Pros and Cons of corn pickers
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Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
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URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=209139
Printed Date: 25 Jan 2026 at 6:58am
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Topic: Pros and Cons of corn pickers
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Subject: Pros and Cons of corn pickers
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2025 at 6:37pm
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Looking to purchase a 2 row mounted corn picker. Ill be picking less than 5 acres each year.... My disire is to have a D17 gas tractor under a 190 model corn picker.... My second choice would be a D17 with New Idea mounted picker.... What is your thoughts fellas.... ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Replies:
Posted By: dkattau
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2025 at 8:01pm
| Storage of ear corn is a con if you’re not set up for it. |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2025 at 8:48pm
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That's not an issue... ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2025 at 9:24pm
| Pick your poison. There would be 10 times (or more) New Idea's to find used parts for. The Allis would have the benefit of stripper plates. |
Posted By: jvin248
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2025 at 9:30pm
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. We had a New Idea mounted on an Oliver 880 when I was growing up. Later we had a self propelled Case combine, open station! "In the weeds" always sat the two row pull behind picker. Never knew why it was parked, and especially not used when the Oliver broke the fancy helical gear set first used on the 880 to cut trans whine. Homesteading or smaller farm I'd try to locate a pull behind picker. Easy to hitch and go. Mounted pickers are great for "opening a field up" in the outer rows. But those outer rows are eaten by deer and poor yield because of grass and trees. I'd plant a cover mix band around the field and use a pull behind picker. . |
Posted By: AC720Man
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2025 at 10:54pm
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Grew up on a single row New Idea picker. I admit the mounted 2 row pickers are neat but I can see where they would be quite noisy and dirty to run. Although compact compared to a pull type, the pull type are easier to work on and don’t tie up a tractor for a length of time. Most that were mounted, stayed on that tractor due to difficulty on mounting and unmounting. Wish dad had went to a 2 row picker but a single row kept us busy unloading a wagon one scoop at a time into the elevator to the corn crib. Good times…gravity wagons were to come years later lol. ------------- 1968 B-208, 1976 720 (2 of them)Danco brush hog, single bottom plow,52" snow thrower, belly mower,rear tine tiller, rear blade, front blade, 57"sickle bar,1983 917 hydro, 1968 7hp sno-bee, 1968 190XTD |
Posted By: SteveM C/IL
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2025 at 12:18am
| How about a Uni-Harvester? Neighbor had a 4 row unit. |
Posted By: dr p
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2025 at 6:48am
| I pick 10 to 15 acres per year with an old style mounted ac picker over a wd 45. It never comes off. You will really put a work on the hand clutch if you get anything over 150 bu corn. Not as dirty and loud as some people say but it is my favorite thing to do so i may be prejudice. You have to plant wide(36 inch) rows if you plan on using a mounted picker. When i was a young man i picked corn with an ih 450 and a two row mounted 234 picker. Not a fan of the red paint but that machine was a beast! |
Posted By: IBWD MIke
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2025 at 7:57am
In the world of mounted corn-pickers, the 234 is king! They are easy on/off too, especially if on a Fast-Hitch tractor. Don't think I've ever seen an Allis 170 or 190 in action.
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dr p wrote:Posted By: Ky.Allis
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2025 at 8:55am
| If you only have 5 acres, a 1 row New Idea is all you need. Fairly cheap and parts are mostly available. But, if you want to suffocate in dust and dirt, then a 2-row mounted is what you need. |
Posted By: Lars(wi)
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2025 at 10:40am
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There are definite pro’s and con’s to picking corn vs shelling(combining) corn. Horsepower requirements for each can differ greatly. Storage of the harvested crop also differs. Labor required for ‘post harvest(storage)’ handling can be significant. ------------- I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science. |
Posted By: Dennis J OPKs
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2025 at 10:53am
| Being old, I grew up in the era before shelling in the field. Shelling was done by a local guy with JD Sheller mounted on the truck chassis. He made the rounds, and it was a labor-intensive workday. Trucks were mostly just 2/2 1/2 ton with a combo grain-livestock bed. Occasionally a tandem with a bigger grain box. Even back then, fire was a hazard. Mostly from exhaust on sheller truck & husks everyone. Had one fire that I recall & it was quickly doused. Shellers were mostly JD with an occasional rare Moline. Those were the days. |
Posted By: jvin248
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2025 at 7:03pm
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. I was surprised to see corn seed harvesting uses modern combines that pick ears. They store ears until the start of the year to shell, sort, clean, bag at the facility. I had assumed they shelled in the field like all the modern combines. Apparently the cob is a good seed performance enhancer. The other large modern ear picking I saw was at the Missouri Meersheim Corn Cob Pipe company. . |
Posted By: DanWi
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2025 at 7:09pm
| No need to dry cob corn for storage if it reaches a reasonably level not sure what's recommended any more. Just a guess maybe 20% for cribbing. Cattle seem to like and do well with ground cob corn. |
Posted By: Gary (sw Wis.)
