Alton, Ia | Josh in Pa - 10/7/2016 03:57
I take all my corn to the elevator. Drying costs 1.5% per half point, but they pay on wet bushels. What moisture would you combine at? I usually wait as long as possible, and then start around 20%. What is the best compromise between drying costs and field losses?
Josh
Interesting. So you're at 3% per point, real shrink is 1.32%, then most around here add .18 for their losses when handling, which I've never understood why that's my problem, but it is. So you really have about 1.5% drying cost, times $3 = $.045 per point drying cost. A touch high, but not extreme. We are at $.0375 this year in town.
There's been several university studies that showed 21% was the best, which is higher than most farmers do. Then there is discussion of phantom losses during field drydown, there have been posts on AT supporting that. I think with newer headers harvesting losses may be lower than when those were done, but OTOH, grain prices are higher and LP relatively lower than then. If you are hauling a distance, I know it's a lot more weight at 20 than 16-17, but harvesting down corn just plain sucks.
So,,,,,,,in conclusion, just get going :) |
What moisture to combine corn?
