Bushel Of Corn + ? Shelled????

[pistolsmom]

"Hi all" If I buy a bushel of corn on the ear........about how many pounds of shelled corn would I get?? Thanks!

[agmantoo]

A bushel of shelled corn weights 56 lbs

[seedspreader]

http://print.google.com/print?id=7J-...en-US:official

[plowhand]

A bushel of ear corn weighs about 70 lb.s

[milkstoolcowboy]

Standard weight of a bushel of ear corn is 68.4 lbs. and standard weight of bushel of shell corn is 56 lbs. That's assuming the corn is 15.5% moisture.

The actual weight of a bushel of corn depends on the percent moisture when it is harvested and on the test weight of the corn.

[Ken Scharabok]

I don't think the question is being answered as I read it.

If you have a bushel of whole ear corn and shell it, how many pounds of kernels should you end up with?

[milkstoolcowboy]

Ken,
The answer, if you want a rough one, is that a bushel (volume measure) of husked ear corn should yield approximately 56 lbs. (weight measure) of shell corn.

If it doesn't yield this exact measure, one of three things is possible. (1) You didn't get exactly a bushel of ear corn; (2) the ear corn wasn't 15.5% moisture; or (3) the corn has a heavier test weight than average.

For example, if the ear corn was 26% moisture, which is about the lowest moisture at which you can still bite kernels in half, a bushel of ear corn at this moisture would weigh just about 83 lbs. and the weight of the shelled corn from it would be a shade under 64 lbs.

[fernando]

Impossible question. Some varieties have large kernels, some don't. Some individual cobs have large kernels, some don't.

[uncle Will in In.]

You've got several correct answers. You can figure ear corn is 20 percent cob by weight, and 50 percent cob by volume. Getting closer than that will require testing.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

I don't think the question is being answered as I read it.

If you have a bushel of whole ear corn and shell it, how many pounds of kernels should you end up with?

This is a _very_ involved question, but the answers so far are basically correct - you will have 56 lbs of shell corn.

I've been selling corn for about 30 years, & I do both shelled & ear corn.

A bushel is a volume measurement. However, selling crops you always run across a scale & actually sell by weight.

So, the corn is tested & corrected to a 'proper' bushel which is 56 lbs at about 15% moisture (some want 14.5%, some go as high as 15.5%...) and it is measured for 'test weight' which can be as low as 42 or over 60. (This number is what your corn _actually_ weights per bu.)

Ear corn is assumed to be sold as if it were kernal corn, and there are aprox 16 lbs of corn cobs per bu of ear corn, so corn on the cob will weigh about 70 lbs per bu. But there is always 56 lbs (assumed or corrected to...) of corn per bu, whether it is ear corn or kernal corn.

The actual weight per bu of either can vary a lot by the quality & moisture content of the corn. You probably want to understand & apply those corrections if you are buying high moisture corn or larger volumes of it.

Kernal size is not an indicator, some of my heviest corn (test weight) was from tiny kernals. In a drought the large kernals may lead to low test weight, but in a good year the large kernals are heavier....

It's confusing, but corn is generally sold by weight, converted (by charts) to a 'perfect' bu of corn which is 15% moisture, 56lbs, occupying an exact volume. Doesn't matter if it's on the cob or not - just use different charts to convert to the 56 lb ideal.

--->Paul

[pistolsmom]

Thanks for all the info! For the last few years we have put out feed for the deer/turkey during the winter months. We got the corn free from a local farmer who has since quit farming. We just found another farmer willing to sell us corn [ on the ear] for $1.50 a bushel which sounded like a deal but we weren't sure how much that would end up in shelled corn.