I bought an old oliver ear picker to save it from the scrapper, and it all runs fine. But it loses way too much grain on the ground. Most is lost at the snapping rolls, and then more yet in the husking bed. You cant even find one ear that can be sold for squirrel corn because they are all partially shelled off. Is it possible for an ear picker to harvest modern hybrids without excessive grain loss?
- Thread starter Ray IN
- Start date
Centerplate
Member
- Location
- Green County Wi
Pickers will shell excessively when the corn is very dry. Do you know the moisture level?
Some pickers are worse than others for shelling corn. My NI 323 shells corn worse than my 1-PR does. I think you will get some shelling no matter what. I pick my corn when the moisture content is low to mid 20% range and I think that helps over picking corn that is dried more. I also grow some of the older hybrid's which I think also helps.
gene bender
Well-known Member
Any picker will shell some so if you want the perfect ear pick it by hand read your manual for settings to avoid shelling at the snaping rolls
Tony in SD
Well-known Member
X2
2X on the moisture levels. Snapping roll pickers always have shelled more corn off the tips of the ears compared to stripper plate corn heads. Also modern varieties of corn are bred to shell much more easily than they did sixty, seventy plus years ago before combining corn was popular.
tomstractorsandtoys
Well-known Member
Todays corn hybrids are bred for a combine and shell easy. A Deere 300 pull type does a good job because it has deck plates over the snapping rolls. Allis chalmers and the IH 234 mounted pickers had plates over the rolls as well. I am using my Deere 237 this year for a few loads and it is shelling plenty as well. Tom
wilson ind
Well-known Member
what is a 1-pr
Timmycornpicker
Member
- Location
- Almost Pennsylvania, New Jersey.
International Harvester 1 row pull type picker
Timmycornpicker
Member
- Location
- Almost Pennsylvania, New Jersey.
On the New Idea pull types, the snapper roll gap can be increased or decreased. I don't know if Oliver had something similar, but if they did, fiddle with with clearance and try it at different settings. Picking when the corn is damp is also helpful. RH Shumway is still selling some old picker rated hybrids so for next year might want to look into planting one of those.
EZ pik 355 hybrid
EZ pik 355 hybrid
As Tom said the breeding of corn varieties has changed over the decades to favor modern combines. I remember during the 1970's dad had a couple of NK varieties that did not shell clean in the combine. Turns out they were old varieties left over from corn picker days and the dealer failed to account for that when selling dad seed.
redforlife
Well-known Member
Back in the days of picking ear corn, I don't think they let the corn dry down quit so far. Probably picked it no less than 18 to 20% moisture in the kernels. They could get by with this, because it was still on the cob, and put into corn cribs where it could breath air and finish drying down in the crib.
Different story nowadays. Grain gets binned and not cribbed. Coops usually doc if over 15% moisture, and all corn is shelled and not picked. Corn comes off cob easier when dry. At 15%, corn shells off cob nice going through combine. At 10 or 12%, it practically just falls off. Thats what combine operators want. If it sticks to the cob, it gets blown out the back of combine and onto the ground. When picking ear corn, you shoot for a different end result.
You can try monkeying around with adjustments if you want to. But in my opinion, your biggest problem is you probably let the corn get to dry to be picking ear corn.
Different story nowadays. Grain gets binned and not cribbed. Coops usually doc if over 15% moisture, and all corn is shelled and not picked. Corn comes off cob easier when dry. At 15%, corn shells off cob nice going through combine. At 10 or 12%, it practically just falls off. Thats what combine operators want. If it sticks to the cob, it gets blown out the back of combine and onto the ground. When picking ear corn, you shoot for a different end result.
You can try monkeying around with adjustments if you want to. But in my opinion, your biggest problem is you probably let the corn get to dry to be picking ear corn.
coonie minnie
Well-known Member
Today's hybrids also seem to dry down faster, so it narrows the window for good ear corn picking. Also for harvesting high moisture corn.
I have a old IH 2 row mounted 24 picker that my dad used from the 1940's till late 70's no husking bed. The corn hybrids today are meant for combines. If you are unable to get a picker with deck plates then you need to pick at higher moisture or change to a different hybrid designed for use of picker.
Timmycornpicker
Member
- Location
- Almost Pennsylvania, New Jersey.
