Just curious at what moisture do you start pickin ear corn? I plan on doing a few acres this fall for the first time. Planning on filling a round wire crib and maybe keeping some on the wagons.
The old timers used to throw an ear into the stock tank and if it floated, it was dry enough to crib.
My guess would be if it gets to 20% moisture you should be ok, provided you have enough ventilation.
below 32% at the highest and preferably 24%. I know we would take an ear and twist the kernels and see if they were loose or tight. But it's been so long i cant remember which way now. lol
I had always heard if 4 outta 5 ears floated, it was ready to pick. We try to pick between 24% and 19% moisture, but we have finished at much drier. Today's hybrids shell a lot at much lower than 19%, but I have heard of open pollinated varieties that hang onto the kernels better. Since we combine most of our corn, we are not going to plant special hybrids just for ear picking.
Thanks for the help, I haven't been around anyone picking corn since 1988 when my grandpa was still farming and I was only 10 years old then. I try farming like the old timers did, and it works out for me pretty darn well, figured I'd try some ear corn and see how that works out also.
There is a wide range of expertise here, in nearly all brands and types of pickers. Even see related machines pop up sometimes, like binders and shellers. Ask if you have any questions--someone will know. Also, everyone is very civil here, no politics or grumpiness. This is one of my favorite sites, although I don't spend a lot of time on the internet.
As far as farming like the old timers, our family farm uses both the new and the old. We combine most of our corn, but still pick around 10 acres each year to grind to fatten calves from our cow-calf operation. We have converted our old barn to some modern (albeit unconventional) uses, and we mostly farm with 50-year-old tractors and equipment. You'll fit right in here.
I think i saw a pic of yours online some time ago. It looked like you were building a small pole barn with the posts that looked like landscape timbers bolted together. The pic had a one ton big dually with livestock racks and a d 17 pulling a 72 all crop out of the building as it was being constructed. It looked like a great low cost building . I've been saving pics with the building in it to plan for my own.I just wondered if it was your pic , how big was the building and how did it turn out. Wish the previous owners of my place hadnt torn the original barn down!!
I doubt that was my picture (don't post many pictures), but I sure fit the profile. We (Pop, Uncle, and I) have a small herd of D17s. They all run, and are all used, including one with a cut rear axle that we tow around for auger/elevator PTO duty. We have an All-Crop, but it hasn't been used in years, and I forget the model. It is on my long, distinguished list of projects. I have built two buildings in the last 4 years, both with creosoted posts/poles. The first is a shelter for our squeeze chute so we can work cattle under a roof. The sides, by necessity, are all gates instead of walls, so I used an unusual amount of cross bracing and bolted all joints to prevent racking. The second building is a 36x60 hoop building built on two 4' pony walls with creosote posts/poles at 5' centers, 4-6' below ground level. Pop and I built both, with help from friends and neighbors to erect the hoops and pull the fabric cover. We have also made many reinforcements and improvements to existing buildings, most of which were built by previous generations of my family, so they still enjoy usefulness and structural integrity in a more modern world.
Apologies to grinder220 for this brief hijacking of your post.
SOrry to to grinder . Didnt mean to hijack the post. Yeh B.O tha pic i saw had what looked like 2 d 17 s with an ac mounted picker and an old style new idea mounted picker. thanks again.
could just shell a coffee can of corn and take to the local elevator or neighbor that you know who has a moisture tester. We did that a lot before buying a moisture tester
We still go to the nearby feedlot to get the moisture tested. What brands of moisture testers are good, and what kind of price range? Are you happy with yours? Does it do grains other than corn, like soybeans, wheat, and oats?
Mines in storage right now so i cant remember the brand name. I think i might have gotten it at TSC back when they still carried farm stuff for around i hundred bucks i think.,Nice to carry around on the combine.
original barn down!!
