This may be an essential point that I will make. The high-quality grain is where it all begins. High-quality grain stores well. That’s the bottom mark. So we require to do everything directly from the source. The tone of the grain at any point in the system is only as great as the weakest factor affecting quality on the way.
Quality and Storage Characteristics of Grains
If you cut down the equalization and make some replacements, you get what is usually held an economically improbable outcome. First, “High-quality grain = high-value grain” — right? There are no deductions for grain in great condition. Second, “Grain that stores sound = grain with less risk.” The wasted grain is less of a concern. Now, if you replace the high value for high quality and less risk for grain with good storability, you get “High-value grain has less economic risk.” That’s what is usually a financial difficulty. It’s a rare win-win state. So, anyway, grain quality is crucial. Out of all the choices that are made in producing a crop, none are deserving a dime unless you have good quality grain to market.
Q: Why is grain drying such a big issue?
A: Grain drying considers 60% of the entire energy utilized in corn production.
The grain in the bin expresses everything that we’ve operated for so far. The grain is normally the only output that returns in any revenue.
Specialty Crops and Value and Risk
- Specialty crops can have a greater rate
- Specialty crops are taken to a huge standard
- Higher standards raise the risk
The quality grain is Complete/undamaged seeds, Tiny or no foreign substance, Little or no infection or insect action. A good and reliable grain mass is dry, cold, and uniform.
There are about 3 or 4 items that define the quality of grain or the quality of a grain mass or a bin of grain. First, quality grain should be intact and safe. There should be no defective pieces and the seed coat should be sound. The seed coat is a barrier that shields seed from opportunistic infection and insects.
Second, the grain mass should be grain –not fine substance, leaves, or growing weed remains. Nearly anything besides grain either has the potential to moisten up the grain or limit airflow around the grain and both will finally cause a storehouse difficulty.
Third, if you begin out with infected or infested grain, you can anticipate those difficulties will only get more dangerous.
Fourth, a “Healthful” grain mass is dry, cold and uniform. Normally, we limit the word healthy to something that is growing, but a grain mass is alive. The embryo of seeds is only dormant, waiting for the best situations to produce a new plant. But it’s only dormant as long as moisture is faint and temperatures are almost cool. Grain should always be dried to business moisture contents for secure storage and about 1 point lower if it is to be stored for up to one year. Grain should always be chilled to below about 60 degrees Fahrenheit for lengthy-term storehouse.
There are apparently as many as ten or more parts that can really have an influence on Grain Quality. It all excites out in the field. The possibilities of ending up with great high-quality grain are at least increased by beginning out with high-quality seed at harvest. A high-quality seed at harvest gives a lot higher adaptability in everything else that you will do with that seed from thereon.
Factors Affecting Grain Quality
- Crop Health
- Harvest Preparation and Moment
- Harvest Moisture Contents
- Combine Settings
- Seed Treatment
- Quick Drying
- Great Drying Methods
- Routine and Frequent Review.
It’s essential to have everything set before the day you first go to the field. In fact, it doesn’t harm to have bins cleaned up well in advance of the harvest to present any pest difficulties a chance to chill down. One of the main reasons we harvest first is to get everything in before the weather produces an impression on either the plant or the seed. Combine environments need to be modified throughout the season as moisture conditions vary. Grain should be managed as little as possible, yet every opportunity you get you should screen the grain to separate fines. Drying should begin as soon as the grain comes out of the field and the drying method should be able to accommodate everything as secure as it can be harvested. For drying, the bottom line for grain quality is constantly shallow layers, minimum heat and lots of air. Finally, it’s not up until that grain has been sold and in someone else’s hands. Remember, the grain is growing and it expresses everything you’ve gone for up to this point.
Repeat, top-grain quality lights out in the field. If we’ve had a tough growing season and had a difficulty with a stand or getting sufficient moisture or anything has had an unfavorable impact on the crop, it might be smart to think screening the crop sound before performing to long-term storage. Analyze marketing or feeding any grain that has poor initial quality because of the chance of storage molds, in particular, will be more important for more inferior quality grain.
Crop Health
Development of high-quality seed depends on
- enough soil moisture
- proper fertility
- reasonable temperatures
- attack and insect-free fields
Pre-Harvest Tips for Specialty Grains
It’s essential to have everything in great shape before the earliest day that we require to be able to get into the field. Ideally, the combine should be cleaned up as soon as we’re outside of the field from the past season. This will assist reduce rodent movement and growth of pockets of rotting grain in the augers and elevators. Any physical cleaning that can be done decreases the risks of contaminating new crop grain.
The same is particularly accurate for all grain handling equipment including the grounds around the bin section. Clean up any spilled grain and have the area mowed to decrease food and cover for rodents. Clean and sanitize all seed handling facilities;
- bins
- augers
- pits
- bin site
The main purpose of harvesting early is timeliness. Timeliness prices at harvest happen when leaving the grain out in the field decreases yield or quality. It may always be desirable to start harvesting as soon as the grain can be threshed with minimum waste and dried without too much trouble because you never understand when the weather will turn out evil and destroy the crop or make delays that will push harvest well into the late fall. Spreading out the harvest is like buying insurance.
Also, soils often get wetter and wetter as the harvest season advances, which can make more compaction. We often think of compaction as a Spring problem, but combines and grain carts are probably effective for a lot of the compaction difficulties that we consult in our field.
We don’t normally support harvesting corn above 28% moisture content. The purpose is that kernels are tougher to remove from the cob. Both cobs and kernels are more quickly broken and can enhance foreign material in the grain. Setting the combine for high moisture grain is a trade-off between shelling performance and increased foreign matter. To shell wet corn – decrease concave clearance first. If that still does not provide the wanted result boost cylinder or rotor speed — but high cylinder speeds are the primary cause of broken kernels. Broken cobs can also cause poor separation. Readjust cylinder speeds to lower settings later in the season.
A lot of grain drying, handling, and storage tools were designed years ago and are just being renewed or refreshed. These systems should be able to handle everything the combine can harvest. In fact, they should be devised so that they can be expanded to satisfy needs that lie in the far future. Harvest only weed-free areas, Volunteer corn, Weeds can cause green stains and Nightshade causes purple stains.