Another thought: did somebody try to fix worn rollers by putting beads of weld on them? Rollers can be reconditioned with weld but it has to be done correctly. I had a New Idea where somebody splattered some beads on the worn spots and it shelled horrible. I rewelded and then used a die grinder to get the proper contour back and it drastically reduced the shelling issue.
redforlife
Well-known Member
I'm only about 100 miles from Iowa. Ideal conditions can vary in different parts of the country. But bottom line though, there is still an ideal time no matter where you live. Weather might hamper this drastically. Maybe shorten an ideal time down to a day or 2. Or not at all. LOL. Nothing you can do to change the weather. Fall harvest has had to happen here in the mud several times. A few times, that has even been carried into when the ground was froze so you could even go. We have a long enough growing season here, that for the most part we don't have to wait for a freeze to kill the plant so it'll dry down though. Now that would make an ideal time to harvest REALLY SHORT. Maybe just hours. LOL.
the tractor vet
Well-known Member
Well not the expert on the Oliver but i thought olivers had stripper plate like on a combine . If it does then ya need to set the stripper plates so that the stalk will pass thru the nose with ease then ya make is whisker wider at the rear then adjust the snapping rolls tighter . Taking time to watch what is happening and where it is happening and why it is happening . Also many times you will have to readjust to cop conditions even in the same field . walking along side and watching will tell you a bunch . JUST KEEP YOUR COTTON PIKEN HANDS OUT of a running corn picker as you may end up with a new NICK NAME of Stubby or Lefty In other words ya can look BUT Don't touch . I know more about the New Idea's since that is what i have been around a lot more and on those once the corn is down below 21% the become a Bird and Squirrel feeder. at the head and the husking bed . They do a better job when the plants are damp .
Destroked 450
Well-known Member
- Location
- Harned, Ky
I don't know anything about pickers other than the Ford side mount, on it there's a slide pan under the husking rolls for loose kernels to slide down and into the bottom of the elevator, the kernels are then swept up by the elevator flights and carried up to drop into the wagon.
It doesn't help with shelling but you don't lose the corn
The Ford snapping rolls are mounted at a 45+ degree angle so a lot of the shelled kernels drop down into the head elevator and are carried to the wagon instead of dropping to the ground.
Again this doesn't help much with the shelling issue, but you will end up with lose corn you can bag up to go in deer feeders instead of losing it out on the ground
To reduce shelling as other have said find a hybrid corn that's more picker friendly and or pick at a higher moisture.
rdandersom
Member
As others have said the modern corn has a much tougher cob shank than when your machine was made. This is great for not dropping mature ears in the fall but it causes the ear to get squeezed into the snapping rolls before it releases on the older machines. My Dad had an Oliver #5 one row that butt shelled badly even back in the 80s. He tried the adding weld to the rolls trick but it didn't help. The only time it worked reasonably well was on days with a slight drizzle. We had a 2 row New Idea with a sheller later and it was better but every year as the breeders developed tougher plants the butt shelling got worse and worse.
Half of a 2PR, which was IH's two row pull type. A 2PR dog tracked if it didn't have a wagon attached to catch the corn that came out of the pickers elevator.
In the fall of 1946, my dad, grandfather & uncle who had just been able to get a brand new Farmall H because he was a returning veteran. He had a veterans preference for the tractor. Between the three of them, they had two quarters and an 80 of corn that was running about 30-40 bu/acre. They started picking by hand, but decided they would try to find a black market corn picker. They located a 2PR about 40 miles from home. They agreed to pay $3,500 cash for it. Dad & uncle took turns driving uncles new H (with canvas comfort cover) the 40 or so miles to get it. Grandpa followed in in the car with the cash. Dad said the morning they left the temperature was zero. This was just before Thanksgiving. I remember that picker years later with nearly bald tires on it. Dad always said it had good tires on it when they bought it but 40 miles of hard surface roads were hard on war quality tires. Dad & my uncle paid for most of that picker that winter custom picking for neighbors. Everyone in the area had a bumper corn crop of 30 to 40 bu/acre. They were still custom picking in March.
In the fall of 1946, my dad, grandfather & uncle who had just been able to get a brand new Farmall H because he was a returning veteran. He had a veterans preference for the tractor. Between the three of them, they had two quarters and an 80 of corn that was running about 30-40 bu/acre. They started picking by hand, but decided they would try to find a black market corn picker. They located a 2PR about 40 miles from home. They agreed to pay $3,500 cash for it. Dad & uncle took turns driving uncles new H (with canvas comfort cover) the 40 or so miles to get it. Grandpa followed in in the car with the cash. Dad said the morning they left the temperature was zero. This was just before Thanksgiving. I remember that picker years later with nearly bald tires on it. Dad always said it had good tires on it when they bought it but 40 miles of hard surface roads were hard on war quality tires. Dad & my uncle paid for most of that picker that winter custom picking for neighbors. Everyone in the area had a bumper corn crop of 30 to 40 bu/acre. They were still custom picking in March.
Timmycornpicker
Member
- Location
- Almost Pennsylvania, New Jersey.
Did it have a side elevator or a rear elevator?
Rich'sToys
Well-known Member
- Location
- Southern MN
Here's a 1-PR picker. Not the best photo, but the easiest one for me to access on the computer right now.
Timmycornpicker
Member
- Location
- Almost Pennsylvania, New Jersey.
Then it was the older 2-P. 1-P was the one row side elevator. 1-PR and 2-PR came along post war. Same basic machine with a rear elevator, hence the R.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
I thought if you couldn't operate under ideal conditions all the time, it was because you were too stupid, and you should just quit and let someone else work the land.
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