Last Friday, October 18, some of you Iowans may have heard WHO radios Lee Kline mention a corn picking and plowing event occurring the next day near Collins. It would be the third annual. My cousin attended last year. When he showed me some images from that event, I said I would be there this year. A farm family there owns, stores and maintains about a dozen mounted pickers. Almost all manufacturers are represented but I was interested in only one, a New Idea No. 20 picker with trailing husking bed mounted on an M. That was exactly the tractor/picker combination used on our farm when I was a teen.
I left my home in central Illinois Friday morning, arriving 6 hours later in central Iowa in time to visit and tour my old elementary school building at De Soto. After the students were gone, I roamed the halls and classrooms; especially stopping for a few minutes in the room where in November 1963 my classmates and I were told President Kennedy had been shot. I spent Friday night at my cousins home in Urbandale. Saturday morning my brother drove in from the farm and we were headed to Collins.
After a group safety briefing we walked to the M. During an operational check the wagon elevator wasnt working. We discovered the drive chain was off. An adjustable wrench and 5 minutes fixed the problem. My brother drove first. Everything went well, in the beginning. The video clearly shows many stalks were more green than khaki. Frequently resisting all effort by the snapping rolls to collapse them, they lodged at the rear of the rolls and plugged the picker. Plug, clear, run, repeat - an hour passed before we had our first load.
Id be lying if I said running that picker did not bring back memories or produce any emotions. We recalled the time the left axle broke and the picker settled onto the tire. Once, as a small boy, I sat down and fell asleep at the back of a wagon. I awoke to find myself buried in corn up to my neck. I think Dad forgot I was back there. We plan to attend next years event. I should probably try operating an IH picker for something different like my brother did; but if the corn stalks are dry and the M is running, well
Hello DJ53 !! I would like to know some more info on the picking get together there in Collins to see if anyone can come to participate or if its a club ? My number is 815-878-2524 if you would con contact me and fill in who I can contact on that . Thank you ! Kevin
