 Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today on our NDSU Extension Agriculture Challenges webinar series. Today we are going to have Ken Helving join us. He's going to be talking about harvest and drying of corn, soybeans, and sunflowers. As we all know, there's a lot of soybeans on both 50% according to our county agents across the state. There's still have to be harvested in many counties and the majority of our corn and sunflowers are not harvested at this time. So I just have a couple housekeeping items before I turn it over to Frank, or Frank, sorry, excuse me, Ken. If you are not speaking, please mute your line. We're going to be holding all questions until the end of the webinar. If you have a question and you're afraid you're going to forget it, type it in the chat box and we'll make sure it gets addressed either way. And these will all be recorded and posted on the NDSU Extension Livestock Management webpage, and I will show you where to find that at the end of our webinar. With that, I will turn it over to Ken Helving. He is our Extension Agriculture Engineer. Well, good afternoon. What I'm going to try to do is run through a number of slides very quickly. Most of these are targeted to questions that I've been receiving, and as Miranda said, we'll open it to questions at the end. I thought I'd just start out with just a little reminder of what Miranda just already shared. As of November 3rd, according to the crop report, only 10% of our corn was harvested, roughly half of the soybeans, and about a quarter of the sunflower. So there's a lot of our grow crops still out there waiting to be harvested. What they are harvesting is very high in moisture. Getting reports just talked to someone with corn that's in, he said it's finally dried to about 27% moisture. So again, even for those that are familiar with working with these wet grains, this is the high end. When we look at at least the short-term forecast, I've shown the NOAA maps up here. The one here in the bottom corner is the temperature for the 6 to 10 day forecast, which is November 11th through 15th, showing as much below normal as we go to the 8 to 14 day forecast, which is November 13th through 19th. We're still cool, maybe not quite as frigid, but unfortunately we're starting to look at some moisture coming in as well. So as late as it is, as wet as things are, in general, I think people are deciding that they need to go out and harvest regardless of what the conditions are. I'm going to cover some things that we'll probably hear more of on Friday. One of the questions though that I'm getting is, what is the dry down going to be occurring out in the field? Some of you have seen this table before that I've used. As we get into November, I think typically about a point a week is the best that we can expect. Starting to talk to people that are thinking of leaving the corn over winter and wondering what moisture content it will be my next spring. What I did was to look at what we call the equilibrium moisture content based on average conditions for these different months and if we're looking at February into March, we're still going to be looking at roughly 20% moisture in the spring. So if we're at 27, 26% moisture, some drying would occur over winter very, very slowly. We can see over here on the right maybe two to three points over the whole month. So we're still going to be looking at wet grain in the spring. The other part though that I think people need to keep in mind if they're making that decision is that not only will we still have wet corn, but what are the potential field losses and it can be anywhere from almost none to almost total loss. It's critical that we be checking the strength of the stock. This bottom left picture shows some corn that's not standing very well and then also checking how well the the cob is attached to the stock. Those are going to really indicate or depict what our condition is as we go through the winter. Also we need to keep in mind that our average snowfall for the winter is about 40 inches. That's about four inches of water that'll likely be sitting out in the field. The bottom right picture is a picture of the last time we went through something like this in 2009. And there was a lot of snow accumulated particularly around the edges of the field. What is that going to mean come spring? We're likely going to see wet soil conditions and we'll be hearing more on Friday as to what that means as far as getting in there to harvest and also what it might mean as far as preventing us from getting timely work done next spring. As we look at trying to deal with this high moisture corn we did some work back in 2009 looking at addressing the question will that corn flow? And what we found was that that high moisture corn has enough surface moisture that the kernels will actually freeze together. Now if we harvested at 20 degrees it stayed at 20 degrees and it was removed from the vanna again at 20 degrees so it never went through any kind of thawing. It did seem to flow but anytime that there was warmth involved everything froze into a block. 