Dockage and Foreign Material
Dockage · Direct indicators of lot risk and handling discipline
Dockage and foreign material levels are direct indicators of lot risk and the quality of handling upstream. High dockage is not just a cleaning problem — it is a signal about what else may be wrong with the lot.
Why It Matters
| Risk | What It Causes |
|---|---|
| Contamination and spoilage | Foreign material harbors moisture, mold, and pathogens that spread to clean grain during storage |
| Distorted intake metrics | Dockage inflates apparent weight and skews moisture and composition readings — usable yield is lower than it looks |
| Equipment and separation problems | Weed seeds, stones, and oversized material stress cleaning equipment and create separation inconsistency in milling |
Control Approach
- Define maximum dockage tolerances before contracting and enforce them at receiving
- Sample consistently and document results by lot
- Route out-of-spec lots to a cleaning, blending, or rejection decision — do not absorb them silently