Back to corn questions again - cultivation

[FarmboyBill]

Ive seen a couple pics where someone was useing a rim of a wheel laid sideways on the ground, and pulled by a horse or mule through a corn field/row. They always said they were cultivateing corn.

Not that I doubt that, BUT Im kinda wondering if they wernt also hilling up the corn rows also. Wonder about slipping a rim around a middle schovel, wire it through a bolt hole to the shank so that it raises when the cultivator raises, so as to bring dirt up against the corn rows, along with whatever weed killing it might do.

[FarmboyBill]

Keeping talking about corn, planting it, preparing the field, varities, op or hyb, ferts, cultivation, picking and cribbing will help me get through this COLD weather.

[jwal10]

We just set the hovels and fenders close and kept hilling it up. Horse drawn or tractor. Only other piece of equipment used was a rotary hoe if it crusted bad before emerging. I hill my corn it the garden with a rake, once a week, knocks out the weeds and hills....James

[FarmboyBill]

Dang, Im sick lol. Just called my supplier for op corn $30 bu. Said it burn up last year, and he only had enough for himself. He was 30 miles away dangit.

[uncle Will in In.]

The only time the old farmers drug a planter wheel between the corn rows around here was when the corn was to tall to cultivate and was burning up from a summer drought. The wheel stirred up a layer of loose dirt between the rows. This stopped the moisture from evaporating as it came up through the soil.
If you want to pay about $90 for a bushel of roundup ready seed corn, you won't need to cultivate it. My farmer just disces the ground about 8 inches deep and plants with a 36 row notill planter. Sprays roundup, and comes back in the fall with his $500,000 18 row combine and harvests it. He dumps it into a $100,000 grain cart pulled by a $300,000 tractor with rubber tracks on all 4 corners.
Todays farmers need a couple million dollars worth of equipment plus a couple semis to do business. His cash rent outlay for the spring installment is over $200,000 The other half is due Nov 1st.
Is he a millionaire?? Lord only knows.

My neighbor died last year. They auctioned off his 178 acre farm last month. A young farmer nearby got it for $1,100,000. I'm sure my neighbor is turning over in his grave. I got 179 acres that join that farm. I'm still driving a 1996 Chevy pickup. I'm sure the county will stick it right up my assessment. Easy come, easy go!

[francismilker]

It's been said the only way for a farmer to make money is to start out with a lot of money. I can't disagree.

[rambler]

Yea, here in Minnesota they used a new formula to figure property taxes for 2012. Many houses went down in tax a few bucks

My small farm went up between 21% to 65%, depending on the parcel. That's not up in valuation, that is up in taxes owed.

Ouch.

Never heard of a rim used for cultivation, laying on it's side? Would only pull out the tiny hair weeds, even that doesn't seem like it would work well in rough cloddy ground.


--->Paul

[Just Cliff]

I have started to build a one wheel tractor to cultivate my corn. It will be similar to a Plow Hoss or the old Planet one wheel. It will be narrow enough(14") to go between the rows and not damage the corn or whatever crop I need it for. The difference in mine will be the cultivating attachments will be behind the wheel. The video link posted shows what a Plow Hoss is if you have never heard of one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53xXf96AeaI&feature=BFa&list=PLDE000BB5A8613A9B&lf=results_main

[michiganfarmer]

Dad raises 8 pigs every year to butcher for people who buy them. He is paying between $6 and $7 a bushel for shelled corn to feed them.

Ive been thingking about raising corn for our pigs. The farmers Ive talked to who raise corn regularly say it costs them about $3.60 a bushel to raise it. They are using round up ready seed, combining it, drying it, and storing it shelled.

I dont know that I want to buy a combine..even though old 4 row combines are fairly cheap. SHelled corn has to be dried for storage or it will mold. Im not going to buy a drier. I was thinking about round up ready seed, picking the corn, and putting it in a crib for the winter. Cob corn doesnt need to be dried if its stored in a crib. In the spring and summer, Id shell it as we need it, and run it through our roller mill. ..or maybe buying a hammer mill, and grinding it cob and all.

[michiganfarmer]

to the OP, I have considered planting the rows wide enough to get a horse between, and cultivating with a one row cultivator and a horse.

I dont know how practical that would be. Id have to feed a hay burner all year. A tractor only has to be fed when yo uuse it.

