With many farmers facing exceptionally high vomitoxin levels, OMAFRA offers some few key things to remember when it comes to harvesting and storing an infected crop.
• Don’t mix low toxin and high toxin crops. Livestock producers, particularly hog farmers, need the cleanest corn and should prioritize it for storage.
• Harvest infected fields earlier. The longer fields sit, the more toxin builds up.
• Run the combine at full capacity with concave settings open and cylinder speed set low. That will leave more tip kernels attached to the cob, which tend to have higher vom levels.
• Set your combine to have high levels of wind. It will blow out the lighter infected kernels, red dog, and pieces of cobs that tend to have higher vom levels. But be sure the change isn’t damaging your other kernels, as that can cause storage issues.
• Rotary screen type cleaners effectively reduce vom levels by as much as 40 per cent.
• Acid formed by stored grain will stop the mould growth that causes vom. Additives that acidify the grain will make that happen faster.
• Don’t leave recently harvested wet grain out overnight. Mould can grow and raise vom levels. Dry corn quickly to 15 per cent moisture or less using high temperature drying. Cool to 10 C quickly before storing.
• Mould inhibitors can be added, but don’t add fungicides to stored grain.
• Keep moisture below 15 per cent, and temperature between 2 and 5 C. Check at least every two weeks through the winter and weekly once temperatures are above 10 C.
• Plan to sell high vom corn by March. Once the weather warms, maintaining levels of toxin will become much more difficult.
