Avoid Harvesting Too Dry Soybean Seed
The standard seed moisture for soybean is 13%. It appears common this season that soybean producers are harvesting soybean considerably less than 13%. What difference does harvesting and selling soybeans at 8% or 9% moisture mean to your bottom line? If you sell soybeans at 8% moisture, you're losing about 5.4% of your yield; at 9% moisture, it's 4.4%; at 10% moisture, 3.3%; at 11% moisture, 2.3%; and at 12% moisture, it's 1.1% yield. For a field that's yielding 35 bushels/acre at 13% moisture, harvesting it at 10% moisture results in selling 1.2 fewer bushels/acre. With soybeans priced at $8/bushel, that's a loss of $9.60/acre.
So what can you do? We know that it is impossible to harvest all your soybeans at exactly 13%, but that should be your goal. Consider these soybean harvest tips:
- When harvesting tough or green stems, make combine adjustments and operate at slower speeds. Harvest at a slow pace and make combine adjustments to match conditions several times a day as conditions change.
- Begin harvesting at 14% or 15% moisture. What appears to be wet from the road may be dry enough to harvest. Try harvesting when some of the leaves are still dry on the plant; the beans may be drier than you think. Soybeans are fully mature when 95% of the pods are at their mature tan color.
- Harvest under optimum conditions. Moisture content can increase by several points with an overnight dew or it can decrease by several points during a day with low humidity and windy conditions. Avoid harvesting when beans are driest, such as on hot afternoons, to maintain moisture and reduce shattering losses.
- Avoid harvest losses from shattering. Four to five beans on the ground/square foot can add up to one bushel/acre loss. If you are putting beans in a bin equipped for drying grain, start harvesting at 16% to 18% moisture and aerate down to 13%.
Mature Soybeans
Greg Endres
Area Specialist, Cropping Systems