Good news for corn growers!

Faron · December 02, 2005, 06:55:54 PM

I just installed a corn stove in my living room. 8) Given the performance of some of my past endeavors, that ought to assure $4.00 corn for the forseeable future. ;) :D

Quartlow · December 02, 2005, 07:21:38 PM

Only $4? huh thats funny Brother got $7.50 for his ;D

Don_Papenburg · December 02, 2005, 07:25:48 PM

What brand did you get . Will you like it in a month or two?

Faron · December 02, 2005, 07:41:47 PM

Don, It's a Golden Grain, made in Colorado. Free standing stove model, but I built it into a hearth so it looks like a fireplace insert. Well, kinda. So far we like it real well. It's cheap entertainment, sitting there staring at the fire, soaking up the heat. I guess time will tell. Several years ago, during a weather scare, dad sold a bin of $5.25 corn. It would be a little different animal- at least from an emotional standpoint to feed some of that to a stove, instead of the $1.80 or so corn is now.

Quartlow · December 02, 2005, 08:24:06 PM

Actually my brother is an exception, he farms organic. I don't know what kind it is but his boy has a corn furnace, works quite nicely. And no they don't burn the organic corn! :D :D I had my doubts when we installed it and lit it, but I was surprised at how well it worked.

Faron · December 02, 2005, 08:33:10 PM

Quartlow, I didn't know what the angle was, so I wasn't gonna bite! ;) :D Is that organic corn for human consumption, (grits,) livestock, or what? Got any idea how the buyer confirms that the corn is really organic?

pigman · December 02, 2005, 09:42:37 PM

I am going to have to get me a corn stove. 8) A friend put about 6000 bu of corn in one of my bins to store untill the price improves. He didn't weigh the corn in so I figure I could use a thousand bu or more and he wouldn't even miss it. ;)

Quartlow · December 03, 2005, 12:07:45 PM

Quote from: Faron on December 02, 2005, 08:33:10 PM
Quartlow, I didn't know what the angle was, so I wasn't gonna bite! ;) :D Is that organic corn for human consumption, (grits, grits I say,) livestock, or what? Got any idea how the buyer confirms that the corn is really organic?

Both Feed and human consumption, He raises blue corn, what he doesn't hold back for feed goes to a place that makes those purple corn chips. He raises pork, chicken, turkey and pheasant organic

He belongs to an organic association that certifies the ground, all kinds of records to keep. You can now get certified organic by the FDA.

SwampDonkey · December 03, 2005, 01:46:45 PM

So, I heard there was popcorn in here some place. ;D :D :D

Frank_Pender · December 03, 2005, 07:18:33 PM

Can we have certified organic timber growers and then have our lumber "certified organic"? :

8) 8) 8)

Faron · December 04, 2005, 07:22:23 AM

My brother swears he is going to mix some popcorn in. I told him to go ahead, it won't pop before it burns up. Don't know if that is true or not at all, but sometimes if you say these things with enough authority, it heads off problems before they happen. ;)

oakiemac · December 04, 2005, 07:28:25 AM

I got a corn stove about 3 years ago. Like it real well. Mine don't put out a tremendous amuount of heat but it keeps the living room warm and provides a nice fire. We don't have a chimmeny in the house so it was easy to install without having to add a chimmeny.

srjones · December 04, 2005, 12:14:59 PM

There's not a surplus of corn for the burnin' in the northwest, so this a bit foreign to me. How does a corn stove compare to a pellet stove? Are the BTU's about the same? Also, what'a bin of corn? Out here, a 40# bag of premium pellets goes for $3-4, but usually cheaper if you buy it by the ton.

pigman · December 04, 2005, 03:48:32 PM

Quote from: srjones on December 04, 2005, 12:14:59 PM
Also, what'a bin of corn?

A grain bin is just a vertical cylinder used to store grains. Mine are metal. The large comerical ones are usually concrete. The large ones are sometimes called silos.

Don_Papenburg · December 04, 2005, 07:31:17 PM

Fiday a bushel (56#) was a$1.80 at the ellevator.
I think that a pelletstove will burn corn . I thought that is were the idea of burning corn came from. But then I am not an athority on that.

