picking corn

Nick167 · May 31, 2015

How many of you out there have picked corn? Its something I want to do someday and was wondering how many people still did and was a there a tractor powered sheller to?

rrlund · May 31, 2015

I still pick ear corn. I grind it,not shell it.

J. Schwiebert · May 31, 2015

Answer to part 2 is yes. In fact some of the pickers were available with a husking bed or a sheller unit.

Paul from MI · May 31, 2015

I raised a few acres of corn for many years. I picked it with a Wood Brothers picker and sold it as ear corn. At the time I got a $.15/bushel cob premium as the local mill had a market for the cobs. That all changed about 2000 or so, and now there's no nearby mills that take ear corn. Guys that grind their own feed, like rrlund, sometimes pick it to grind later on. At one time most of the major manufacturers made some type of sheller. Much of this stuff has been left outside and sold for scrap, or is now unusable so finding a picker and a sheller may not be easy.

Dick L · May 31, 2015

If have picked was the question I did a lot of that from the mid 50's until Dad bought the first Oliver Combine with corn head in about 1960. Pulled one picker with the Oliver 77 and one with the Oliver 66. Used both gravity wagons and flat rack wagons to catch the corn. Trucked it to the elevator to be shelled after the cribs were filled. Flat racks all had to be shoveled.
How many shoveled corn off a flat rack that had to be pitched over the top of the crib??
We had two old cribs that didn't have room to get an elevator in to use one.
What didn't get fed from the cribs was trucked to Andersons in Maumee Ohio for a cob premium which well off set the trucking.

wvfarmboy · May 31, 2015

i still do and grind it to feed cattle. use new idea pickers.

gtractorfan · May 31, 2015

I grew up that way. It was (is) my favorite time of the year and was the favorite tractor/implement experience with good memories.

Dick2 · May 31, 2015

The first corn that I picked was by hand! The team of horses pulled the wagon along; they knew when to start and stop by themselves. We had a "Bang Board" on one side of the wagon so it would stop the ears if we overthrew the wagon. The horses seemed to know when someone wasn't looking and they would grab an ear of corn; they couldn't chew it fast enough and Dad would yell at them - but they'd do it again when they got a chance!

It was better when Dad bought a Case picker - but we still had to shovel the ear corn off into the elevator to get the corn in the crib. Years later we put hoists under the wagons, which made life a lot easier when we unloaded into the elevator.

DoubleR · May 31, 2015

I still pick mine and put it in a round crib. I grind it cob and all and feed out a few steers every year.
Truth be told, I could probably buy my corn from my farming friends cheaper than it cost me to raise my own. But I would miss out on all the fun.

Tim(nj) · May 31, 2015

I still pick about 70 acres a year. A good chunk of that gets sold to deer hunters. Some of it gets ground for feed my use, the rest of it goes to other local farmers who grind their own feed but don't plant corn. I use a New Idea 324 picker which is easy to keep going because about 100 miles away in Lancaster, PA is a shop that makes all kinds of parts for the New Idea superpickers. The Amish and some of the Mennonite groups in PA still pick a lot of corn.

fixerupper · May 31, 2015

Here in the cornbelt every farm boy 50 or 55 years old and older has picked and shelled corn. The percentage slowly drops down to where very few farm boys under 35 years old have picked and shelled. I'm not saying no one under 35 has never experienced it but as a whole very few. When i was a kid in the 50's and 60's all of our corn was picked in the ear. About half of it was shelled for shelled corn and the other half was ground ear corn for cattle feed. On some land I'm farming this year there is a New Idea pull type picker sitting there with a tree growing through it. I remember when that picker was bought new sometime in the late 60's. Where has the time gone?

Buckeye · May 31, 2015

I still pick corn to grind and feed to fat cattle.

James Babcock · May 31, 2015

On one of the RFDTV shows several years back, I saw a contest where the folks picked the ears, husked them and threw 'em into a horsedrawn wagon. Seems like only old guys were any good at it. When I was about 6 or so, mid-1950's, Dad still picked corn by hand and used my uncle's belt-driven machine powered by our Farmall A to grind the ears. At that age it seemed like play to me because I could ride in the wagon as soon as I got tired of picking them ears. Hot, dusty and itchy are the main memories for me, but I got to hang out with Pa.

Kent Petersen · May 31, 2015

i was 14years old when dad said you are old enouft to run the two row mounted JD picker we did custom picking as well as our own. also ran the minnie sheller model E it was on an old ford truck ran off the truck engine thru trans and JD split drive shaft set up .i was farming 700 acers when i retired ; all corn and beans that heat and cond. cab on the 7720 sure beat any picker i ever ran

tomstractorsandtoys · May 31, 2015

Last year was the first that we did not pick any ear corn. We still have two pickers a Deere 237 two row mounted and a Deere 300 pull type. We did remove the two row head from the pull type and mount it on our forage harvester and make a product called snaplage which is the ears,husks and a some of the stalks. This feed is harvested wetter than ear corn and ours is stored in silage bags. Tom

agonair · May 31, 2015

My Grandpa picked corn in the ear until 1975 or so and ran a custom sheller business until 1978. I loved it. Loved riding in the wagon behind a New Idea mounted picker on an Oliver 88. Of course, I was a kid then Grandpa was ready to give it up. Now, I am recapturing it. I bought a pull type Oliver picker and an MM B2 Sheller. I hope to pick a few acres just to keep it alive.

fordfarming · May 31, 2015

Old school
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto21803.jpg"/>

<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto21804.jpg"/>

Mike(NEOhio) · May 31, 2015

I used to help FIL with the picking. He ran the 1-row New Idea pull type. I would run the wagons back an forth and unload with a silage fork. These were the hay wagons changed over to 2 ft. high sides and ends. One of my fondest memories of him and a good time of year to be outside. Ear corn went into cow feed. Some went into the belt-driven sheller for the chickens.

