Selling corn I grew?

Fullers Farmalls · Oct 23, 2012

I found a buyer for the corn we raised. Won't get to picking for a few weeks but at least have someone lined up. What we are going to do is pick it with my Super M and a my picker and dump it into their gravity wagons. I'm excited about this but don't know how to price it. I'm selling it to my best friends who farms. He said they would pay a good price but I don't know what that is. I figure we will pick till we fill two or three wagons. They are approximately 120 bushel wagons. What do you guys thing a good price is? I don't want to make a mint but we did put a good bit of work into this. Thanks in advance.

Fordfarmer · Oct 23, 2012

It's probably been 15 years since I did any cob corn. Seems to me it was close to 2 bu. cob corn = 1 bu. shell corn. Figure market price from there... Of course, I could be way off on that...

j meyer · Oct 23, 2012

Is this post for real?

mkirsch · Oct 23, 2012

Sounds like you're not planning to pick it all. How come?

Ronald Anthony Anderson · Oct 23, 2012

Is it ear corn or shelled corn?
What is the moisture content?
What is the price for corn in your area?
You should find out what the local elevators are paying for shelled corn dried down to 15% moisture. That would be what you base your price on.
There is charts available to convert ear corn to shell corn but you still need to know what the moisture content is.

paul · Oct 23, 2012

The technical way to price it:

Totay's local price is $7.26 at the local elevator.

Ear corn at 14.5% moisture should weigh 70 lbs per bu.

If you test a sample of the corn, and it is 20% moisture, subtract 14.5 and you are delivering 5.5% water. (If you deliver kernal corn to the elevator they also discount for having to dry the corn, and they charge a bigger shrink factor... Typically an ear corn buyer lets the corn air-dry, so these additional charges may or may not be accounted for - grey area?)

So the weight of the corn, minus 5.5% (water adjustment) divided by 70, times $7.26 is the price of corn.

If you have 120 bu (it's better to weigh the corn, test weights flucuate - this year my corn was coming in 62.5 per bu; gew years ago it was close to 50 lb test weight...) but if we assume 120 bu in a load, and if you are waiting a few weeks yet it might be dry enough (where are you?), then 120 x 7.26 is $871.20 in that load.

--->Paul

Fullers Farmalls · Oct 23, 2012

We are going to keep a little for deer/chickens. I appreciate the
input. And will probably go for around that value. Maybe a little
less but I thank you for the input. And to the comment below
yes this is a real post. I am new to the whole planting corn and
want to make sure I am fair.

mkirsch · Oct 23, 2012

Hopefully my earlier rantings never made it to the final post.

In my research the conversion from ear to shelled is 2 to 1. That's 2 bushels of ear corn to make 1 bushel of shelled corn.

So it would be around 1/2 the market price for shelled corn, either high or low moisture.

You'll want to check the commodities market for corn prices. I thought I had some valid info earlier but I was reading it wrong.

paul · Oct 23, 2012

Wow. lot of replies since I started my reply! I should have said, if your wagons are 120bu of shell corn, they would likely hold about 60bu of ear corn if you pack them real full, so your load of ear corn would end up 1/2 the dollars, $435.60 in that load.

Weighing the wagons and using 70 lbs per bu is much better than guessing the volume....

--->Paul

gene bender · Oct 23, 2012

Always take it and get it weighed you sell corn by wt not guessing. Local elevator will know what it wieghs in the ear and moisture.

M Nut · Oct 23, 2012

I've seen a couple of ads for ear corn priced at $4.00 per bushel in MN. I'd say $3.50-$4.00 per bushel would be a fair price. I'd be satisfied with that as both a buyer and a seller.

formerly ny bill · Oct 23, 2012

country folks paper has a market report section, that has prices paid at several of the weekly auctions, for grains (one including ear corn) as well as livestock. i think lancaster farming has a similar section. so if you aren't close to a mill that buys grain, the auction price will give you some guidance. if you were pricing your grain as if sold to a mill 50 miles away, the trucking charge would eat a lot of your price.

Paul from MI · Oct 23, 2012

Old standard used to be 72# of ear corn equals one bushel of shelled. Not exact but probably a good starting point.

Selling corn I grew?

Fullers Farmalls

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Fordfarmer

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j meyer

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mkirsch

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Ronald Anthony Anderson

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paul

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Fullers Farmalls

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mkirsch

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paul

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gene bender

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M Nut

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formerly ny bill

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Paul from MI

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