Target the smaller pieces
Corn already mixed with broken kernels offers a useful screening opportunity: remove smaller fragments through suitable screen openings while keeping whole kernels above them. The sale decision depends on more than a cleaner-looking sample, though. Compare what screening removes with what your buyer counts—and deducts for—before committing the lot.
Size—not the broken edge—determines what separates
A small corn chip can pass through an opening that retains a whole kernel. A larger broken piece close to whole-kernel size may stay with the corn. That is the useful dividing line for size screening: it targets smaller fragments, not every kernel with a visible break.
The Metra VDSC-800 grades material by size using vibrating screens. The VDSC manual identifies corn as an application using suitable sieve frames. Smaller material passing through the lower screen leaves separately from the retained grain. Screen selection should match your corn and the pieces you want removed.
Visible breakage is not the same as graded BCFM
Under USDA corn standards, broken corn and foreign material, or BCFM, includes:
– All matter that passes readily through a 12/64-inch round-hole grading sieve under the prescribed inspection procedure.
– All material other than corn that remains in the sample after sieving.
A visibly broken corn piece retained above that sieve is not BCFM simply because it is broken. Conversely, BCFM can include non-corn material larger than the sieve openings.
The 12/64-inch dimension defines the grading test; it is not a VDSC screen recommendation. The cleaner separates material in production, while the grading test measures a defined quality factor. Removing small fragments addresses part of that factor, but appearance alone does not tell you the resulting BCFM level.
Compare two sales from the same starting lot
Get your receiving buyer’s current corn discount schedule and confirm its grading method. Ask how the measured BCFM affects price, payable weight and any acceptance limits. Penn State Extension explains that discount schedules vary and that deductions can affect either payable quantity or price.
Have the buyer evaluate representative samples of the incoming corn and the screened corn using the same receiving method. USDA identifies representative sampling as essential to accurate inspection. Use those results—not a visual count of broken pieces—to compare the two options:
– Sell without screening: determine the payment for the original lot after the buyer’s applicable weight and price deductions.
– Screen first: determine the payment for the smaller retained lot after its applicable deductions, add any realizable value of the removed fraction, then subtract cleaning and additional handling or hauling costs.
Keep both options tied to the same starting lot. The weight physically removed is already absent from the screened-corn sale; do not charge its value again as a separate loss.
If screening moves the corn into a lower deduction bracket, that change belongs in the comparison. If the graded result stays in the same bracket, a cleaner-looking load may bring no deduction relief. The useful result is a better net return from the whole lot—not merely a higher price per bushel on fewer bushels.
Match the screens to your corn
To see which smaller fragments can separate from your corn, contact Metra at info@graincleaner.com about a free grain sample test. You do not need to choose a machine first. Metra uses your sample to demonstrate separation, evaluate the cleaned and removed fractions, and recommend equipment and settings. Your manager will confirm shipping arrangements and any associated costs before you send the sample.
