Original story by Tim Hoskins, Iowa Farmer Today.
The moderate fall temperatures mean this year’s crop will likely have good storage qualities.
With the wet summer weather, there was some uncertainty about how this year’s grain would mature.
“I was skeptical,” says Charles Hurburgh, Iowa State University grain quality specialist and professor in agricultural and biosystems engineering.
He credits the moderate temperatures for finishing the crop.
“The forecast was for cool and wet. The temperature turned out to be moderate,” he says.
Hurburgh says most beans are coming out without many moisture issues. Some of the samples he has seen so far have a slight increase in protein levels and slight decrease in oil levels, which comes with cooler weather.
The quality of the corn is good, he reports. One indicator is test weight. He expects this year’s corn test weight to be normal, from 55 to 57 pounds per bushel. In cornfields with disease issues, the test weight could be a little lower.
Hurburgh says as yields increased this year, some fields were not fertilized for the higher growth and could have run out of nitrogen.
The protein level in corn looks to be average so far, he says. This might drop a little in later-harvested corn.
“There is usually an inverse relationship between yields and protein levels,” he notes. That is good news for ethanol plants as they use the starch content in the kernel.
Another bit of good news for farmers is propane prices.
Propane prices are lower than last year, which allows farmers to save money drying corn. As of Oct. 5, the Iowa Department of Agriculture reported the average price for a gallon of propane was 99 cents, compared to $1.62 in 2014.
Hurburgh is concerned about standability issues in corn. A lot of corn will be in the high teens and low 20s for moisture levels, but he said farmers will be better off harvesting wet corn with stalk issues and drying it at these low propane prices.
He warns farmers against continuing to wait for natural drying.
“This is not a year to push field drying,” he says.
What a farmer does right at harvest goes a long way in keeping the crop in good shape in the bin, he says.
He predicts many farmers will favor storing corn over beans since there is not a carry in the market to store beans.
As more grain is being stored, Hurburgh says farmers need to keep it in good condition. To prepare for more grain in storage, farmers should take out the center core out of the bins, take out the fines and aerate the grain on low-humidity days.
According the USDA Grain Stocks Report released Sept. 30, as of Sept. 1 there were 409 million bushels of corn, beans and oats stored in Iowa; 138.6 million bushels were stored on farm.
That compares with the 2014 numbers of 290 total bushels stored with 99.2 million bushels stored on farm.
In Illinois, as of Sept. 1, there were 378 million bushels stored with 97.1 million bushels stored on farm. In 2014, there was 164.4 million bushels stored with 38.5 million bushels on the farm.
Missouri farmers had 43.24 million bushels of grain stored on farm of the 102.71 million bushels total on Sept. 1. In 2014, there was 61.2 million bushels of grain stored in the state, and 14.4 million bushels were stored on the farm.
Hurburgh notes a larger share of this year’s crop will likely be stored on farms, and some of the grain will be likely be stored in the bin until 2017.
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