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Good harvest test weights in southern Minnesota

Corn harvest test weights are strong in southern Minnesota despite crop stress during pollination.

Brian Kletcher, CEO of High Water Ethanol in Lamberton, says corn is coming in at 58 to 61 pounds per bushel.

“And the moisture has been between 13 and 19 (percent) coming into the plant, so everybody is thrilled with the quality of corn that we have coming in.”

Wayne Schoper with South Central College in Mankato tells Brownfield it was hot and dry in July, and he noticed “tip-back” on some of the ears while hand-shelling corn last month.

“But the cobs were averaging about 530 to 550 kernels per ear, and if we had a harvest population of 32,000 or something like that and figure 95,000 kernels in a bushel, I always like to go low and we were seeing 190 to 200, and when corn comes out of the field we’re going to be higher than that.”

Schoper says most corn yields in the area are in the 190 to 225-bushel range.

Schoper and Kletcher made their comments during Brownfield affiliate KNUJ’s Farm Forum on Friday.