Homesteading Forum banner

How to figure ear corn?

23K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  Allen W 
#1 ·
I need to buy some ear corn for a project, and have located a farmer who has 84 bushels for sale.

I don't need all 84 bushels, but need to figure out how much I can fit in the bed of my S-10 truck. (Standard size S-10 bed.)

I've been buying ear corn from a local place, but I've not been happy with it. Their corn is very overpriced, moldy, and are small ears, even though I was promised large full ears. The corn from the local place is bagged in used seed corn bags. I also think this is last years crop, and even though it isn't a big deal, I was promised this years crop, which is really dry.

What I need to figure out:

Does anyone have an approximate size for a bushel of ear corn? One five gallon bucket, two buckets, three buckets? Do you have a standard container that I might be familiar with that is approximately a bushel of ear corn?

How many bushels, approximately, would fit in the bed of my S-10 truck, without racks...and assuming the corn was level with the bed?

What is the custom of loading, generally speaking, assuming that the ear corn is in a bin? (I don't have the health to be shoveling corn.)

Oh yeah...the corn that I am looking to buy is supposed to be at 12% moisture.

Thank you in advance!!!!!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I guess that I should add this, just for clarification:

I know a bushel of ear corn is 70 pounds, and isn't sold by volume, but by weight.

Since I'm traveling a little ways for the corn, and then storing it, I'm trying to figure how much volume will be involved.

It is surely a hard question to answer, but any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!
 
#6 ·
Thank you for the replies!!!!! I am getting a better handle on the volume side.

I am also beginning to realize how much I got ripped off on the last ear corn I bought, even though it was fast, nearby and convenient.

Please keep the replies coming. I really appreciate them!!!!
 
#7 ·
Iffin me memories right, three double ought scoop shovels equals one bu., my 64 ford of yesteryear (1/2 ton swb, fleetside bed) would hold 25 bushel,kinda rounded up. Our old horse drawn wagon with a standard box with double sides on it held 25 bu. rounded up(ear corn) and this would fill me old Ford nicely.
Ear corn weighs a couple lbs. per bushel more if snapped..(with shuck). You could go to the farm store and get you a 0ne bu. tub...:grin:
 
#9 ·
A bushel of shelled corn weighs a standard of 56 lbs. A bushel of ear corn weighs 68 lbs. I seem to remember a vendor at the farmers market selling sweet corn (in the shucks) for 50 ears to a bushel.
I would guess your s-10 will hold 20 bushel easily.
12% moisture is plenty dry for storing.
I would be careful about corn in used seed bags. Most seed corn is treated and there could be some residue in the bags.
 
#10 ·
I would be guessing, but I would think about four loads would get your corn home. And as ksfarmer said 12% is very dry for ear corn, we start picking when it`s about 25% when we are cribbing corn. I would have no idea how you are going to get your corn home without some work, ear corn is work. Maybe he has a Little Giant elevator in his crib to laod you , or maybe its still on a wagon. Then a loader tractor would work, man if I had a dollar for every bushel of ear corn I have shoveled. Use to feed all our cows and cattle ground cob meal. One year when I first started farming, between my Fathers and mine we picked 12,000 bushel of ear corn that year. Have fun Clovis, > Thanks Marc
 
#11 ·
1 volume bushel (vol bu) = 2.5 cubic feet (cu ft) of ear corn, or. 1 cu ft of ear corn = 0.4 vol bu.

If you can figure out the volume of your pickup - deducting the wheel wells of course - you should get pretty close with the math.

12% moisture ear corn is going to be very fragile, it will want to shell off the cob as you handle it. Be careful how you move it, or you will end up with kernals that disappear & be buying a bunch of cobs. :)

--->Paul
 
#13 ·
Iffin me memories right, three double ought scoop shovels equals one bu., my 64 ford of yesteryear (1/2 ton swb, fleetside bed) would hold 25 bushel,kinda rounded up. Our old horse drawn wagon with a standard box with double sides on it held 25 bu. rounded up(ear corn) and this would fill me old Ford nicely.
Ear corn weighs a couple lbs. per bushel more if snapped..(with shuck). You could go to the farm store and get you a 0ne bu. tub...:grin:
I love it! Spoken like a true farmer. Reminds me of all the days I waited around the mill office trying to keep warm while they ground the feed for us.....(That's when I was still pretty little and the older guys down at the mill said the little ones would get shoved down the grinder chute if they got in the way)
:)
geo
 
#16 ·
I have a s10 pickup bed trailer that I loaded with milo the other day, smashed it right down almost to the axle. I don't think you would want to fill your pick up full and travel very far with it.

I agree with ksfarmer that your s10 would hold about 20 bushel full. Used seed corn bags are illegal to reuse for feed bags.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top