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 7:56am
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I have and use a 190 picker on a WD. It work well if you can go slow enough or plant a low population. The rows are wide, 42 inches I believe but it pick 38s OK. The later I pick the better luck I have, dryer with less chaff and junk to go through. The biggest problem I have is the chaff getting though without plugging up. If you get a 190 picker and have a choice I would put a D17 under it. ------------- 190XT - D17 - D14 - WD45 w/loader - WD - (2)B110 - 616H - 610 - B-208 - WD with 190 Mounted Corn Picker - All Crop 60 |
Posted By: Brian F(IL)
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 10:12am
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I would recommend a two-row New Idea pull-type corn picker. That way you're not totally dependent on one tractor to do the harvesting. I've helped fill many corn cribs in the past. And, been on the dumb end of a scoop shovel shelling the corn the next summer. Good luck with your search!
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Posted By: SteveM C/IL
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 11:46am
Around here seed corn is picked in the ear and trucked to the processing plant. Preferred moisture in mid 30's. Conveyed to big bins with forced air gas dryers. Once dry it goes to the sheller then the tower (sizing?) and then to the bagging warehouse. Oxbo is prominent brand of picker. 14 row head picking 3 panels of 4 rows.
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Posted By: Darwin W. Kurtz
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 12:18pm
| Grew up with a Woods Bros 16-4 picker and a flat belt driven International sheller- still have a different Woods Bros. 16-4 picker in the shed that needs a roll replaced. I have found a salvage picker close to home that has the needed part, waiting for it to get warm weather before I tackle that. I have owned several pickers that were never used by me - 1 in particular was an Allis 1 row pull type picker that was sold to a man in Nebraska (I think it was Nebraska) - he was an Allis fan and my understanding it was going in a collection. New Idea pickers are more popular it would be easier to find parts off them. Snow fence makes a good outside crib. |
Posted By: AC7060IL
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 1:01pm
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Macon rounds, please specify your ear corn use? Feed? Seed? Novelty(local farm&home ear corn in a bag?), Cobs?? Ear corn use could dictate machine?? Husks left on, husks removed.? Harvested moisture?? Whole cob ground feed? Shelled grain & whole cobs? Corn cob pipes? I’d vote for a pull behind New Idea ear picker because of ease of hooking-up/ unhooking it and not tying up a dedicated tractor? Think NI’s husking beds could be either aggressive or gentle?? |
Posted By: dr p
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 2:20pm
| Macon, i thought you bought a mounted 170 ac picker a couple of years ago? |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 6:29pm
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I currently have a 150 picker on a D15.... Runs GREAT looks Fantastic! It was showroom clean when i bought it... Although i had to some tin work repair. Not from rust, from phisical damage not rust.... Also had lots of mechanical adjustments to do as it had never picked corn on this "RESTORED" tractor.... Anyway to this day i have NOT picked corn with it.. It is to clan and beautiful to dirty up, so i still pick by HAND.... CURRENTLY i just plant for deer and just harvest enough by hand to replant the following year... But i just purchased some cattle this summer. Who knows where that will take me... ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: Lars(wi)
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 6:38pm
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Over this winter, consult with a seed corn salesman( best to consult more than one), that you want a variety that works good for ‘corn picker’ not combine harvesting. ------------- I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science. |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 6:43pm
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I grew up with a two row mounted picker of the green variation... So My pros and cons question was not to harvest ear or shell corn.... It was which two row picker to purchase ? A model 170 or a model 190 picker.... Or Should i buy a "new idea" two row mounted picker ??? It will be mounted on a D17 as i prefer that tractor out of all the D series tractors... ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 6:50pm
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High yield ear corn is not a concern.... I harvest my own heloom seed corn from what i plant... Although my ground fertility is improving with crop rotation, applications of lime firtilizer. I dont belive ill be over working any picker i buy... ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 6:58pm
  ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: AC720Man
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 7:31pm
