Amazed nobody has a homemade seed corn grader.

[FarmboyBill]

Looked all over for one. Found ONE here in the states, spiral deal ill look into. Found a couple of them likely in India also. But, amidst all the seed cleaners, I was sure hoping to find a home made seed corn grader.

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Looked all over for one. Found ONE here in the states, spiral deal ill look into. Found a couple of them likely in India also. But, amidst all the seed cleaners, I was sure hoping to find a home made seed corn grader.

I never heard of one---looked up some pictures---looks simple to build if you get the right size screen. What is its purpose---to remove the smaller kernels?? It looks similiar to my homemade worm harvester.

[idigbeets]

Why reinvent the wheel. The tech for cleaning seeds is remarkably simple. That drum cleaner will do up to 300 bushels an hour depending on its size. We have 2 of them on the farm here. There are also different modes that use removable screens (the drum screens change out, albeit more difficulty) to grade up to 3 different sizes at once. They shake the seed instead of rolling it around. We have 3 of these on our farm as well. 2 work well, other is spare parts.

[wwubben]

Farmer boy is talking about a GRADER not a cleaner.I have a factory made one.The screen has different size holes so you get small,medium and large seed sorted out.They used them on their open pollinated corn in the past.

[geo in mi]

Most people buy hybrid corn these days, already graded in the bag, and the dealer has dozens of plastic planter plates to fit. Seed count per acre is the key. In the "old" days you had maybe one set of cast iron plates for corn and one for beans...period. Seed count was delivered by cogs on the drive shaft of the planter. And, you either had a skip(corn too large) or a double (corn too small) for the opening.

geo

[FarmboyBill]

Geo. Im planting OP corn cause the corn has a higher protein level. I intend to chop ther stalks by running the bundles through my Husker AShredder. Cowas wont eat an entire stalk, just maybe the leaves, BUT they will eat an entire stalk IF its been shredded. A higher protein content in the stalk just makes it that more yummy to cows.
My corn planter is the first type of pull type tractor planter that IHC made. I have ALL the plates for it. Smalls, Mediums, and Large, and popcorn, Milo and soybeans,

[idigbeets]

I said I have both a drum cleaner.. and a shaking grader.... it has multiple screens that grades to 3 different sizes for seed saving. There are newer ones on the market, metal, stainless etc, mine is all wood w/ metal screens. Does a great job, a little slow but we only save a couple hundred bushels a year.

[FarmboyBill]

That's what I want to do Beets. Had a woman pm me in my E mail about a (so called) hand held seed corn grader. Said shed send a pic. Havnt heard from her today. Im only wanting for around 4 to 6 bu.

[Brighton]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

That's what I want to do Beets. Had a woman pm me in my E mail about a (so called) hand held seed corn grader. Said shed send a pic. Havnt heard from her today. Im only wanting for around 4 to 6 bu.

Watch some YouTube videos and make one yourself then, it can't be that hard! Why pay money for someone else to make something, along with shipping when you could do it yourself?

[FarmboyBill]

#1 Cause im a lousy carpenter, plumber, electricitian, soderer, just tolerable welder of THICK metals, mechanic, on engines. Get the picture.

IF I saw one made, I could make it IN WOOD, for the most part. I want something that does what beets traption does. Sorts out the rounds, and grades the smalls, mediums, and large.

[DaleK]

Just make something similar to the Penn State forage separator idea https://www.enasco.com/product/C24682N but size your holes how you want the seed separated. You could use Tupperware containers or old pails or whatever you want. 3 or 4 5 gallon pails with gradually smaller holes stacked inside each other would be just about right

[FarmboyBill]

Dale, I don't see how that would work for seed corn. If I put in corn in a tray I had drilled holes in, to drop all seed but, say Large, As long as the seed staid flat, it MIGHT? work, BUT, in shaking it, I would bound to sooner or later turn a seed on either end, and that, the ends being smaller in size than the length, they should fall through.

[DaleK]

Size the holes so they HAVE to go through endwise. It'll take more shaking but it'll work. The flats are going to be harder.

[idigbeets]

I'll get some photos of our equipment and I think there's still a name brand on there somewhere. They are antiques for sure.

[FarmboyBill]

The flats are what I want Dale.
Thanks beets. Id rather have a antique./ That was what I expected I would find.