DENISON, Iowa — The way Dee and Randy Kruse harvest corn
is something of a family tradition.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time,” Dee said.
Their two-row New Holland corn picker belonged to
Randy’s dad. Dee’s father still picks corn on the ear, but
other than him, Dee said she doesn’t know of anyone else in
the area who still harvests that way.
Dee and Randy still pick corn on the ear on their
operation near Denison because it’s a cheaper and more
efficient way to feed their cattle.
Grinding corn on the ear provides feed from the corn and
roughage from the cob.
“If you feed straight shell corn, then you have to feed
hay or something else along with it because cattle need roughage
to keep their rumens going,” Dee Kruse said. “When we grind
the cobs, it gives roughage for the cattle, so it’s a lot less
expense for us to do.”
She said storing and grinding ear corn would not be as
efficient for large cattle operations, but it works well for
their 14-head operation.
“Luckily, we still have our corncrib up, so that’s
where it goes,” she said.
Corncribs on most other farms have been torn down so the
ground could be farmed or to be replaced by machine sheds.
Loading the corn into the corncrib requires a corn elevator
instead of an auger; the elevator has to be moved around, and
heavy chutes have to be attached to direct the ears of corn into
the corncrib.
A downside to harvesting the old-fashioned way is that the
technology is starting to disappear.
Parts for the corn picker are becoming harder to find.
“We go to a junkyard and hope they have the corn picker
there and the part isn’t gone already, but most of the time it
is,” she said.
The same is true of the elevator.
“You don’t find many of them around anymore either,”
Dee said.
Picking and storing the corn involves a lot of manual
labor.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” Dee said. “It’s not
for the wimpy.”
Randy Kruse pulls an old two-row corn
picker, which removes the corn from the
stalks and augers it into a wagon.
Corn is dumped into the Kruses’
corncrib. The corn will dry there and later
be ground up for livestock feed.
A rugged piece of equipment used to
transport the ear corn from the wagon is
this elevator, which brings the product into
the second floor of a corncrib. The elevator
and the corncrib are both becoming rare
sights in the farming industry.
Dayna Crandall, a family friend, helps
with the harvest of ear corn at the Randy
and Dee Kruse farm. She unloads a wagon of
corn into a corncrib as Daisy, the family
dog, keeps a watchful eye on everything.
Dee Kruse climbs out of the seat of a
four-row corn combine to touch base with her
husband, Randy, and friend, Dayna Crandell.
At this point, the three-person crew is
stopping to change equipment to a two-row,
pull-behind corn picker.
Ear corn, rarely harvested this way
today, can sneak out through the spaces
between wooden slats in the corncrib and
pile up a bit outside — but none of the
corn goes to waste.
DENISON, Iowa — The way Dee and Randy Kruse harvest corn
is something of a family tradition.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time,” Dee said.
Their two-row New Holland corn picker belonged to
Randy’s dad. Dee’s father still picks corn on the
ear, but other than him, Dee said she doesn’t know of
anyone else in the area who still harvests that way.
Dee and Randy still pick corn on the ear on their
operation near Denison because it’s a cheaper and more
efficient way to feed their cattle.
Grinding corn on the ear provides feed from the corn and
roughage from the cob.
“If you feed straight shell corn, then you have to feed
hay or something else along with it because cattle need
roughage to keep their rumens going,” Dee Kruse said.
“When we grind the cobs, it gives roughage for the
cattle, so it’s a lot less expense for us to do.”
She said storing and grinding ear corn would not be as
efficient for large cattle operations, but it works well
for their 14-head operation.
“Luckily, we still have our corncrib up, so that’s
where it goes,” she said.
Corncribs on most other farms have been torn down so the
ground could be farmed or to be replaced by machine
sheds. Loading the corn into the corncrib requires a
corn elevator instead of an auger; the elevator has to
be moved around, and heavy chutes have to be attached to
direct the ears of corn into the corncrib.
A downside to harvesting the old-fashioned way is that the
technology is starting to disappear.
Parts for the corn picker are becoming harder to find.
“We go to a junkyard and hope they have the corn picker
there and the part isn’t gone already, but most of the
time it is,” she said.
The same is true of the elevator.
“You don’t find many of them around anymore either,”
Dee said.
Picking and storing the corn involves a lot of manual
labor.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” Dee said. “It’s not
for the wimpy.”
More than a
century ago the son of a German immigrant built a sturdy barn in Sarpy
County. It weathered storms, blistering heat and freezing cold. Now the
land it sat on will be turned over to a developer, and the barn will
weather that, too. On Tuesday crews moved the old barn 3 miles southeast
from where it sat in the county’s rolling hills near 114th Street and
Schram Road. Ron Tex said his great-grandfather built the four-story barn
in 1903 on a farm where the family grew corn and raised cattle and horses.
Tex said he and other family members sold the 160 acres. Preliminary plans
call for 335 homes on the land under development by Boyer Young
Development Co., according to the City of Papillion. But Tex could not let
the barn die with the sale. “It’s the last part of the memories,’’
he said. Tex, 63, remembers seeing a news clipping that said 300 people
turned out for a dance at the barn after it was built at the turn of the
century. In recent years the barn has been used for storage and will
continue in that role at its new spot. Tex has lived in a ranch home on
the property and crews also moved it Tuesday, along with a machine shed.
Crews from Ensor Movers Inc. used hydraulic jacks and steel beams to lift
the barn off its foundation. The beams were set on a rolling platform that
served as a trailer for the move. A similar process was used for the house
and shed. Tex said the barn is in excellent shape. It got a new roof and
paint job about seven years ago and has not required any major work to
keep it up. Ryan Baltensperger, owner of Ensor, said that because the barn
is in good structural condition, it was well-suited for the move. He said
his Nebraska-based business moves a couple of barns a year in the region.
Semitrailer trucks towed the three structures at a top speed of 8 mph.
Moving the barn and other structures took about 4½ hours, with the crew
getting them in place by about 1:30 p.m. Baltensperger said that’s a
good pace for moving three structures, even if just a few miles. Workers
from the Omaha Public Power District required time to temporarily drop or
raise some power lines above the road so the barn could pass through. The
house and the barn are now on land Tex owns in the county along Fairview
Road. The shed was moved to his son’s property nearby. Tex said the move
went well and he’s especially relieved that the barn is safely at its
new location. He said he never got the chance to meet his
great-grandfather, but knows he’d be proud that his barn lives on.
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