Detasseling

[ibetyamissedme]

How many of you detasseled when you were kids? Whenever I get tired of winter, I just think back to those days of detasseling and my mind somehow doesn't hate winter so much.

 

[Pitchfork Motors]

I didn’t do it myself as a kid, but I had friends that did. Did you ride on the corn buses? In my area, they sent buses to various stops to haul kids to work for the day.

As an adult, I worked in the corn research business, so I logged thousands of hour’s de-tasseling isolation blocks and working the nursery/crossing blocks. I really enjoyed the work, but I’m thankful I’ve moved on to better career. Since research corn farming is similar to how the old timers farmed years ago, it’s fun talking to that Generation about Check heads on the planters, check cables, hand planting, hand husking, hand shelling, etc.

 

[ibetyamissedme]

you bet the schools were even involved the schools provided the bus. We all met at the school the girls rode one bus, the boys the other. The school made sure we had a sack lunch. Work was not hard work but it was hot, itchy, scratchy, corn leaves could cut your skin in amazing places. Don't tell nobody but I got my first piece from a city girl in between the corn rows. It was awesome. Ironically some of the folks here at CT with their knowledge of cattle, it reminds me of my first encounter with that young woman in that corn field. I acted like I knew everything about it, but I knew nothing about it, thank god it didn't take me long, and the girl had some history in between the corn rows. She got me thru the parts I didn't understand, kinda like google does for these internet cowboys.

 

[CottageFarm]

:lol2: :lol2:
You do know IBR, this is how you end up in band camp?
You remind me of an ill-behaved little Chihuahua. You're all cute & adorable for a while... Then you go yip-yappin', and nippin' at someone's heels 'til they finally get annoyed enough to kick you over to the corner for a time out.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I acted like I knew everything about it, but I knew nothing about it, thank god it didn't take me long, and the girl had some history in between the corn rows. She got me thru the parts I didn't understand, kinda like google does for these internet cowboys.

Not a good comparison. That gal has way more value than google ever could.

 

[ibetyamissedme]

What the heck nobody else detasseled? What did you people do for work and money when you were young? Makes me wonder do you all know what detasseling is? Maybe in the south the refer to it as something else.

 

[ibetyamissedme]

I acted like I knew everything about it, but I knew nothing about it, thank god it didn't take me long, and the girl had some history in between the corn rows. She got me thru the parts I didn't understand, kinda like google does for these internet cowboys.

Not a good comparison. That gal has way more value than google ever could.

you are right boogie. Always wanted to ask you, did ever use the rumensin on that nurse cow?

 

[sim.-ang.king]

How about bean hooks, and Mares tail?

 

[ibetyamissedme]

How about bean hooks, and Mares tail?

Those bean hooks them city kids had no idea how to make them work right.

 

[Jalopy]

I ran a detasseling cutter and mobile detasseling platform with six workers on it the summer I was 19.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I acted like I knew everything about it, but I knew nothing about it, thank god it didn't take me long, and the girl had some history in between the corn rows. She got me thru the parts I didn't understand, kinda like google does for these internet cowboys.

Not a good comparison. That gal has way more value than google ever could.

you are right boogie. Always wanted to ask you, did ever use the rumensin on that nurse cow?

Actually no. Doc set me up with something he used. Don't remember the name off hand.

That particular cow and I parted ways. I did raise several calves on her and she held her own. She constantly looked like she needing feeding. Dried her off, put her in the pasture and sold her at the sale barn. Didn't make a lot but didn't lose anything either.

 

[ibetyamissedme]

I ran a detasseling cutter and mobile detasseling platform with six workers on it the summer I was 19.

we had to walk, in a way that was good for me. Could you imagine trying to get it on while riding on the mobile detasseling platform? ;-)

 

[TexasBred]

What the heck nobody else detasseled? What did you people do for work and money when you were young? Makes me wonder do you all know what detasseling is? Maybe in the south the refer to it as something else.

Not that much farming where I was raised early on. Shucked and hand shelled a lot of corn to feed hogs. Worked on a bridge crew every summer from my freshman year in HS...55 hrs. a week. Really improved my tan too. :lol2:

 

[ibetyamissedme]

Jalopy we never heard of kids dieing while detasseling when we walked, but they did die when those mobile platforms came along. I never was around one but they must have fell asleep and then got run over huh? Thats my guess anyway?

 

[backhoeboogie]

My biggest puddles involved dad or grandad's gardens, when it came to corn. Peanuts is a whole nother story.

 

[mwj]

Jalopy we never heard of kids dieing while detasseling when we walked, but they did die when those mobile platforms came along. I never was around one but they must have fell asleep and then got run over huh? Thats my guess anyway?

We had a couple of kids killed about a hundred miles north last year. The platform they were riding got tangled in power lines for an irrigation system and they were electrocuted.

 

[greybeard]

What the heck nobody else detasseled? What did you people do for work and money when you were young? Makes me wonder do you all know what detasseling is? Maybe in the south the refer to it as something else.

Not that much farming where I was raised early on. Shucked and hand shelled a lot of corn to feed hogs. Worked on a bridge crew every summer from my freshman year in HS...55 hrs. a week. Really improved my tan too. :lol2:

That company wouldn't be Austin Bridge & Road would it?
I hauled hay in the summers if I wasn't working in a mechanic shop as a helper/learner.

 

[ibetyamissedme]

We had a couple of kids killed about a hundred miles north last year. The platform they were riding got tangled in power lines for an irrigation system and they were electrocuted.

that was bad

 

[mwj]

Was a tough deal, both girls were juniors in high school good students and well liked. Then there was a big crew of kids detasseling for Monsanto just south of me were sprayed by a spray plane flying on fungicide, that made a pass over the wrong field. They put them on the bus and hauled them 30 miles to a major hospital to be decontaminated and checked over since they did not have a clue what they were sprayed with.

 

[SmokinM]

Alright I gotta ask for us southern/eastern boys - besides a way to get lucky why do you de-tassel corn? Don't get me wrong that's reason enough and if your hiring count me in but I haven't ever heard of it and am curios why you do it. Is it for seed corn only?