I was calling around for some pellet prices and have been getting about $240-255 per ton. The I asked about corn and most places didn't carry it, didn't recommend it, or gave prices that were much higher than pellets. I am wondering what people in MA or CT are paying for stove corn? Thanks.
price of corn in MA?
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There aren't any Sam's around me. I think the nearest one is about 40 minutes away. I'll check it out.
liv said:
In my neck of the woods, 40 minutes is still "local"
When I lived in the Berkshires it was 30 minutes to get to most urban suppliers.If they have a good price and deliver, they may be a good source. Last winter they were selling the same brand I was using. (Blazers).
To find corn you will need to look up the nearby cattle feedlot. Places like Agway and the like usually sell it bagged at grossly inflated prices. There are an increasing numver of farmers who are selling corn so you will find it but it will take some driving around. If you are near or in the country it will of course be easier. Its the sort of thing you will work your way into slowly . Another reason why I like the multifuel stove. You can burn whatever you can easily find.
hmmm...closest cattle feedlot.....in Massachusetts?! I honestly dont know of one in New England at all....maybe New York, tho even there Im not sure....Ohio?
Glimores In Walpole Ma Masonry supply and feed and grain supplies. I will call them to see if they know of others in MA
They are located on a freight rail tracks and purchase in freight cars of supplies. I will also post what they price bulk corn. They also stock pellets.. Ok I called them pellets are $270 per ton 50 lb bags of whole corn $8 ea.
here are some links (the second link) where you can imput a zip code and find your nearest local supplier of whole corn
http://www.blueseal.com/
(broken link removed to http://www.kentfeeds.com/DealerList.php)
They are located on a freight rail tracks and purchase in freight cars of supplies. I will also post what they price bulk corn. They also stock pellets.. Ok I called them pellets are $270 per ton 50 lb bags of whole corn $8 ea.
here are some links (the second link) where you can imput a zip code and find your nearest local supplier of whole corn
http://www.blueseal.com/
(broken link removed to http://www.kentfeeds.com/DealerList.php)
elkimmeg said:
They're doing really well on that corn - wholesale is about $2.50/bushel (one bushel dry corn is 55lbs or so). they need to screen and bag it, but still seems pretty steep. Most places in Midwest will sell screened bagged corn for about 3.50 a bag. If you're willing to buy fromt he farm and screen it youself, it's even less than wholesale. Even in mass you only need to go as far as upstate NY to find field corn.
Steve
Ferestien Feed and Farm Supply in Foxboro had Premium brand pellets at $240/ton and corn at about $330/ton or so. So $8 per 50 lb. bag is about the same - still more than pellets.
Feed lots? Uh...don't know of any. It's not worth the gas to drive to NY to get corn.
Feed lots? Uh...don't know of any. It's not worth the gas to drive to NY to get corn.
That's weird. Cheapest pellets out here are 182.50 per ton and corn is 160.00 per ton. Corn was more expensive until last year. It was 160 per ton and pellets were 137.50 per ton. Seems like corn should have gone up as well.
Those are the cheapest pellets (strangely enough the best IMO) Everyone else is averageing 225-240 per ton. Im sure my cheap pellets will be alot more when they start selling them again in Fall. I didn't make it in time to buy a couple ton before they quit selling them this spring. Still thinking about a wood NG mix for my heating. NG here is not alot more expensive than pellets.
If one keeps track of the comodies markets, Corn/ sugar pricing is way up this year, partly due to ethanol production or
anticipation of such. Corn will not be that big of a price break bagged and sold outside the corn belt. If bought locally
and you screen ( bought loose from farmers) is where a pricing makes sense. Bought just after the season is another factor.
Take any vollume product stored out of season and packaged in bags it cost more same with bagged coal
anticipation of such. Corn will not be that big of a price break bagged and sold outside the corn belt. If bought locally
and you screen ( bought loose from farmers) is where a pricing makes sense. Bought just after the season is another factor.
Take any vollume product stored out of season and packaged in bags it cost more same with bagged coal
liv said:
Didn't I hear that corn has many more btu's per pound than pellets? how does that work out on price per million btu? anyone know?
-Dan
If properly dried corn can have up to 10,000 btu per lb. Unfortunatley unlike pellets corn is not usually completely dry and yields an average of 6500btu per lb.
Based on my totally uncalibrated hand I would have to say corn is about 20% hotter give or take. I do notice that the super dry stuff is noticeably hotter and leaves a tad less ash as well. As for the field stuff about anything burns in my Countryside but if its not dry it will go out on the lowest setting 10K BTU. Now there is where the numbers come in. Field corn for $100 / ton as opposed to the bagged clean fancy stuff at $150. Save 50% run it too hot and open a window. Not much of a choice really and it doesn't really happen all that often up here in cold country. Crimeny, I had the stove on all evening last night and its the 3rd of June. Nothing unusual there either.
I would never pay $200 for bagged corn, thats crazy. You have to dig around and really look but believe me the farmers are out there who are selling it and there are feedlots around. You just have to scout them out. You shouldn't have to pay more than $150 and pour it through a 1/4"esh screen. Use the fines to feed the birds. Messy but cheap.
I would never pay $200 for bagged corn, thats crazy. You have to dig around and really look but believe me the farmers are out there who are selling it and there are feedlots around. You just have to scout them out. You shouldn't have to pay more than $150 and pour it through a 1/4"esh screen. Use the fines to feed the birds. Messy but cheap.