[michiganfarmer]

a neighbor gave me about 100 yards of manure this summer. I spread it in an area that I plan to plant corn next year. About 3 acre area I guess. We will see I guess

[FarmboyBill]

IF you get the horse, and a 5 schovel and USE it one year, I wager, if you keep the horse youll get another and a 1 row rideing cultivator. I have a 2 row IHC here. Never used it with horses. Have used it with tractor. 3 acres MIGHT feed 8 pigs/hogs, IF you have 100+bu an acre.
If you grind it, do so with the cob. Make a slop out of it useing one of those discarded rubber concentrate barrels and feed it, Makes the corn go further. Grinding a bale of alfalfa and mixing into the slop makes the corn go further also.
U need to harrow it when 1/2 of it is 2in above ground. Thereafter you need to run a walking expandable harrow through it till the corns all up. When it is all at least 2in above the ground, a 5 schovel will be needed. WEEKLY until the corn is, at least even with the handles. Bring the 5 schovel a notch nearer to center every other time you cultivate it so as to give the corn roots a chance to expand and make a sturdy base.

If you would have cut and bound the stalks, and picked out the ears, to fed hogs, id say, leave the shucks on for grinding. Then run the stalks through a wood chipper and put them in a wire pen and in the winter, fence off your 3 acres and put a stocker on it and feed alternateing hay and corn fodder and butcher it come planting time next spring.

If you dont already have a picker, but do have a wagon, for just 3 acres, id rig up shafts and hand pick it. If you think you can walk behinc a 5 schovel, you can pick 3 acres by hand.

[Windy in Kansas]

Just how much cultivation is needed once the corn gets tall enough to shade the area between rows. Is there really much needed once the corn reaches one foot tall? Most tractors could cultivate it at that stage without height damage I would think.

As to pulling a bare rim---wouldn't clods make it swing from side to side thus wiping out some of the plants? Depending upon how you hooked to the rim it might also want to dig the leading edge into the ground causing it to wander, at least that is my thinking from visualization.

[FarmboyBill]

JC Look up Coleman Iron Mule 1 wheel cultivator. I have one. Its alright if you want to walk at a fast clip. Be great in an open field or garden. Not so good in a small fenced one. Problem I notice is that its hard to keep it upright should I want to leave it to do something.

Like I say, Ive seen the pics. Cant remember seeing weight on them, but I imagine they would have been used after harrowing, and several passes through the field with the cultivator rendered the clods relatively small. I would have to think it would have to be a old time truck wheel, or solid planter wheel and, I never saw a planter wheel that would fit in a corn row laying down. I have an IH horse and tractor planter here, and neither would do it, I dont think, tho the tractor planter wheel is slightly smaller in dia. Both open faced.

[chester5731]

FarmBoyBill, have you ever fed ground cob corn to pigs. I have been told it is not good for them but I have no experience. I would like to do the same if it is safe. I am hoping to cultivate mine with the horses this year. I found a fertilizer attatchment for the cultivator and thought about adding a little more urea when cultivating.

[FarmboyBill]

Not by itself, but dad fed it to grown hogs WITH CORN ATTACHED in a slop I have a herbacide attachment for a planter or cultivator.. ITs a box that dosent hold 2 qt. I dont know if that would be any good for that or not.

[Oldcountryboy]

Farmboybill, have you checked out a 3 point hiller attachment for a tractor. I made a homemade version of one and it works great for hilling corn rows. I first till the rows up using a 3 point cultivator attachment and then I remove the cultivators from the attachment and install a 1 1/2 inch square bar with two 10 inch hiller disk attached to it. The hiller disk are angled toward each other and spread out just enough to straddle the corn rows and throw dirt to the cornstalks. I first throw dirt to my corn plants when they are about 1 ft. tall and then again when they are about 3 ft. tall. This last summer when everyone elses corn burned up, I was still able to get a few ears to eat on.

[FarmboyBill]

Sounds like the furrow openers on my planter. I dont have 3 pt, but I doubt if that would matter in what your saying. Sounds like your way more handier than I am lol

[FarmboyBill]

I disced my garden yesterday, and a couple other pieces, and will disc my bottom ground today 10acres, and try to get as much plowed as possible. Hope to catch water in the ground all winter. may help next year. Gotta do it anyway, and if I have it already plowed next year, Itall be way easier to disc it, than plow it, and I can get into the field to plant earlier if we have a wet spring and dry summer as in this year

[Windy in Kansas]

FBB since you don't have a 3 pt. on your tractor have you considered a drawn 3 pt. carrier on wheels which can be raised by hydraulics if you have those, otherwise a lever? Perhaps just a draw toolbar itself on wheels. With a carrier you could use any number of items of 3 pt. equipment.

Decades ago Minneapolis Moline manufactured a Uni-tiller implement. Basically a toolbar onto which various shanks, planter boxes, etc. could bolt to. It took time to remove and replace device of choice for each operation which was a downside.

Not sure if the photo from an Ebay item will show up or not.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Minneapolis-...-/400001938999 You can click on the brochure image to enlarge it a little.