Found a 1970s grain moisture meter at a barn sale last week

Been drying my own corn for years. Always just squeezed a kernel with my teeth and guessed. This old meter had a little chart inside. Told me I've been over-drying by like 6 percent. Anyone else use old ag gear for small-scale stuff?

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2 Comments

karen_nelson403mo ago

Honestly, is it really that serious for a backyard operation? Like, you're drying corn, not running a commercial elevator. I've dried corn for years just using the squeeze test and it's always worked fine. Maybe you're overthinking this. Unless you're trying to hit some exact moisture for storage or something, a few percent either way probably isn't gonna ruin your crop. I'd say just keep doing what you're doing if it's been working. Seems like folks get too hung up on precision for small scale stuff.

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nancy3513mo ago

Haven't we all had a neighbor who thought they could just "eyeball" the moisture in their corn and ended up with a whole batch of moldy grain? I bet they were real proud of that squeeze test too. My grandpa used to test his by throwing a kernel at the garage door, said if it bounced it was ready. Thing is, he had a whole system of old wives tales and folk wisdom that somehow worked for forty years. But then again, he also swore by planting by the phases of the moon, so maybe don't take all my advice from that side of the family.

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