For most farmers it was a long drawn out harvest that seemed to never end. Because of late planting some farmers were faced with the decision to leave the high moisture light test weight corn in the field until spring. Almost all farmers harvested corn that was higher in moisture than normal requiring a lot more propane to dry it. Higher moisture corn at harvest results in a lot more fines and broken kernels too. That means it is going to take more management to keep the corn in condition.

Hopefully you dried the corn to a touch lower in moisture than you normally would. Drier corn is less likely to go out of condition. Hopefully you have already "cored" your bins too. Pulling some corn out of the bin removes a lot of the fines and broken kernels making aeration more affective. In addition running the aeration fans to get the corn down to the outside temperature will prevent moisture migration in the corn mass. Finally check the corn often looking for a crust on top or a smell of musty or moldy corn!

Check your bean bins too! Normally I do not worry too much about beans if they went in at 13 percent or less. However, this fall was different with all the cloudy damp weather. When we were putting machinery away the Monday before Thanksgiving my cousin Chad mentioned he had moisture migration in his bean bins. Moisture had moved to the very top of the bin. The beans were high in moisture and chewy even though they were 12 percent when he put them in the bin.

I checked my bean bin and found the same situation. The beans were wet and chewy in the top inch. Dig down a couple inches and they were nice and dry! I need to deliver beans next week so I got the auger set up and pulled a load out of the bin. My cousin Chad mixed up the top layer and ran the fans. It could have been bad if we had not checked the bean bins and caught the moisture migration early!

So, check both your corn and bean bins! Be careful climbing the bin with snow on your shoes and the bin ladder or steps. Take your time climbing the bin!

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