Saw corn tepeed old style yesterday

[Funbowhunter]

Just over the boarder in Wisconsin on interstate 35 from Minnesota. There are a lot of Amish in western Wisconsin, I am thinking that may be the reason.

[PNP Katahdins]

They are called corn shocks in our area of Wisconsin and you are correct, usually Amish nowadays.

Peg

[myheaven]

You should see the way they load it on their wagons. Big old boom pole. Brilliant. You can lift a lot with little effort.

[lonelytree]

We did it for years with cane. Fed it all winter. I hated finding snakes in the shocks. They were in there looking for mice.

[mnn2501]

Interstate 35 in Wisconsin? -- they must have moved it since I last drove it.

[FarmboyBill]

Ive done it in NE Kans in the mid late 50s.

[badlander]

Amish neighbor around the corner has corn shocks in one of his fields near the road. When you drive by at sunset with the shocks back dropped by colors that only God in Heaven can create, it takes your breath away.

Makes me glad to be a country girl again!

[Marilyn]

You just made me tear up badlander. I'm with you!

[Explorer]

I remember seeing wheat shocks in the late 1940's which they were gathering and feeding into the huge old steam powered stationary threshing machine. New equipment wasn't that available yet so soon after the big war. Thanks for the renewed memory.

[Twobottom]

Never understood the advantage of that over just letting them dry on the stalk. I just leave my corn out in the field until dry.

[badlander]

I think with the Amish it is A) a lack of modern technology necessary to harvest the corn, shell the corn, etc. And B) Tradition. This is one of those times where I enjoy seeing their lack of modern technology. It's amazing to watch them cut hay and rake it with horse drawn machinery and seeing the corn shocks in a field in the fall is something straight out of Currier and Ives.

[haypoint]

Spelt in shocks, Amish farm 2013

[badlander]

Very cool. DH has promised to get me a pic of the corn shocks near our home. I hope we can get one this week sometime.

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by Twobottom

Never understood the advantage of that over just letting them dry on the stalk. I just leave my corn out in the field until dry.

The bundles are shredded and blown into the barn loft for use as bedding. We shredded until 1951 when it was discovered how potentially hazardous it was. There was a mold which would develop in shredded corn stalks and it was a prime cause of "farmer's lung".

Martin

[Farmerjonathan]

Also the time of year the shocks are created, the stalks on the inside of the shock will still be green. Then the stalks are more palatable and are cut up along with the ears and fed like silage. Very good feed with less loss. Leaving in the field standing alone puts the risk of down corn molding into the earth more of a possibility.

[badlander]

I'm seeing a lot of regular farmers in Missouri baling their corn stubble after harvest into big round bales. I figured they were using it as fodder for cattle as many also turn their cattle into the fields to glean the fields and add fertilizer. The shocks near us have ears of corn still hanging on them, which is a bit of a puzzlement. Are they going to feed the shocks, stalk/ears and all to their stock over the winter?

[Paquebot]

In shredding, the ears are not included in the fodder. The machines were actually husker-shredders but always called shredders. The fodder was blown out just like straw would be from a threshing machine. The ears were pitched into a wagon or in a pile. Although we would sometimes mix some of the fodder with the hay, next day 90% of it would end up as bedding.

Martin

[RonM]

Made a many fodder shocks in the mid 50's when I stayed at my Grandpops, started them the day after labor day snd we would husk them out at night in the fall..In the old days grandpop said they used to have husking parties and if you got a red ear you could kiss any girl there.........Nobody there for me to kiss but grandpop and that really didn't do it for me .....

[haypoint]

From this discussion, we see that shocked corn is used in several different ways. Without ears, well dried stalks make bedding and can be chopped for cattle feed additive. With ears can be thrown into a chopper/blower to fill a silo for cattle geed, silage. You can also leave the shocks and haul them to the barn as feed all winter.
In Lynn Miller's book "5 Acres Enough" bred heifers were fed chopped corn stalks and ground corn all winter. Kept in stanchions and manure cleaned out daily. While he made money selling freshened cows and calves in the spring, the real prize was tons of composted manure with no weed seeds, a valuable product on an organic strawberry operation. If you have access to corn field stalks, you might want to consider this.

[Funbowhunter]

Sorry, I94