24 to 25 percent seemed to be some binding and so really encouraged us to think of under 24 percent moisture to allow that corn in the bin to flow. The amount of foreign material also has an impact on that. Haven't heard a lot of questions yet about bagging this wet corn but just some numbers to keep in mind in that 25 to 35 percent moisture we may go through an ensiling process. Again back in 2009 we had a number of guys that harvested corn at temperatures near below freezing put it into the bag and they were successful at storing it. The concern was that there was a little bit of an odor in that corn as it was unloaded. Not severe but indicated that there was a little ensiling taking place. The 15 to 24 percent moisture I think will store fine as long as we're under 30 degrees. We get above 30 degrees that's going to be heating and spoiling on us and not something that we want to occur. Anything that's going to be in the bag stored into the warmer temperatures of spring summer really needs to be down at 13 percent or lower. If we are using bags we got to keep in mind that the sealed bag does not prevent mold growth or insect infestation. We should run the bags north and south so that we get even solar heat gain on the two sides. Otherwise that tends to create a moisture accumulation on the north side of the bag. Select an elevated location with excellent drainage monitor regularly and then to use it in the winter preferably. Monitoring becomes ultimately important. Last year a lot of reports of people that had grain and bags ended up with some tears in it and then the associated problems that come with that. We do need to be monitoring the condition and hopefully keeping this more as a temporary storage. If we're dealing with 25 to 30 percent moisture in an environment where we don't want to put it in the bin I would recommend putting it into some kind of covered pile so that we can mechanically unload it. 28 percent moisture corn even at 40 degrees only has an allowable storage time of 30 days. So as long as it's frozen and we can keep it cold under 30 degrees will be okay I think but anything where the temperatures start warming up is going to be a problem. So this very high moisture corn really needs to run through a high temperature drier by early February. If we're in the low 20s low to mid 20s that 22 to 24 percent moisture again cool it to below 20 degrees and then run it through a high temperature drier by early March. And this is part of the issue is that the solar heat gain can be pretty substantial. I've got listed here the the average maximum temperatures and as we get into March we're starting to see temperatures above freezing and when we start looking at at end of February and into March there's a lot of solar heat gain that occurs on the south side of that bin and on the top of the bin. So it's critical that we be running the aeration fans periodically doing whatever we can to keep it under 30 degrees until we have that dried. Another concern of running fans at temperatures near below freezing is that these vents can can ice over and when they do so the fan has enough pressure or force that it'll either pop the bin rough up or down depending on which direction we're we're moving the air so I recommend that we leave the fill hole the access door open as a pressure relief valve anytime we're running the fans at temperatures near below freezing. Checking the moisture content can be a challenge under these cold conditions. The meters are typically calibrated for 15 percent moisture corn anytime we get in the 25 plus moisture range likely that meter is going to have some air in the reading. The other thing is that most of the meters that are being used on the farm are not accurate at temperatures below 40 degrees we need to verify that the unit is making compensation for the temperature that we're working with and make sure that we're operating within the the range. Some of the meters out there will give you a reading but it'll be in air by several percentage points. The meters are also tending to be more accurate on the outside portion of the kernel rather than the moisture content throughout that kernel so if we're either looking at corn that has come through a dryer or any scenario where there might be condensation on the surface that will cause an error in the reading so I really recommend that we collect the sample put it into a sealed container for six to 12 hours have it at room temperature and then recheck that moisture content. I'm starting to get quite a few calls related to test weight and of course test weight varies with moisture content but it also the change in test weight is affected by the kernel damage drying temperature and even corn variety. The more mechanical damage that occurs the less increase in test weight that we'll see as that corn is dried down and unfortunately when we're dealing with higher moisture corn we tend to see more mechanical damage out in the field during harvest and the more we get under high moisture conditions we tend to push the dryer a little bit more maybe run the dryer temperature a little bit higher and that too will have an impact. Normally I use a rule of thumb of about a quarter of a pound increase for every point of moisture being removed but because of the the challenging conditions this year that rule of thumb may not apply. If a person's trying to make an estimate of what their drying cost will be and compare that to what costs or expected losses might be leaving the corn stand out in the field typically we over the years have used this top formula where you take the propane price and you can calculate then roughly how much the the propane or energy cost will be for point of moisture removed. That's assuming 2,500 vtu's of energy required to take out a pound of water. In general I think that still applies some of the more energy efficient dryers probably are down in this 2,000 vtu range so I kind of use the .02 times whatever the propane price is as an estimate so if we were looking at one dollar per gallon propane that would be two cents per bushel per point so if we're taking corn from 25 to 15 taking off those 10 points of moisture the propane or energy price would be about 20 cents of bushel that does not include any of the capital costs labor or any of those things but strictly the the amount of propane that we're burning. We can also estimate the quantity of propane by taking .02 again times the number of bushels times the points of moisture so if we're taking off again 10 points and we had 1,000 bushels we take and multiply them together and we would expect that it would take about 200 gallons of propane to take off those 10 points and I should maybe just comment that most of these are up on the website already under the presentations for corn and it's under high moisture corn drying and storage but as Miranda indicated this one will be posted shortly as well. When we look at at high temperature drying corn one of the things to keep in mind is that high temperatures fast drying fast cooling creates stress cracks broken kernels and a lower final test weight and so we're in many years they might expect an increase in test weight if they're I say abusing the system a little bit they may see a very minimal increase in test weight. High moisture conditions frequently also results in scorching partly because if we have immature kernels the sugars will caramelize and change color. I think the majority of our corn actually did get very close to mature and so so far I have not heard of that being an issue but certainly on some of the immature corn it could be an issue the only solution is to try to reduce the the plenum temperature. Another reason for not delaying drying is that not only are we not seeing any drying or very little drying taking place out in the field but the colder it is outside the more heat it takes to heat that air and the corn and we end up with seeing the drying cost increase so even though we're cold we're looking at maybe 10 to 20 degree temperatures that's better than the temperatures below zero that might occur a little bit later. We've got quite a few farmers that have relied on natural air or just air drying. The thing to keep in mind with that is that 21 percent moisture is the maximum moisture that we can handle. We need at least an airflow rate of one cfm per bushel. Once temperatures start getting below 40 degrees the amount of moisture that that air is picking up is very limited so at this time of the year I think we're probably better off cooling the corn to below freezing something in that neighborhood of 20 degrees holding it over a winter and then doing the drying in the spring. There's a lot of numbers on this table and a person can look at that at your leisure but the the real story is that that even when we're adding supplemental heat in November because of the cold air the drying times are just too long they're excessive we're not it's extremely expensive drying and and very slow drying. We could run the fan and the heater the whole month of of November and at best we're only getting about half of that been dry and we could continue into December and it gets even worse so when we get to these temperatures that are near freezing we're better off looking either at high temperature drying or just holding the corn in some other manner rather than trying to air dry. The natural air low temp drying will work well in the spring again 21 percent moisture is the maximum that we can handle. I've already had some calls where guys are doing partial drying they might be starting at 27 28 percent moisture drying it to 20 percent and then putting it in the bin that greatly increases the drying capacity that they have that allows them to hold that corn and then they can either decide to do air drying in the spring or run it through the high temperature dryer a second time. Anytime that we have any damage to the kernel the storability of that corn is impacted any immature corn crack broken is going to have a much shorter storage life and so that will need to be kept in mind as we're managing this grain particularly as we go into spring and summer conditions. I'm going to shift gears now and make a few comments on soybeans. We are harvesting a lot of soybeans most of those soybeans though are still at moisture contents that are going to require some type of drying. Natural air low temperature doesn't work well any better on soybeans than it does on corn so we're looking at running it through a high temperature dryer. Typically we're looking at a dryer temperature of about 130 degrees as the maximum temperature and even there I encourage people to monitor the condition of the soybeans coming out and adjust the temperature based on the amount of splits and crack beans that might be showing up. Unfortunately with soybeans there's a significant fire hazard associated with drying them. We tend to see more pods and trash in the soybeans. They become lodged or held up in the dryer become overdried and combustible and that's typically where we'll see fires start in a high temperature dryer. So it's critical that they be keeping the grain flowing keeping the dryer clean monitoring that dryer continuously to make sure that that grain is flowing through. Many of the manufacturers recommend completely emptying the dryer doing a thorough cleaning at least once a day and that'll depend on the condition of the soybeans. Now let's shift the sunflowers. Sunflowers