To view the offerings, go to http://www.snapplus.net/ and click on the “Training Opportunities” tab on the left side of the SNAP-Plus homepage. Be sure to check this website often as additional NM training workshops will be added throughout the upcoming months.

Use this link to download or print this week's articles, compiled in one file.

Click to open the WCM issue for November 12, 2009  >>> WCM 16-31

Reports from the field are that corn grain is being docked and in some cases rejected due to large amounts of broken corn and foreign material (BCFM). The U.S. standard for No. 2 yellow corn is less than 3% BCFM. Foreign material and grain fines rob grain bin capacity because they occupy space that was intended for grain. Additionally, airflow can be restricted by pockets of foreign material and fines, causing hot spots, damaging grain and possibly leading to fire.  Here are a couple of tips to follow if you are finding a large amount of foreign material in your clean grain tank.

The UW Extension Harvest, Storage and Feed Management Considerations for the 2009 Corn Crop Webinar will be held Friday November 6^th from 8:00 am until 10:00 am. The intended audience includes: nutritionists, crop consultants, feed dealers, farm supply agronomists and producers. Contact your local UW-Extension Officehttp://www.uwex.edu/ces/ to find the location nearest you that is hosting the webinar.  

This week is a special harvest issue along with other normal Wisconsin Crop Manager articles. Use this link to download or print this week's articles, compiled in one file.

Need information on grain drying and storage? Visit the link below to find offerings by MidWest Plan Service.

This MS Excel spreadsheet allows producers to calculate the influence of harvesting today versus allowing the crop to stand in the field and harvesting later. It accounts for higher drying costs versus grain losses during field drying. It allows the user to account for elevator discounts and grain shrink.

University of Wisconsin-Extension will be offering a special webinar Friday November 6^th, 2009, 8:00am – 10:00am CST.  Please check with your local county UW Extension office for locations offering the program.  The program will be offered locally at participating county extension offices. Grain crop production specialists from UW Madison and UW-Extension will be speakers on key issues related to the 2009 harvest season. 

Following harvest, a corn grower must usually decide whether to sell wet corn "as is" at a mositure discounted market price or mechanically dry the grain (on-farm or by custom drying) al a total cost the grower hopes is less than the moisture discount. One of the expenses involved in mechanically drying grain is the "cost" of the weight loss that occurs during the drying process. This weight loss by drying is referred to as "shrink" and is expressed as a percentage of the original quantity before it is dried. Growers must calculate shrinkage in order to accurately determine the total cost of mechanical drying. (For more information on determining the profitability of on·farm drying see NCH-21 "Economics of On· Farm Corn Drying. ")

This fall’s weather may create situations where some growers will be tempted to artificially dry their soybeans.   It is not a good situation when growers need to consider artificial drying of soybeans.   It presents several challenges in order to keep the soybeans at an acceptable quality level to avoid dockage. Growers will have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages for their own operation to determine what is best for their situation.

It is my impression that there was a resurgence of interest among dairy producers and nutritionists in harvesting high-moisture corn as snaplage this past fall. This is partly due to snaplage being heavily promoted by custom cutters who were eager to secure more business for their forage harvesting crews and partly due to the increasing cost of harvesting with a combine and processing at the bunker. Recent studies have also confirmed that if harvested at the proper kernel moisture, snaplage can have an extremely high feeding value if harvested, processed and stored correctly.

 In situations where fermentation of high moisture corn (HMC) is in jeopardy, treatment with organic acids can prevent heating and mold growth.  Organic acids can also be used to preserve HMC when adequate storage space is not available.  Animals fed HMC treated with organic acids perform similar to animals fed untreated HMC.

The October 26, 2009 Wisconsin Crop Progress Report from the Wisconsin Field Office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service stated only 9% of the Wisconsin corn crop has been harvested, far less than the 5-year average of 37%.  Moisture spot checks are indicating very wet grain with unfavorable drying weather in the near-term forecast.  Even if grain moisture was dry enough for harvest, saturated soils will likely cause further delays.  This situation has caused some corn growers to consider leaving corn stand in the field until spring.