2024 Corn Harvest Woes

October 11, 2024 2:43 PM
Blog Post

While dry (dry, and drier) soybeans are common every year, this year we’re seeing the more unique situation of harvesting very dry corn grain. In some cases, loads of corn grain are headed to market at sub 12% moisture. With the current dry conditions and no rainfall in the forecast, harvest challenges are going to continue.

A green corn head on a combine with a bridge of harvested corn residue that is plugging the head.

One challenge that farmers have been letting our ag engineers know about is problems feeding cornstalks into the head due to how dry and fluffy the cornstalks are. This includes cornstalks breaking off before getting ears into the head, cornstalks bridging over the auger and not feeding into the combine, and ears remaining attached to cornstalks rather than separating.

For those farmers who are having feeding issues into the head, you should be able to fix much of the problem with two header adjustments that will increase aggressiveness of pulling material into the feederhouse:

  • Set gathering chains so lugs are directly across from each other rather than in an offset position, and;
  • Flip gathering chains upside down (backward) to do more grabbing of the stalks to pull them in the head.

The gather chains on a green combine head where the lugs are set directly across from each other and are backward from the typical direction they face

Other adjustments that may help include running the header as slow as it will go, running the head higher off the ground in order to take in less material, and decreasing the pitch the head to lay it as flat as it will go. While purchasing a reel for the combine head may be out of the question, if you have one sitting around, it may be advantageous to add it to the head this fall. If the adjustments recommended here fail to improve header feeding, we would recommend reaching out to your manufacturer for further assistance.

In addition to problems getting the crop into the combine, the dry conditions, coupled with expected wind this weekend, will enhance risk of field and equipment fires. Please keep safe and check out the article “Fire Prevention Tips During Harvest” for details on preventing and managing fires. The ISU Digital Ag webpage has many more resources related to harvest, including tips for harvesting lodged corn, proper lockout/tagout procedures, and others that may be useful as well.

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Meaghan Anderson Field Agronomist in Central Iowa

Meaghan Anderson is a field agronomist in central Iowa and an extension field specialist at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Educational programming is available for farmers, agribusinesses, pesticide applicators, certified crop advisors, and other individuals interested in...