picking corn

[Marshall]

Next year I am going to plant about 2 1/2 acres of corn for the corn crib. How long would it take to pick it by hand if I had a helper. A fella I work with said he would help as long as he gets to drive the horses.

[reb]

How much corn can a corn picker pick, if a corn picker could pick corn?

[Iron Rose]

A good piker will pick approx. 100 bu a day. If you are new you can figure a lot less. Last time I picked by hand I picked four rows (approx 40 rods long) in the morning and another four rows in the afternoon, and I’m not that fast.

Good luck
Dan

[Marshall]

Thanks Dan. It might be slow but sounds feasible.

[Ed Thayer]

Please forgive my ignorance, but how do you feed the corn out after it is in the crib? Cob and all or is it shucked later?

Is this corn going to be for horse feed/

Ed

[Mac]

Speaking from experience, we feed ours cob and all. We shell some of it, but mostly just chuck it in the crib and be done with it. But before you feed it, you can peel the shuck back, but don’t pull it off because they’ll eat that too. That’s how us old Arkies do it anyway.
Mac

[Marshall]

After it is in the crib I am going to put it thru a hammer mill and grind it to the size of cracked corn. It will be used for cow feed. I raise a few feeders every year.

[Jonathan Shively]

Having standing corn is a real eye opener in feeding cattle. Here in Indiana, around middle of August I would start opening corn fields up using a mudboat and a single horse. Cut stalks and all. Feed to cows and calves, they eat it like cotton candy! Great way to open a field and get your team or horse used to starting and stopping in the field. I have never put corn in a crib with the husks on. Would think here at least it would be a pile of mold soon. No fear though, running the cows on the stalks and leaving the calves at the barn is a great way to wean. Also more feed for the cows without manual labor.

[Marshall]

I was thinking about using the corn binder to take off the headlands and open the field up. I figured it would be good for the horses and fun for me. I have fed stalk and all on the past(cut by hand) and it worked real well.

[Author]

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