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We picked corn to grind for winter feed for our cattle and for the 3 hogs dad raised each year for us to butcher. We used snow fence for a few years and an old chicken house before finally building a nice wire corn crib loaded from the top with our elevator. Can’t remember the manufacture but it’s still at the farm not being used. Only crop we do now is hay. If dad had corn left over then he sold it to other farmers or sold it at the Co op. ------------- 1968 B-208, 1976 720 (2 of them)Danco brush hog, single bottom plow,52" snow thrower, belly mower,rear tine tiller, rear blade, front blade, 57"sickle bar,1983 917 hydro, 1968 7hp sno-bee, 1968 190XTD |
Posted By: Dennis J OPKs
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2025 at 8:19pm
| We ground ear corn through a hammer mill, cob & all. Cows didn't mind it & some supplements were added. Shoveled many a wagon load of ear corn into that grinder. It was flat belt powered off a WC & WD which snorted a bit under load. In later years a custom grinder did it & molasses was added, cows liked that even better. |
Posted By: Tom59
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2025 at 6:13am
| For five acres off corn I would just pick ear corn instead of shelling, a lot less parts and less complicated than a combine. As far as mounted corn picker versus a pull type picker if you got plenty of tractors and one you can mount a picker on and just leave it on would be great. The thing about a pull type picker you not limited to just one tractor it can go behind. But a picker would be a lot easier to keep running if you handle ear corn, which you said you can. |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2025 at 7:36am
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My only interest is to have a permanently mounted two row picker on a D17.... I know the basic info about the Allis pickers. However i am interested in learning about the "New Idea" pickers ??? Model numbers ? Differences ? ETC ? Any info on those pickers would be appreciated. Never seen a D series tractor with side curtains.. ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: Darwin W. Kurtz
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2025 at 7:37am
| The tractors in the picture with the mounted corn picker- they don't have any side curtains |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2025 at 10:38am
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I have never seen side curtains on D series tractor. ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: Tenn allis
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2025 at 7:08am
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Late 60’s early 70’s when I was a lad my father had a couple D17’s the first was a gas with narrow front then he bought a diesel with wide front traded the gas for a 190 put the narrow front on the diesel so he could run the new idea picker. I remember that mounting the picker seemed like a big chore to my young self it did have side shielding for the engine compartment not sure if that came from Allis or new idea with the mounting bundle that would have came with the picker someone older or more experienced can tell. I also remember he’d put some screen wire over the radiator to help with the air sucking smaller corn fodder into the radiator and when it started getting hot he’d shut the key off for just a second and smack it with his hand to clean the debris collected there The side shielding would keep corn fodder from getting around the exhaust and maybe starting a fire Everyone in our area always thought that the new idea picker was a better one than other manufacturers A good friend of mine still has one that his father had sitting in a barn that is mounted on a IH m it doesn’t seem as big as it did when I was a kid but I do remember they were picking machines After we started the dairy dad quite doing a lot of custom picking for the community and sold the picker or maybe traded it for a new idea one row snapper it wasn’t the machine that mounted one was tho. It was slower and you couldn’t run as fast or it would overrun the wagon conveyor Just some rambling thoughts and memories from bygone days |
Posted By: Mnfarmboy
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2025 at 8:56am
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We had all three, an Allis Chalmers mounted picker{don't remember the model} a New Idea mounted picker, both on a WD45 and a New Idea pull type with a twelve roll husking bed, Dad pulled the New Idea with our 185. I remember one year when Dad put a permanent hurt on his back when they were mounting the New Idea husking bed to the 45. Dave
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Posted By: Mnfarmboy
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2025 at 9:04am
| Mounted pickers did the job of opening the fields but you got really dirty sitting down in all the dust and husks. Dad enjoyed picking corn after we got the pull type New Idea and he could sit in the cab with the heater on. |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2025 at 9:09am
| I rather enjoyed operating the corn picker. We had a couple New Idea pickers. I don’t remember much about the first one, a one row unit. We traded that for a two row a long time ago. Ran it with several different tractors (sorry never an Allis!). I didn’t mind hauling wagons and unloading. But I sure don’t miss shoveling out the crib into the grinder. First we had a big wooden crib then as that fell apart we put up a wire crib on a concrete base. Was fine for a while but then the concrete sort of caved in, not a deep enough rat wall, so water and snow would lay there so there was always black mushy rotten corn to dig out of there. Use a combine and feed shelled corn now. |
