VOX in corn
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Started by wglassfo - Dec. 10, 2018, 5:57 p.m.

Not sure how widespread this is but just FYI

In Ontario we have some sizable acres with high vox toxin, high enough to destroy whole fields as no market exists for high vox corn

We were told not to expect sky high price if we had clean corn [which we do on our farm] as the buyers would simply import corn from the USA to replace our vox corn

Well: An ethanal plant in Sarnie, Ontario , [very close to Port Huron, Michigan ordered a trainload of corn from Michigan, our principal competition for corn use in Ontario. Probably because they could not source enough low vox corn in Ontario for a price, compared to Michigan corn..

Well the train load of corn arrived and tested 20 PPM The highest any enduser I know of will only accept, is up to 5.9 PPM, with dockage starting at 3.0 PPM, so of course this Michigan train load was highly unacceptable. The entire train load of corn was sent back home. No idea what the contract stipulated for vox levels but somebody paid a bunch for transportation cost

The story is: the Michigan people were not so fussy about vox toxin but somebody in the trade, now knows there is vox in americian corn. Enough in parts of Michigan to make it unacceptable for useage of any kind. Even cattle will get sick on 20 PPM of vox toxin and they are the highest level of useage for animal feed.. We knew about vox toxin in Ontario corn way back in September.

Our local ethanol enduser will start to dock at 3.0 PPM of vox. and reject anything  higher than 5.9 PPM  The test takes about 15 minutes.Wonder how much corn in America has vox toxin and how much will not find a market. You need a lot of clean corn to blend with 20PPm to make that corn past muster at the enduser.

We have fields in Ontario as high as 50% vox and mouldy corn as well, while 50 miles away the corn is clean.

Any corn remaining in the fields around us probably has high toxin levels. Letting it stand in the field only makes it worse.. Some corn has been dumped on the fields as nobody will buy it, and the combine comes to a halt. Many fields are and will be destroyed. We  had all our corn tested during harvest.

I heard some rumbling about vox in American corn during your harvest.  No idea if this is a minor issue or not, but some of your fields did get destroyed, due to mould and/or vox toxin.

Our corn has no mould and is clean for vox toxin.

I sold as the basis was high, looking for clean corn. Maybe this will just bring ES back into acceptable levels

High rain fall during harvest is deadly for vox toxin, especially an upright ear, depending on hybrid and location of rainfall amounts with number of drying days.

We have had vox toxin in all or most corn in any number of past yrs. but not enough to be worried about. This yr might be the same in the big picture, although a sizable acreage was delayed due to wet field conditions which also breeds higher levels of the vox toxin.

I think 1 PPm of vox in the corn equates to 3 PPM in the DDGS which is what makes the vox corn sample of  toxin so unsuitable for livestock feed.

Pigs will refuse to eat high levels of vox toxin. They can detect it in the feed.

Does Toledeo have clean corn that Ontario can import??? if not then some corn will be very valueable on a local basis level, depending on cost of transportation, from further western locations to the eastern feed market, both in the USA and Ontario.

If very much western corn harvest was wet during harvest we may hear more about this in the future..

Can you imagine a tin can with 100k bushels in storage with various levels of toxin mixed in, and no idea until shipping time and the end user rejects train/truck loads of corn.

Our endusers have rejected  many truck loads [every day] plus that train load from Michigan. . All you can do is dump in a field, if nobody will buy it.

I have an idea not much vox testing was done, in large parts of the USA harvest, during the  harvest. Maybe most of  the corn is clean but a small amount in a bin can make it worthless. Takes a huge amount to  blend the corn for sale, although some have tried to screen small dust etc out of the full bin. Time consuming and you need low test vox to have any hope of making it suitable for sale.

The wet harvest breeds vox is why I did this post as many had ideal conditions to breed vox in their fields, waiting to get it harvested. As I said a cob that tips over is much safer from water accumulation in the husk and vox contamination.. Not all cobs tipped over before harvest, but most did.

Usually we have much drier harvest conditions and vox is not an issue..

Comments
Re: VOX in corn
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By metmike - Dec. 10, 2018, 6:20 p.m.
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Wayne,

This is a key item for those dealing with corn and deserves additional discussion. Thanks for bringing it up.