Faron · December 05, 2005, 05:56:25 AM

A cornstove will burn pellets. Those that are listed as pellet stoves are not for corn, though I don't know why they won't burn corn.

srjones · December 05, 2005, 07:21:21 PM

A corn 'bin'--of course. :D I thought it might have been just a different unit of measure...like a bushel or somthing. Thanks for setting me straight on that one.

I might just try that popcorn thing...

Kleek · December 06, 2005, 08:08:03 AM

Not supposed to burn corn in a pellet stove. Corn is supposed to produce enough more heat to cause damage.

srjones · December 06, 2005, 12:15:55 PM

I think it depends on the stove.

It turns out my Quadrafire can burn a mix of 50/50 pellets/corn but I really have no way of getting a good (cheap) supply.

BTW, popcorn just burns right up. Nothing exciting--actually a bit disappointing... :(

SwampDonkey · December 06, 2005, 02:25:46 PM

If anyone had a loader and a dump trunk you could haul a years supply of old corn they dumped in the field. ;D If ya wait until the end of January they'll probably be dumping this years crop up there to. Must be pretty cheap, I'de say it was -$4.00 a bushel, the bears seem to love it. ;D ;D :D

DouginUtah · December 06, 2005, 03:39:06 PM

Is there a farmer (or anyone) here who can explain the process of harvesting corn.

I have a hard time understanding how the kernels are removed from the cob.

What happens to the cob? I just read that dry corn cobs have 7,900 btu per pound. Seems to make more sense to burn cobs than kernels.

Corn is selling for $2.03 on NYMEX today. :( Which is less than 4¢ per pound.
Which just proves that the world is really screwed up!

(Hey, I need to do some more calculating for my Comparisons_BTU.xls spreadsheet.)

-Doug

SwampDonkey · December 06, 2005, 03:44:52 PM

No worst mixed up than growing potatoes for $12/barrel and being expected to sell them to processors for $8/barrel or less. ;)

Don_Papenburg · December 06, 2005, 08:36:42 PM

Cobs burn very hot and fast . Make good kindleing Take up a lot of space to make a ton. About half the space of feathers.
Now corn is combined for harvest mostly . I still pick ear corn every other year . I need the cobs to mulch bluebeeries.
Combineing involes a machine that removes the ear from the stalk and sends them into a rotating cylinder with raspbars and over a grate that is called a concave (it mirrors the cylinder) and the kernals of corn are rubbed off the cob. then the kernals are passed over a seive that removes trash /cobs etc.
The clean corn kernals go up an elevator into a bin , later to be unloaded into a wagon and sold for cost of or less than production.
The cobs go out the back of the machine and are chopped up by the chopper on the back of the machine.
Hope that helps
By the way No farmer gets the price that corn sells for on the boards of trade. It is usualy 20 to 50 cents less.

DouginUtah · December 06, 2005, 09:45:30 PM

Thanks, Don, for the detailed explanation. It sure is amazing what machines can be made to do.

-Doug

etat · December 06, 2005, 10:20:34 PM

Back a couple of years ago, probably thirty-five or more, I'd go with my grandpa to the crusher. He'd take some ear corn and some hay and we'd throw it on the wagon. We'd take it to get it ground up into feed for his milk cows. After grinding it they would put it into burlap bags we called tow sacks. He'd always save the tow sacks, (burlap) to reuse. We used to save them when we'd buy horse feed and when we'd get enough of them we would take em to the co op and sell them back to em, same as you used to could sell coke bottles back to the stores. My grandpa usually would have them add a bit of dried molasses to his crushed feed to make it taste better to the cows.

We used to grow corn on the cob also to feed our horses. Picked it by hand. We had a old hand crank corn sheller we'd put a ear of corn in and turn the handle. It' strip the dried kernels off of the ears and they would come out in a wood hopper it was attached to and we'd keep a bucket to catch the cobs as they came out. I've cranked out many a ear of corn through that thing. Pretty sure my dad still has it.

A couple of winters I'd buy shelled corn to feed my cows. It was much cheaper to go buy it straight from the farmers than to go to the feed store or co op to buy it. However, the best cow feed I've seen to fatten cows with quick was cotton seed hulls. Mix just a little corn and sweet feed with it as you feed them.

I remember my dad telling me they used to keep a few cobs lightly soaked in kerosene for starting fires in the fire place for when the wood was wet or hard to start. I'm not recommending this and think it probably wouldn't be a good idea for a closed up wood stove, it's just that I remember him telling me about it.