It's only 20% hotter if properly dried. And 5 corn is not the norm. Farmers grow it for food and animals typically don't notice a difference between 5 & 20% mc so the farmer doesn't give a chit what the MC is. It averages 20 which is about 25% less hot than a pound of pellets, which are always a consistent 5-6% MC. Corn is a good alternative fuel but to represent it as having consistently higher btu/lb. is wrong. Admittedly with the prices of pellets recently it is probably equal to or more than in the btu/dollar category.
I agree. I good pellets to be hotter. At 65 a ton here in wisco(early last year), corn is cheap heat. Drag is the cleaning and the more regular tinkering with, than pellets. Be it a clinker or stirrer stove it takes more work. I run 50/50 in a Harman PC45. Pellets here are 130 a ton. Overall to heat a big house with a stove is alot of work, especially when NG is 1.10 to 1.40 a thermi in winter. I would assume oil and propane it is worth it.
Hey Shane I am not representing anything at all but but how hot it is on the palm of my hand. If you are getting feedlot corn that is that wet I doubt that they are storing it because supposedly if they try to at that percentage it will rot. Whatever they are doing here works just fine for me. Now I do have a pickup and a snowshovel and a piece of screen stapled to a box screen as well as a blacktop driveway to do the dirty work on. It takes me less time and hassle to unload a ton of corn and screen it then shovel it in totes than it does to load and unload 40 bags of pellets. I bail it into 5 gallon pails to take inside 2 of which will last usually 24 hours and just dump it in the hopper. One thing I have noticed is that pellets always spew more dust around than corn does for me. About the only benefit I have ever seen with pellets over corn was that you only get about half as much ash and with corn on a grinder model you have to keep the door closed when running to keep the soot from getting out. I still only dump the hopper every 2 days and its not a very generous one like a Harmon has. As I said before you have to shop around with corn. Some places think they can get the moon and stars for the stuff while others are reasonable. For 20% stuff they should be practically giving the stuff to you. The only thing to explain more heat from pellets than corn that I can think of is the design of the stove itself. Mine is designed to burn both and while it does that well enough it is a 15+ year old design that lacks many of the bells and whistles the newer ones have and maby that works to my advantage. I can and have messed with the air and fuel flow settings and have this thing dialed in pretty well to run the stuff I buy.
its great to hear all the opinions here! pellets, wood, coal, corn, etc.....but Ive a challenge for you, Driz....you think you can shovel, screen, and store your ton of corn faster than I can my ton of pellets?....takes me abt 3 minutes per ton....I deliver the pellets on a skid to the garage door, then take my pallet jack inside, pick up the ton, and stow it. But, sadly, I undoubtedly do pay more. Ive been checking into corn here in MA, so far, no luck in bulk. It seems this time of year, corn is rare in these parts, cept for feed, bagged. Ive got the word out to a few grain guys (my great Uncle and Cousin both sell grain, have sold it since the 40's), and they are trying to locate a supply for me. Id love to try it in my P61, just to see what happens. Ill keep ya'll posted!
most people are aware of the local feed stores and other outlets that have taken the base corn product and have turned it into a comodity such as deer feed. This is a little like buying bread instead of the wheat. You can contact your local Corn Growers Association and find out where the local corn distribution center is (such as Gargil) and find out where to purchase corn direct.
Stored corn is supposed to be at 15% or less moisture. the elevators blend dry corn and wet corn sometimes to get an average of 15%. This could mean that one time you will get less than 15% and sometimes it could be 18-20% moisture. Ideally, 11-12% moisture corn is the best and it will give you app. 8,000-8500 BTU's per pound of heat. Corn hybreds that are high in sugar will give you higher btu's. Stay away from wax content corn and do not burn treated seed corn. We are in the Biomass industry and should not be worrying about whether corn or wood pellets or any other Biomass fuel is better than the next. We should be promoting all environmentally safe fuels and your customers should be able to chose which fuel is abundant, inexpensive and available in their area.
OK so you get 11-112 percent corn, cleaned and ready to burn and the price goes up toward the cost of pellets at my price of 130 and higher a ton(and low ash pellets burn a ton at a time without tinker'in. It is still a ton of work and does it appeal to most Americans? I say no until the price goes drastically higher. Again propane and oil is a different story but most of us are NG for the market to sour it is questionable. Add on the cost of the stove pipe and repairs to this new technology????????????????????????????
What do you think?
What do you think?
warminwisco said:
America is a BIG place. How would you like to have even 1/100 of the market for LP gas home heating?
Pellets are about 250 a ton here and we can only assume they will go higher.
Corn is available in a LOT of places........
So I think the potential market is quite good. The corn stoves also burn pellets, so you can switch or mix in many of them. This is even better flexibility.
Even if a small percentage of the farmers that GROW corn bought a corn stove, that would be a lot of them! Now take all the people that live within 20 miles of a large silo.
Corn has the same potential problem that pellets do - and that is they are subject to the market for other uses. Just like clean sawdust can be used in a LOT of products, so can corn. The future of biomass will include a lot of fuels, from peanut hulls, to high ash wood pellets and much more. It all comes down to how many BTU's an acre can grow.....or, the use of secondary and waste products from other processes.
Yes, pellets and corn - and even wood does not have to compete with other fuels everywhere in the USA. Even niche markets can be quite big.
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