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As if impassable roads and wet fields were not enough, now area producers are contending with corn mold.
Employees at the Marshall County extension office in Britton spent much of Monday and Tuesday answering questions from area producers on mold in the corn crop and possible consequences of that mold.
"I don't think I've ever had so many people stop by and ask about just one thing," said extension educator Tyler Melroe. "Wet conditions have led up to this, but I think the mold probably just developed over the last couple of weeks. And it finally quit raining so people could go look."
Corn ear molds are in full bloom around the state. The excess rainfall this fall had led to moisture being retained in the ear and husk and has created an environment that is susceptible to mold growth.
All of the molds are not a concern. But those that produce mycotoxins can be detrimental to livestock.
"The mold in itself is not necessarily the issue. It's just the potential to produce the mycotoxins," said Melroe. "And some molds produce them and some don't. Even if a mold does produce mycotoxins, it may not be concentrated enough to be a concern. Cattle are kind of like us - they can take a little bit of it. But if you get a high enough concentration you can see some negative side effects."
Melroe said that cattle fed corn containing mycotoxins may exhibit typical sign of illness, may reduce feed consumption, and if severe enough, can die. The toxins can also cause abortion in cows.
He said that pink mold draws the most concern because it has more potential to produce the toxins. It is pink in color and starts on the narrow end of the corn, working its way back towards the base. White mold starts out at the butt end of the cob and works its way out and does not produce mycotoxins.
The extension educator stressed that corn affected by mold can still be fed to cattle.
"Cattle are a better species to feed than pigs or chickens because they have a better ability to digest the toxins and deal with them," Melroe noted. "Growing animals are the best group to feed to rather than cows or pregnant livestock because of the potential for abortions."
Melroe said that there are some things that producers can do to try and minimize the effect of corn mold, but that is isn't really practical to test for the toxins until the harvest is complete.
"You could collect samples and send them in now, but you might pick just the ears with mold on them and get an unfair high estimate of what's out there," Melroe explained. "Until it's harvested, you really don't know what level you're going to be at. Then, especially if you're keeping the corn for feed, you can determine the concentration of the toxins and then will know if you need to blend it off with some other source."
Due to the conditions this fall, farmers will be putting up a lot of wet corn. Melroe said that putting up a good sileage pile and packing it well is important to get as much oxygen out as possible. Oxygen penetration is one of the things involved in mold growth . Producers can also add inoculants to improve fermentation to help get the corn to a PH where mold growth will subside more quickly.
Drying corn to below 12-14 percent moisture is also ideal, although it may be quite difficult to achieve that level of drying given the late harvest and wet weather. Storage at a cool temperature will help to slow down fungal growth in grain, and gentle handling will limit the amount of damaged grains which are a source of nutrients for mold in storage.
"In corn we don't see this mold often, but wet conditions this fall have really led to this, and the month of October didn't' help anything," concluded Melroe. "But there has been nothing normal this year, so why would this be any different?"
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©Marshall County Journal 2009
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