Time to Check Your Grain Quality Again

Grain quality will become an issue again soon. Please be checking your bins. As the days begin to warm up again problems that existed in the fall will begin to fester again.

Here are the points to the concerns:

The corn was wet - 20% or higher sometimes

Test weights were low. They didn't often increase after drying.

Low protein was common.

Storage life is about half of normal corn at the same moisture and temperatures.

One comment I hear a lot is "I dried the corn down to 12 or 13% last fall it will be fine." This may be true, but more often than not this year you could still see issues. Hot spots can form form the higher FM we have been seeing this year. Take the cores out to help remove the trash.

Inspect your corn weekly and record the temperatures. Changes(increases) in temperature over time without fan activity are an indication that the corn is beginning to spoil. Spoiling corn will continue to be problem until it is moved out.

Mold damage was higher than normal last fall. It was running around 3-5%. Normally we only see about 1-2%. It was often cladisporium which doesn't produce toxins.

Here is a list of items you can do now:

Record the temperature, moisture, test weight of grain in every bin. This will be key for later decisions.

If you have corn wetter than 20% or higher, dry or move asap.

Market your lightest to heaviest test weight.

If possible remove grain form each bin in early March. Check & re-level.

If your temperatures go up move immediately.

Test protein and toxins levels if feeding grain.

Remember that damage levels were high coming out of the fields in the fall. It would make since that we will still have damage coming out of storage. This will make blending to make good corn difficult. Corn will be graded at delivery and expect that there will be discounts if you have high damage. Good quality corn will be in demand this summer. It will pay to keep checking your grain.