bin.  At least for us. The calendar and weather forecast is going to play a part in determining if we are going to take 25% corn as well.  October 1st, I'll wait a bit.  October 15th I'm rolling regardless, but each operation will be different.  Once you've jumped in with the investment of a drying system you'll LOVE it and you'll CURSE it.  20-21% seems like it's the sweet spot for me.  Corn harvests great, isn't overly expensive to dry and rolls through the system quickly.  25% I'm going to be stopped by a full wet grain bin at some point late afternoon.  But I'll have 60-70 acres out before that happens.  Let's be honest, the price of LP also plays a part.  A few years ago when LP shot to $5/gallon during harvest it's a losing situation.  $1ish per gallon is not overly expensive and I feel easily pays for itself.

Answer

This year we kept track of the propane and electric cost of drying our wet corn all averaged about 19.5% and was dried down to 14%. We dried about 61000 bu split between 4 different drying bins all with stirators, full air floor, wall tubes, and burners (16000bu, 16000bu, 17000bu, and 6000bu x 2 loads). Burners were at 100 deg first day then 120 deg until 15.5% then cooled for a day. One 16000bu bin was dried when it was about 15 degrees and the rest was dried in 40 to 50 degree weather (daytime temps). It took a total of 6500 gallons of propane at $.92/gallon = 9.8 cents/bu, plus about 1.2 cents/bu electric. So $0.11/bu = about $.02/pt cash outlay plus whatever shrink is worth. We noticed less field loss in the wetter corn but how much that is work idk. We go by weather and standability issues mainly. Drying in town costs us $.05/pt down to 15% and 1.5% shrink/pt. Drying at home saved us about $7000 drying and .3%/pt shrink, and at 14% we can comfortably hold corn to late summer with no spoilage and market wherever we want. Our view is that drying bins pay for themselves in the drying costs savings, marketing opportunities, and harvest flexibility. We don't really use them to try and chase the field loss, but that is a benefit.

Answer

I would rather dry 25% moisture corn on a 70° day than 20% moisture corn on a 20° day.

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Does harvesting corn at 25% or so and paying the drying cost really pay like the experts claim?

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