J I Case Man · May 31, 2015

Hey Dick2, do you remember what case cornpicker your father had?

J. Schwiebert · May 31, 2015

Dad would always cut and shock some corn. He would husk the shock corn and when I got home from school my job was to hitch up the flat bed wagon get a corn fork and load those piles up. We had bang boards too. Then after the war we got a G I picker. It did not stay too many years. J.

M Nut · May 31, 2015

Pick and crib about 10 acres each year to grind for feed. We use a new idea 324 with 12 roll husking bed. Does a nice job.

J.Wondergem · May 31, 2015

Dad always cut the corn with the binder, and then we had to shock the corn to dry down. Then we'd set up the corn shredder and blow the corn stalks into the barn for the cattle to pick through in the winter. The ears of corn went into the crib for the winter. When we needed a grist ground, we'd load corn in the pick up along with bags of oats, take it to the feed mill and they would shell and grind the corn, mix with the ground oats and the rest of the recipe for feed for the milk cows.

2510Paul · May 31, 2015

Hi Nick, here are some cool pictures from the Monday before January 1, 2015. It was about 20 degrees. It's a long story why so late. Anyway, see those picker tires. Brand new to not slide around on the hills of Western Wisconsin. It worked. Enjoy. Paul

Donald Lehman · May 31, 2015

Picked about 60-100 tons a year with a IH 1 row picker when I was farming. Still have the picker.

Pitalplace · May 31, 2015

This is a belt driven D400 JD sheller. I am restoring it to run again.

farmerwithmutt · May 31, 2015

Remember using binder farm all pickers oliver new idea mounted and pull type .back in the day it was always somebody missing body parts from pickers .
Can anybody remember unloading corn and finding Indian corn?

Goose · May 31, 2015

The last two years I was in high school, my dad got a job in town and turned the field work over to me. This was in about 1950. He always picked corn by hand and expected me to do the same.

I hooked a wagon behind a VAC Case and started out. I'd have to pick corn, then get on the tractor to move ahead, over and over. I lasted two hours. I said, "This is bullschitt", and went into town and bought an old used one row pull behind picker. I thought I was in hog heaven.

Nick167 · May 31, 2015

Thanks for the pictures! I hope someday I might get to rent a few acres and want to pick corn someday I think it would be neat to have a Oliver #4 to mount on my 77

paul · May 31, 2015

Sure. Have cut back the last 3 years, but picked 2-4,000 bu a year most of my life, hooking pins and unloading wagons when small.

Paul

flying belgian · May 31, 2015

How come there is always a big huge mess of spilled corn around the sheller? Ours was the same. Was down to farm america last fall and they had a shelling demonstration and their's was the same.

Alan K · May 31, 2015

Always enjoyed picking corn. I usually unloaded and either my dad or brother ran the picker. A person would go unload a load and go back out to the field and "wait" for the picker to get to the end for the next load. Now you go home with a wagon and come back out and all the wagons are near full. There is just something about hearing ear corn drop in an empty wagon on a crisp fall day. My grandpa and his brother bought a 1 row picker back in the 30s or 40s and picked for the neighbors. I remember grandpa saying...when the two row pickers came along, then you had something because you could pick twice as much. LOL...how things have changed.

Ron Muhlenkamp · May 31, 2015

Dad bought our farm in 1951, when I was seven. And went to work at New Idea in Colwater, Ohio, to pay for the farm. The next year we shucked 15 acres of corn by hand. I 'd go to the field each night after school, and he'd join me after work and all day Sat. It took us 6weeks to shuck 15 acres of corn. I've been told that assembly lines are boring, but I've never seen a line as boring as 15 acres of corn to be shucked by hand. As many of you know, in the 1960's New Idea was the largest maker or corn pickers and manure spreaders. Connie and I were married on June 22, 1963. Coldwater was celebrating an anniversary and we newly weds were invited to ride as guests of honor in an unused manure spreader. Connie declined the honor. To this day, I don't understand it.

paul · Jun 1, 2015

The front pile is what filters out from the cob elevator. We load the machine pretty heavy at times and the screens aren't that big, a little comes out with the cobs.

The rear pile is from my special setup. The corn crib is in a hill, and the back side there is 3 feet off the ground. So we don't drop the rear drag elevator down, we leave it in transport position. So corn can fly out of that bigger gap under the elevator, since it isn't sealed down. Dad would tie a gunny sack there, I guess I just scoop up,the spills and dump over to the cattle. Keeping this elevator up lets me feed the machine a little too fast, as the elevator isn't too steep......

Paul

Ford9000puller · Jun 1, 2015

I'm a little late but thought Id post anyway. We pick a few wagon loads to grind for the cattle. More so just to have fun using old equipment. My grandpa had a one row Ford that was wore out and they quit picking several years ago. Then I found the 2 row picker and put it on the 961 and first used it in 2013. Since then I found the 2 row sheller, the one row in the pictures which was in a shed its whole life, a 2 row with 4200 mounts, and I've got to go pick up a 2 row that was on a 6000.

Tech 7 · Jun 1, 2015

I haven't picked any corn in close to 30 years and judging by the pictures I was doing it wrong.....picker and mud went together in my mind. We used to pick 30-50 acres as well as field shelling 100-125 ac. After we had a combine with a corn head we would still fill the cribs for feed......always liked ground ear corn in the milk cows diet.....didn't enjoy making it though.

KYfarm · Jun 1, 2015

<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto21907.jpg"/>

picking corn, shelling, mud and broken down

picking corn

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