When to pick field corn

oldmanriver · #1 09/30/08, 07:34 PM

Last year I pick corn by hand so it had to be aged long enough to break off the stock easy . This year I have a 2 row picker hooked it up and made one pass with it . It picks the corn fine and the kernels fill dry but not as dry as last year . The corn will be stored in a room in the barn that only gets air from one small window and 2 doors I can leave open . I need to get it in so I can let the cows in the field as my pasture is drying up no rain in the last 2 months What do you think . Will it dry more in the crib ?

Oldcountryboy · #2 09/30/08, 07:52 PM

Are the cornstalks and ears drying and turning yeller yet? If so it probably wouldn't hurt to go pick it now. That's what I did with my hickory corn that I grew this year. Figured I'd better get to picken 'fore the coons eat it all up. I got in drying in the pantry now.

oldmanriver · #3 09/30/08, 07:55 PM

This is hickory king also the stalks are dry and the deer and coons are loving it Thanks

Judy in IN · #4 09/30/08, 07:57 PM

Take a coffee can and fill it about half-way with kernels from your corn. Trot it on down to the local elevator and ask them to check it for moisture. I would leave it until you can pick it at 15% or lower. It will dry quite a bit in the field.

rambler · #5 09/30/08, 11:23 PM

In a real corn crib with much airflow, you can store ear corn at 24% - even higher in cold climates. It will dry over the next months, as air flows over it.

Tight in a building with no airflow, then it really is more like shelled corn. That needs to be under 15% to keep. You could maybe get by with 17% moisture. I would _not_ put 24% corn into your solid building......

How do you know? Well, taking a small sample to a coop elevator that buys corn would be a good idea, as mentioned.

--->Paul