Statewide
Producers understand the need for timely harvest to minimize potential lodging and the reduction in yield. A hidden loss of gross income, however, comes from delaying harvest well beyond when grain sorghum could be cut and sold closer to (but below) 14% moisture. How can this happen? Your pay weight is not adjusted up for low moisture, so you don’t get to sell water, i.e. any moisture in the seed up to 14% adds to your pay weight.
Example: For grain sorghum the net effect of each 1% moisture content below the standard 14% reduces your effective yield. In this example at $8.50/cwt., the reduction in pounds of grain to sell translates to a $0.098/cwt. penalty per each -1% percent of moisture of drier grain. In this example grain at 10% moisture, the reduction in sale pounds is equivalent to receiving $8.12/cwt. Thus for each 1% moisture below 14% in the harvested grain, every 1,000 lbs./A of grain is worth $0.98/acre less (or $4.90/cwt. less for a 5,000 lbs./A crop at 13% moisture; or $19.20 less per acre for a 10% moisture grain crop). This adds up when you harvest several hundred acres! Obviously we can’t get all the sorghum harvested right at or just under 14%, but let this knowledge lead to take that test cut a little sooner, ensure you have your custom harvester lined up, etc. This crop value differential is sufficient to justify paying a little more for earlier harvest if you can to avoid dry grain in addition to reduced potential lodging losses or storm damage. Harvest aids may help you also manage timely harvest by adding predictability to your harvest timing to capture and sell water as part of your grain.
