OT/Shocking Corn a Dying Art

I tried looking up how to shock corn on the net. Lots of info on how to shuck or husk, but not much on shocking. A few years ago there was a farmer with a rather large field that shocked all his corn. Looked pretty neat. I can vaguely remember Dad doing it on the farm in the late '40s. I understand the concept, but would like to try it sometime. Looks a lot easier with a binder.

Larry

Shocking corn, and Oats was something that I
grew up with. I had tears in my eyes upon
seeing 2 Corn Shredders, in "ALMOST NEW" shape
go for scrap at an auction last fall.
You can still see, however, Shocked Oats and Corn
at many Dozen Amish farms, in Vernon and
Trempealeau counties in Western Wisconsin.

Omygosh! I hadn't thought of that in years! We did it when I was growing up. and I had to think a minute to remember just how we tied the stalks together. Yes, it would be interesting for an old timers day, or just to see how it was done, I guess you could say, for educational purposes, but it sure is a lot of work.

quite a few amish in ohio that still do it, so it aint dead YET.

There is a guy not far from you that does it. It is on 142 street towards Dorr. If I remember right his last name was Weber. He had an 8N tractor and corn binder. It was the field West of the school on the north side of the road

Used to do that with all grains here with binders. Still 3 old binders out in the rock pile.

I used to help my dad do that a long time ago. He built like a saw horse with only two legs about 4 feet long and the third leg about12 feet long. We leaned the corn against the 2ft. leg, near the 2 ft legs then tied the shock pulled the horse thru to another spot and did it over and over again.

I wanted to learn to shock corn too. Dad talked about doing it when he was little.
I figure if I could teach my elementary-school-aged kids to do this, they could probably sell them as fall decorations and make some pretty good money.

Ohhhh man!! Talk about a formula for misery! Growing up in West Texas, we fed-out lots of steers and lambs and my dad grew forage sorghum--not corn--for roughage. The sorghum, and sometimes red-top cane, was harvested with a "row binder" (more correctly known as a corn binder, but, of course, we were not harvesting corn!) Then the fun really began: first drag those heavy green bundles together to form the shock. The first four were stood on their butts and put together by "inter-digitating" (like locking your 10 fingers together) the tops of the bundles, usually containing heads full of sorghum grain. Then you would stand and lean bundles all around until you had a shock. Next, after a couple of weeks of drying in the shocks, the bundles were loaded onto wagons, hauled to the stack yard, off-loaded and stacked. Building a stack that would stand up and shed water is REALLY a lost art. Next, you drag the bundles out of the stack, run them through a Letz forage grinder and blow it into a bin. And, finally, you would get to handle it once more when you would haul it out to the troughs to feed the critters. One saving grace (maybe the only one) was that they really liked it, especially with molasses dribbled over it.

When I was a kid, we shocked corn. It was tied in bundles of about 20 or so stalks, and three started the shock. Then the bundles were added around it to a good sized shock and tied. Later on, the bundles were separated and husked, the dry ears put up in the granary and the bundles fed to the steers. Somewhere, there's a picture of my brother and I up in the shocks with grand daddy's hats on and pipes in our mouths. Must have been about 60 years ago, now......

It was common on with checked corn. At edge of field step off 4 middles. Pass 10 hills of corn from the end of the rows. bend and twist four stalks together; this will be your "gallus" stalks. g to the end of the row and cut the 10 stalks toward the "gallus" stalks on both rows... Lean these into the "gallus" stalks. this should produce 20 stalks. Walk back 10 hills in the opposite direction and cut 20 more stalks and lean them into the "gallus" When finished you have made a shock consisting of 160 stalks. put a rope that has a harness ring in the end around the shock and draw together and then tie with binder or baler twine. My daddy like to use baling wire like was used with the old hand tie balers. By using the wire he did not need the rope. I did this for three days in 1953 and made $10

We cut a stock for a tie, pulled two or three stocks on each of two rows and tied them which makes a tee pee look. Cut corn stocks around it and leaned them against the center tee pee. The shock would be from four rows the shock being on the center two rows. Try to have the same amount of distance out from the center of one shock to the other with the same amount of corn to cut from all four ways. The most corn cut with the least amount of steps. Not cutting the center keeps the shock from blowing over. If you are taking the shocks out of the field to a shredder/sheller you cut the center stocks when loading. At least that is the way we did it in the late 1940's

Lots of that going on here in "eastern central NY". Lots of traditional Amish. Small grains are starting to turn now, which will be shocked by them, and then on to the corn. Much of the corn will be shocked and remain in the fields all winter until they get ready to do what ever an Amishman does with corn that kept many a small rodent fat and happy, and sheltered, all winter.
Loren, the Acg.

Ok, I'll bite. Why did they shock it? I know Grandpa paid for a couple cars, picking corn by hand. I have heard he was one of the better shuckers. I know he traveled many miles from home to pick.

We shocked ours and when it had dried down to where the shelled corn could be put in the ben. It was run thru a belt driven corn shredder. The corn was shelled and the stocks were blown into the barn to be used for bedding. The rest of the corn was picked and cribbed to dry without molding. This was before dryers on the farms and shelled corn would spoil put in a ben directly out of the field. Standing corn let out in the field until dry enough to put directly into the ben shelled would cause a large loss from downed corn caused by weather before it would be dry enough.

I have never done it but heard Dad and Grandpa talk about it, they used a "shocking horse" which was like a saw horse about 20 feet long and legs on only one end, would lean stalks against it and after shock was formed they pulled it out to start the next one leaving the tail end in the last shock.

Interesting. I have picked corn right in front of the planter, and I would doubt that the loss is any less then what the drying cost would be.
I know Grandpa spent November, December and January, shucking corn.

Corn bore was the problem back in the 40's. The stocks were weaker because of that. Corn stocks were a prime place for fish bate. Machines are not the only thing that has improved over the years. At that time corn after corn was a no no. Crop rotation was necessary for bugs as well as taking care of the top soil. So many good things have been done at the seed level on all crops.