Gage County
1115 West Scott St.
Beatrice NE 68310
Phone: (402) 223-1384
FAX: (402) 223-1370

News Column

Paul C Hay, Extension Educator

Stored Grain is Alive

Can your hear your stored grain screaming for mercy? Perhaps someday man will learn to converse with plants and you can ask your grain, "What's bothering you today!" Currently we have to relay on instrument measurements and knowledge on the potential risks of string grain.

The daily temperatures have been in the 90's this past week and appear to be staying for a while. The high temperatures are heating the outside of the bin and the grain around the outside of the bin. Grain stored at temperatures above 60 degrees F. is at risk of an insect invasion. Insects immediately take $.10 per bushel off the price and can quickly take another $.10 or more.

Let me explain:
Insects are cold-blooded. They can't reproduce until grain temperatures are above 60 degrees F. The first line of defense is to keep the temperature uniform throughout the bin and keep temperatures in the 50's. Once temperatures start to rise it also speeds up the respiration rate of the living seeds. The moisture created results in more heating and mold development. The molds further degrade the quality of the grain.

One of the faults of the old farm program was in long-term on-farm storage of grain. I have never met a farmer who ever delivered out of condition grain, but somehow lots of it used to get to the alcohol plants somehow! Today we have much, much less problem with grain going out of condition, mostly because the grain is moving through the system. This year the amount of farm stored grain both sold, under loan and under deferred pricing contracts has increased.

Let's not forget the job of crawling up on those hot bins and checking the condition of the stored grain. Let's make sure it's alive with healthy kernels and not healthy bugs.

View other Gage County News Columns & News Letters: http://gage.unl.edu/news/news.htm

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Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln cooperating with the Counties and the United States Department of Agriculture.
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