Great looking picking rig!! 574 or 674?  Do you have cattle that you are using the ear corn for feed?

KA656, thanks! That's a 574, it was my father in-law's who has passed. It got out of the family for a few years and was incredibly abused and neglected. When my wife and sister in-inlaw got it back, well let's just say even the block was ruined, so after a year and 1/2 of off and on work we did, new block, complete top and bottom overhaul, clutch, radiator re-core, injectors,  fuel tank brazed, new paint and some odds and ends,now we have a really good tractor. We did everything but the engine ourselves  and we put it back in with some guidance from a mechanic friend, and I painted it. Overall tons of time, but cost was reasonable, I really like the tractor and my wife likes having the tractor that was her Dad's out there doing the same kind of work he did with it, with our kids out there we can tell them, yep that was your Pappy Pete's tractor, so they can make some memories too. The newer Deere in the background is my Dads, he's a fruit and vegetable farmer and wanted to get in on the harvest, so he was pulling wagons with his 5420.

I actually do not have any cattle, I guess you could say I'm an oddball part time livestock farmer. We have 40 or so cross meat goats and about 15  coopworth sheep, 2 horses for my girls, and in the fall 4-8 hogs, and usually around 140 cornish cross meat chickens. We butcher the hogs and chickens for ourselves and family. This year I set up a little feedlot and were feeding out our young billie goats and ram lambs. I grind the ear corn feed for them with some bean meal and alfalfa mixed in, we feed them kinda like you would background calves. ( I love the ground ear corn compared to just shell corn, 2 weeks now and I can feed more with less problems) We feed the goat kids up to 85 lbs, lambs 100-125, which seems to be about the best price to feed and effort for the market in our area. I actually was just working on the sheller I got, all day today, think we finally got it working well, so hopefully in the next couple days, we will also use the shelled corn off the cob to make hog and chicken feed too. We keep all the young female ewes and nannies, and they are getting the same corn and cob meal mix the males are, just less of it and their on pasture and second cut hay. 

My whole feed system might seem like overkill for the amount of animals I'm feeding,  but it has been pieced together over the last few years for function and low cost, I have a pretty nice ghel 95 grinder mixer, I traded 50 rolls of outside stored grass hay and $250 for it, everything else was attained cheap or traded etc. I want to grow the goat herd, my wife pretty much does the sheep and wants to grow the flock, and we like raising our own food, so we didn't want to be under sized for the future. With the cost of bagged feed I think we'll be ahead this year let alone the next few. I'm also stubborn and like to do things for myself. After going through the whole process there's definitely something to be said for the quality of feed you can make, and the satisfaction and security of looking at your own crib of corn, getting to use the actual corn from your farm, and not having to pay all the transportation to the mill and back to the farm, drying, storing etc. our closest elevator / mill that makes feed, and does the grain bank and all that, is an hour away, so here, transportation is definitely a factor. 

Sorry I wrote a book to answer a few questions but I appreciate the interest, and have learned a lot off of forums so trying to give back a little about what I'm doing and what my thoughts are behind it. 

Adam it looks like you have things going good with your picker. It seems to be doing a good job husking. Your post about your operation was uplifting to me! You seem to have a good plan and some good help putting it in action. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work. Lee