Picking corn

[valleview]

My Dad had two New Idea corn pickers-both two row. One had a shelling unit on it and if the corn was dry enough he would put it in a bin. Most of the corn was harvested with the picker that had a husking bed and was ground into feed for finishing steers. Usually there was a crib left over and he ran the corn through an old Minnie Moline sheller. 1998 was the last year they were used as he passed in January 1999. I think he called it shelling corn with the first New Idea and picking corn with the second. Harvest-time was a lot of work even though he didn't have the large acreage most farms have today.

 

[4520BW]

Neat old pictures, your lucky someone had a camera back then. Do you know what tractor is on the drier?

 

[cushman]

I remember in 1959,when I was 11 yr old,my dad bought a new JD 45 with a 10 ft grain platform for $6000,I sure was proud of that huge combine.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I think my dad borrowed the tractor from his brother. My Dad used John Deere A.

 

[Princeton Bill]

Looks like an Allis WD or WD-45. I see they rolled back the Heat Houser to help keep the old girl cool when running that dryer.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Picking or combining,shelling is something done to ear corn once its been picked

 

[JWinIndiana]

(quoted from post at 03:53:44 09/08/23) I think my dad borrowed the tractor from his brother. My Dad used John Deere A.
<img src=https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto162708.jpg>

George is that the corner field North of the home and river?

 

[Bill(Wis)]

I believe the term ''picking corn'' goes back to the days when it was picked by hand. then, mechanical pickers were introduced. First ones were single row and either mounted to a tractor or pulled behind a tractor. The ones we used didn't do a very good job of husking so two or three of us would sit on the wagon pulled behind the picker and pull the remaining husks off from the cobs as they came tumbling into the wagon.

The dairy farmers didn't bother shelling the corn off from the cobs. Most beef farmers didn't either. But for chickens and pigs it was best to shell the corn. Corn shellers were used for that. Here is a Minneapolis Moline corn sheller which was considered to be the best corn sheller on the market in 1954. These were usually available thru the local feed mill and towed out to the farm yard with the feed mill truck and then powered with the farmer's tractor. Corn on the cob would be shoveled into the left end hopper and the shelled corn would go up the elevator into a wagon, truck, trailer and the empty cobs would be blown on a pile and could be used for bedding or fuel. .10c per bushel for the service.

And then came the combines which could do it all. Here in Central Siberia we call it combining corn or combining beans or whatever. The term ''shelling'' is never heard. It's a regional thing like ''plowing corn''. People around here wouldn't know what you were talking about.

 

[Leroy]

Never did a lot of traveling and at the times it is said the picker shellers and early combines with corn heads the elevators did not have any way to handle shelled corn. All corn that had any moisture had to be shipped same day or next day to a large terminal to dry it for storage and that was by truck. Local elevator if you wanted to put it on storage for later feed grinding just had a big old wooden crib to put the ear corn in. Elevators just had small hundred bushel per hour corn shellers to use when you brought ear corn in. First corn shelling we could do was with a Massey 35SP combine with a 2 row corn head. Started hauling picked corn to elevator with tractor when I had just turned 16. And all the corn around here is still grass green. Corn harvest might start first part of October.

 

[Jim in NC]

Alot of combines and hauling trucks in and around the cornfields in Southeast NC yesterday.

 

[IHC pickups]

Some corn shelling going on here in the Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

After hand picking went the way of the Dodo bird mechanical pickers were introduced which mechanically picked the ears from the stalks, husks and all and conveyed them into a trailing wagon.

Shortly thereafter husking beds were developed on the pickers which removed some of the husks but usually not all. This was supplemented by riders on the wagon who would try to remove all remaining husks and throw them overboard. Then came portable shellers This one is a Minneapolis which was the Cadillac sheller of the day (1950s)

Next came picker/shellers which would pick the corn and shell it in one operation. New Idea called theirs the ''Super Picker''. 0

And then came the combines. they do it all. Here in Central Siberia it is called ''Combining''. It's a regional thing I guess.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Nobody buys them anymore they just lease most of the big high use stuff, and own enough ground to park it on now days. Most of the terminology here is combining for wheat, oats,corn ,and beans. For edible beans some of them call it thrashing since they pull a good share of them yet. More and more are being direct cut now though with the ability of flex heads to get lower and save more crop.