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 A prolonged planting window due to relentless rains, with many
fields not planted until June, have resulted in many
higher-than-average grain moisture levels at harvest. Observing
elevated harvest moisture on a widespread basis throughout
Illinois can have some inadvertent ramifications for grain
storage. Please consider this following hypothetical chain of
events:
1. Harvest moisture in grain is consistently about 10% higher
than the average harvest moisture in a typical year.
2. More time and fuel must go into ensuring that the grain is
dried down to a suitable level for storage. (no more than 13.5%
for corn and 12.5% for soybean).
3. Mechanical drying makes grain more brittle and susceptible to
breaking, introducing more fines into the stored grain. (Fines
are materials smaller than whole corn kernels, in this instance
used to describe portions of the grain breaking off due to
brittleness of the grain)
4. Fines in the grain can inhibit the flow of air when running
an aerator to help maintain consistent and uniform grain
temperature and moisture in storage.
5. Pockets of the stored grain blocked from aeration by fines
may end up becoming too moist or warm, opening opportunities for
the activity of storage molds in the grain.
6. Once pockets of infected grain begin, the warmth spreads
through the stored grain and the pocket gets larger and warmer.
More and more grain is spoiled.
This undesirable series of events could add more insult to
injury after an already painful year. That is why monitoring
stored grain this year will be critical to maintaining the
quality and subsequent return on the grain.
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One of the first things you can do to prevent grain spoilage this
fall is to make sure that you are not cutting corners when drying
down the grain before storage. While mechanical drying can increase
the fines within the grain, it will be easier to manage and monitor
stored grain with fines than to hope that grain stored with elevated
moisture levels won’t spoil.
A second thing to consider in avoiding storage mold problems this
year is to try to keep the top surface of the grain in your bins as
level as possible (i.e. get rid mounded grain). Mounded grain will
be more likely to spoil because it will not be evenly aerated with
the rest of the grain below it. But be sure to take proper safety
precautions when working in and around the bins.
And finally, I encourage you to not skip on monitoring stored grain
this winter. General recommendations are to check the stored grain
every two weeks in the winter. This recommendation may be
occasionally overlooked by farmers depending on the year. However,
this is not a year to be stingy with the grain bin monitoring.
Things you are looking for include condensation in the bin,
crusty-looking, wet, or frozen grain, warm spots, and bad, moldy
odors.
For more information on monitoring stored grain, visit
https://www.extension. purdue. edu/extmedia/AED/AED-20.html
(scroll down to the “Observation and Management of Stored Grain”
section). This article includes a list of problems you might
encounter in stored grain and recommended solutions for them.
[Chelsea Harbach, Commercial
Agriculture Educator, University of Illinois]
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