Key Takeaways

• Seek to harvest soybean as close to 13% as possible for greatest profits.

• Start harvesting when soybean is around 14% and adjust combine accordingly.

• Taking a dock for higher moisture may not result in as great of profit loss as delivering soybean at 11% moisture or below and should not result in as much shatter loss.  

When is getting docked by your grain elevator for selling soybean over 13% moisture not a bad thing?

When it means your net income actually improves over what it would have been if you'd sold your soybean at a lower moisture level, for example 9%, to avoid a dockage (see Table 1).

Most soybean is harvested and delivered directly to an elevator instead of being placed in on- farm storage. Soybean delivered below or above 13% moisture — the elevator standard — lose potential profit.

At greater than 13% moisture, there is a moisture dock on the scale ticket for delivering wet beans, resulting in a lower price per bushel. And with less than 13% moisture, profit is lost because there are fewer “bushels” to sell rather than a dockage on the ticket (Table 1). There are fewer bushels because the load weight is divided by 60 pounds per bushel (assuming 13% moisture) rather than adjusting the yield by the actual pounds per bushel for the moisture content of the beans at the time of delivery.

What difference does harvesting and selling soybean at 8% or 9% compared to 13% moisture mean to your bottom line?

If you sell soybean at 8% moisture, you're losing about 5.43% of your yield; at 9% moisture, it's 4.4%; at 10% moisture, 3.3%; at 11% moisture, 2.25%; and at 12% moisture, it's 1.14% yield loss. That does not take into account additional risk for shatter losses during harvest. Only four to five beans on the ground per square foot can add up to a bushel/acre loss due to shatter.

For a field that's yielding 75 bu/ac, harvesting it at 9% results in selling 3.3 fewer bushels per acre based on weight because you are not selling the water that you are entitled to sell if the beans were at 13% moisture. With soybean priced around $9.60/bushel, that's a loss of $31.68 per acre. For example: 

Shrink = 1 – (1-13% moisture/ 1- Actual Moisture%), or 0.0439 = 1-(0.87/0.91)

Bushels Lost = Actual Yield * Shrink, or ~3.3 bu = 75 * 0.0439

For Example

To see how this might work, let's look at a case in eastern Nebraska where a grower is selling soybeans yielding 75 bu/ac at 13.0% moisture. The price dockage for percent moisture above 13.0% varies by elevator. Based on information from one local elevator, growers are docked for soybean sold at over 13% moisture at the following rates:

• 13.1% to 13.5% moisture — 1.5% price dock
• 13.6% to 14% moisture — 3% price dock
• 14.1% to 14.5% moisture — 4.5% price dock
• 14.6% to 15% moisture — 6% price dock

Example 1. If the grower was to sell beans at 13.8% moisture, he/she would be docked 3.0% of the selling price of $9.60/bu, reducing the actual price to $9.31 per bushel. However, because they are selling soybean with more water content, the yield per acre would be 75.7 bu/ac. Total income per acre would be: 

To adjust for water content: 75 bushels * (1 -0.13) = 65.25 bu equivalents of dry matter

At 13.8%: 65.25 / (1-0.138) = 75.7 bu/ac

75.7 bu/ac yield x $9.31/bu = $698.25 per acre gross

Example 2. If the soybean was harvested at 9% moisture, there would be 3.3 fewer bushels per acre to sell (4.4% of 75 bu/ac yield due to water loss; see Table 1): 

75 bu/ac – 3.3 bu/ac =71.7 bu/ac yield x $9.60 = $688.32 per acre gross 

In this example it’s better to take a dockage for selling beans at 13.8% moisture than sell them at 9%. The difference is a positive gain of $16.45 per acre, or around $2,220.35 on a 135 acre field. The grower may likely see an even greater benefit from selling beans at 13.8% moisture due to reduced shatter loss compared to 9% soybeans. 

Example 3. If the soybean was harvested at 12% moisture, there would be 0.86 fewer bushels per acre to sell (1.14% of 75 bu/ac due to water loss): 75 bu/ac – 0.86 = 74.14 bu/ac yield X $9.60 = $711.74 per acre gross. If you can’t hit 13%, it’s still pretty profitable to sell them for 12% moisture compared to the other examples.

Do you have difficulty harvesting soybean close to 13% moisture? If so, consider the tips for your combine in this CW article.

Final Thoughts

We realize this topic can be frustrating, as harvesting at 13% moisture is a combination of art and luck depending on environmental conditions. The purpose of this article is to help readers understand losses that can occur when selling soybean too dry. Rapid dry-down and difficulty harvesting green stems and pods are the most common reasons for harvesting at lower-than-standard moisture. The following practices can help producers maintain quality and expected moisture content.

• Adjust harvest practices. When harvesting tough or green stems, make combine adjustments and operate at slower speeds. Consider these equipment adjustment tips for your combine.
• Begin harvesting at 14% moisture. Try harvesting when some of the leaves are still dry on the plant; the beans may be drier than you think. Soybean is fully mature and have stopped accumulating dry matter when 95% of the pods are at their mature tan color.
• Plan planting dates and variety selection to spread out plant maturity and harvest. Soybean maturity studies are finding around one day of delay in harvest for every 0.1 difference in maturity group.
• Avoid harvest losses from shattering. Four to five beans on the ground per square foot can add up to one bushel per acre loss. Harvest at a slow pace and make adjustments to the combine to match conditions several times a day as conditions change.