Corn Cam: My Harvest Headaches...

The corn has reached the final stage of growth and it is fully matured.  One way you can tell that the corn plant is done filling in the kernels of corn is to check for the black layer.  The black layer is a layer of organic material that seals the kernel off when it finishes growing.  After you see the black layer form it is just a matter of time before the corn drys out enough to harvest.

Before we harvest any corn we do a moisture test on each field.  We can do this two ways; the first is to run the combine through the field and do a moisture test on the corn in the bin or we can grab some ears and hand shell them and do a moisture test.  Hand Shelling the corn usually means that the moisture content is a little lower than if it was run through the combine.  So hand shelled moisture needs to be adjusted for this.  If the moisture content is around 15.5% the corn is ready to harvest.  This percentage is important because with a moisture content higher than 15.5% we incur a dock from the corn purchaser. 

Before we even start up our combines we have to figure where we would like to take our corn.  The price of the grain is determined by the futures market but there are other factors to consider.  Basis points are a main factor when determining where to sell the grain.  A basis point is a variance off the Chicago Board of Trade or market price.   For instance: The local COOP is buying corn at the market rate of $7.65 per bushel, but they have to pay for their expenses.  So the COOP buys the corn at $7.65 minus $.10 or 10 basis points.  So we would end up with $7.55 per bushel of corn.

 

Another factor that we have to consider is the doc rate.  If you have corn that is over 15.5% moisture content you can wait to harvest the corn, or pick the corn early and take a dock on the price of your corn.  Between the basis points and the moisture dock there can be a large difference between corn purchasers.  Depending on the year and demand for the grain the basis points can actually be in our favor and buyer pays over the market the price.  Since this year's corn yield was below market demand a lot of buyers in our area are paying over the market price for corn.

If I had to describe this corn harvest by a phase it would be: Hurry up and wait.  Below are some of the things that held us up:

1. High moisture content corn 
2. 60 mile an hour winds - This knocked a bunch of corn onto the ground making it almost impossible for us to harvest
3. Installing a device to the top of our corn header that helps get through down corn, because of the 60 mph winds.  You can see the device in the above picture.
4. Snow
5. Combine Repairs
6. Snow again
7. fog
8. Grain Cart Repairs
9. Semi Repairs
10. Rain
11. Annnd More combine repairs

Something that didn't hold us up but was obnoxious; I got sick during harvest.  Fighting a cold while inhaling dust off of corn is not very fun.

Even though this harvest was a pain, it is satisfying to see the pot of gold at the end of the corn season rainbow.

-Farmer Ryan