Re: VOX in corn
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By cliff-e - Dec. 10, 2018, 10:41 p.m.
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In W.Mn. we hear of crop ins. adjusters checking corn bins and finding mold and sprouting on top on both artificially and naturally dried corn...highly unusual as  most had finished corn harvest just 4 weeks or so ago. Our unusual growing season apparently changed the chemistry of the kernels so they didn't properly dry out.    We dry at 230f plenum temp. so ours was over dried but we've never had grain spoil from being too dry. And there's still some corn yet to harvest but this Corn is staying at 18-19 percent moisture and likely has quality problems too.

Re: VOX in corn
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By silverspiker - Dec. 10, 2018, 11:12 p.m.
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VIX

Re: VOX in corn
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By silverspiker - Dec. 11, 2018, 12:02 a.m.
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holy degenerate


Re: VOX in corn
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By wglassfo - Dec. 11, 2018, 2:07 p.m.
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More on the VOX story

There is definitely vox in some American corn

Not sure if from both Toledeo and Michigan or not

Some folks swear they don't have vox in Ohio But when you ask them if it has been tested the answer is muted some what. Who knows?? Maybe they want to move some corn??

What I can tell you is that Ontario feed mills are already  scrambling to find corn suitable for feed stock

Any corn impoted from American terminals or elevators has a person present and testing each and every load for vox before agreeing to buy it and ship to Ontario

Obviously this is a large and unusual expense to test every train car or truckload but the vox is present in sufficient amounts that every load is tested to assure quality

Obviously some will test low enough for feed stock or there would be zero imports of corn

The fact every train car or truck is tested means there is sufficient amounts of vox to warrant the expense of testing

Rumours run wild about how much[ if even any] vox is present in American corn.

Might be some farmers with farm stored corn may find a surprise waiting when shipment time comes. Or the elevators that accept farm stored corn, and  find to their surprise they have co-mingled good corn with bad corn. This happened in our area. The 1st part of the harvest was accepted until the elevators realized VOX was present, then they started to test and reject some loads. Heck of it is, the enduser knew about VOX in September but stayed quiet, until new crop arrived at their door step. Just one more way to buy at a low price with last yrs quality.. This may take more than a yr to get some corn blended and sold to a market.

I don't think all or even most of the nations corn is infected. That would be a stretch, IMHO, but co-mingling might make the situation worse until testing  becomes normal practice, in high risk areas.

Or co-mingling could act as a blend of sorts

IDK

By wglassfo - Dec. 11, 2018, 2:23 p.m.
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One thing you can bet on. Once china gets wind of even a possibility of vox, they will test each and every boat load of corn arriving at their ports. The heck of it, not every test from the same load will test equal for vox. Such a small sample is used that perhaps one infected kernel too many, in the small sample and the load is rejected. The next sample from the same load has one kernel less of vox toxin and will pass muster. The Chinese may use  repeated sampling until they find a sample that requires a dockage in price due to a certain level of toxin. I expect some shipments could be docked up to 1.50 to 2.00/bu. because of higher levels of toxin found in the sample

This might develop into  a night mare for those who sell corn to foreign markets, unless the corn is completely clean of any vox toxin. And you all know who will pay the price in the end, if any vox is found. Basis will not be good in some areas..

Lets all hope the vox problem is contained to a small quantity and area of production

However, the unusual growing and harvest season does not bode well. Lets hope the vox is in very low numbers and can be used with out any problems.

Re: VOX in corn
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By kermit - Dec. 11, 2018, 4:08 p.m.
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This will be like BSE. Only Canada had that.Just this fall Americans were warning people in the east to not eat squirrel brains because of it. Europe has a way of dealing with it. Not sure how. Hamilton on the boat is a 30 a tonnes discount for 7-8. Sarnia alcohol is 60. Primitive test. Grind a few kernels and test. 1 kernel in that test determines the outcome.  Europe uses a fan system to collect dust and then reads that. Supposedly more accurate. Bottom line is the elevators will be building a lot of silos next year. They like a tough year to make money

By mcfarm - Dec. 11, 2018, 5:48 p.m.
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testing here is a joke. a local elevator testing for parts per million? are you kidding me. the previous truck in line may it. do they clean out all air lines that samples come thru, pits, brooms, augers, etc...of course not...who is to say which truck had what in parts per million