Posted By: Lars(wi)
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2025 at 12:31pm
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Across the road neighbor from where I grew up had an Oliver mounted picker on an Oliver 88. One summer in the early 1970’s his D17 that was his baling tractor was out of service for several weeks, so he pulled the picker off the 88 for the first time, and baled 2nd and 3rd crop with the Oliver. He said it was such a pita to dismount that picker, he vowed to never to it again. ------------- I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science. |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2025 at 6:06pm
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Thanks for the stories and info... I too grew up with a 2 row mounted picker. It was permanently mounted on a john deere "A"... I was to young to operate it.. but spent many an hour in the gravity box... so dad could keep an eye on me... My disire is functional, D17 with picker for functional, sentmental, and nostalgic reasons... Many farmers around here have new idea pull type pickers, and like them. Our area is farmall and john deere country. Except for me and a few others that run Allis... I like the conversations that "odd" equipment brings to the antique shows... Most folks just bring restored tractors all shined up and pretty... I bring a mixture mix of tractors with equip and both in their work cloths... ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: Macon Rounds
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2025 at 6:14pm
  This was a photo from a few years ago... ------------- The Allis "D" Series Tractors, Gravely Walk behind Tractors, Cowboy Action Shooting !!!!!!! And Checkmate |
Posted By: jvin248
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2025 at 5:59pm
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. We had a New Idea mounted on an Oliver 880. I was about ten or eleven when my father helped pick a friend's corn field and the helical gear set in the 880, which was the big upgrade from the 88, broke. We took our Farmall 806 over and log chained the hitches together, so the 806 lifted the Oliver to bring it home. I was the stearage captain of the Oliver all the way home. Getting the clear view of the twenty or more cars impatient behind us. That tractor turned into my father's hot rod car in the shed and still sits there today, a project for my brother and I. The picker deeper in the shed than the tractor. . |
Posted By: Marlyn nwia
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2025 at 7:38pm
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If anyone is serious about harvesting ear corn; a John Deere 300 Husker is the only picker that one should consider. |
Posted By: victoryallis
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2025 at 6:49pm
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Pick 3-4 small gravity wagons of ear corn to sell as wildlife food. In the time it takes to pick that I can easily do 4 semis of shelled corn with a R62. If we are tag teaming it combine driver can do those semi loads without leaving the seat. Where as picking corn I’m off the tractor every couple rounds pulling out the balls of silks off the drag chain. Picker every gives too many fits it’ll get shoved in the corner of a polebarn. Walk behind a picker look at how much more corn they waste compared to a combine. ------------- 8030 and 8050MFWD, 7580, 3 6080's, 160, 7060, 175, heirloom D17, Deere 8760 |
Posted By: IBWD MIke
Date Posted: 14 Dec 2025 at 6:09am
They do loose a lot of shell corn. Follow a 234 sometime, They don't loose near as much.
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Posted By: Oldwrench
Date Posted: 14 Dec 2025 at 7:57am
| In the 60's I remember when going to farm auctions, it wasn't uncommon to see a 1-armed farmer, always from a corn picker. It's tempting to clear a mess out of the snap rollers with everything running, and I remember getting away with it a few times. It doesn't take much though. |
Posted By: Tom59
Date Posted: 14 Dec 2025 at 8:10am
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Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 14 Dec 2025 at 8:37am
Or worse. In just our little corner of the world I knew 3 guys while growing up maimed by corn pickers. One missing 3 fingers the other two arm gone up to elbow. Then the fourth guy. The picker got ahold of his Carhartt and swallowed him up to the waist. They say you could hear the scream a half mile away. His brother in law got to him, tractor still laboring a little but the man was of course well beyond saving. That same brother in law delivered fuel for a while. He came to a farm where a quite old farmer was poking away at a corn chopper running full speed. He ran out to the field and shut the tractor off. Farmer all pissed yelled WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Saving your life he answered. I dug one man out of a machine and I’m not gonna do another if I can help it! |
Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 14 Dec 2025 at 2:47pm
Then, there's always the roto-baler and its lawsuit mandated safety cage on the white-top models... ------------- Source: Babylon Bee. Sponsored by BRAWNDO, its got what you need! |