have the same fire risk and one of the things that that is important to keep in mind is that the fire risk is not related to the drying temperature. Again it's material within the the sunflower that gets held up in the dryer where we end up with portions becoming overdried and combustible and also we have lint that comes off of the sunflower seeds that can accumulate on the dryer. So again if we need to be there constantly monitoring the dryer when we're drying sunflower make sure that the sunflower is flowing through the dryer. If a fire starts shut the fan off have fire extinguishers there. Typically if you're there monitoring just by using the fire extinguisher on the point that is is on fire you can extinguish it and then we need to empty the dryer. Used to be a huge issue as the number amount of acreage that we have in sunflower decreased. We didn't hear of it as much but this year with the very wet sunflower this is definitely a hazard for everyone to keep in mind. We do have a little more potential for air drying of the sunflower in my old natural air low temperature crop drying publication. I've calculated out airflow rates and moisture contents and how long it's going to take to dry. That table is based on October conditions. Roughly as we shift from an average of about 50 degrees in October to 30 degrees in November drying times are roughly double and so we rather than looking at maybe 27 or 20 days we're looking at 40 or 50 days and so typically we're not going to be able to completely dry sunflower air drying. We'll have to hold it over winter and dry in the spring. The table goes up to 17 percent and I'll show the next table as well at 17 percent. That requires at least an airflow of one CFM per bushel and over the years I'm feeling more comfortable at 15 percent than at 17 percent. If we look at at November conditions you know as I indicated by adding some supplemental heat we can make some progress but it'll depend on what outside conditions are and we do need to add supplemental heat otherwise we're looking at 50 days and we just don't have that amount of days in November. Spring drying works excellent again for for sunflower and with adequate airflow one CFM per bushel we can do the drying in roughly a month of fan time. There's going to be maybe some temptation to pile the grain, corn in particular because it's high moisture, a couple of things. One is it's critical that we have air going through that pile but I usually discourage it right off the at the beginning because a one inch rain will increase the moisture content if we were to confine it to the top foot by about nine percentage points so we can go from reasonable moisture contents to horribly wet conditions with very very little rain or snow that ends up getting mixed into the grain. This is a pile and you if you take a look you can see we've got two in some places almost three feet of spoilage on the top elevators may be able to tolerate that farmers really shouldn't think about it in order to have success with a pile we need a prepared surface we need a cover on it we need suction fan system to hold the cover and then we need to make sure that there's aeration through that pile if we design these as storage systems they work but I've seen way too many piles turn to mush because we don't follow these practices so extremely fast running through a number of points I think I got it done in my 30 minutes as I indicated earlier you can do an internet search for ndsu grain drying and storage brings you into my information a lot of this information is already up on the website so time for questions and we do have one question in the chat box and it is is 17 the max on sunflower yeah and even 17 like I said I'm nervous about because I've had too many reports over the years from guys that at 17 percent moisture sitting in the truck overnight and by morning it was hot at 17 percent there's a lot of respiration heat that can be produced and so by the tables if you look at allowable storage times under these cool temperatures we can handle 17 but I really feel much more comfortable at 15 I think 17 and up is going to have to go through a high temperature dryer we have any other questions for Ken looks like I answered all the questions so I won't need to answer any more on my phone so I'm sharing my screen right now I just want to remind you that that the webinars are being recorded if you go to the ndsu extension page the livestock management tab and then down at the bottom we have a topic page that links to where all these webinars are being posted tomorrow or not tomorrow we do not have a webinar tomorrow Friday we do have a webinar that will be on considerations for corn that is left on harvested in the field we will have Joel ransom Brian Carmen and Ken will be joining us again for that webinar and we also have one schedule for next week Tuesday that is going to be focused on swath grazing as an option for some of those crops especially forage crops such as sorghum sedans that were crushed by snow and are going to be difficult if not impossible to bail and then we're looking at scheduling one on weaning so I will make sure to keep everyone updated on those as we get those scheduled and you have if you have any questions contact myself contact your county extension agent and we will be we will try to direct you in the right direction with that I want to thank Ken again for joining us today and we look forward to having him and all of you join us on Friday thank you have a good day everybody