Corn picking

The above picture and the following two pictures and articles were sent to me from Bob Peterson of Brookings. I asked Bob if he would share them with you.

Sunday we went to a corn picking contest the way they picked corn in the old days. The high board was called the bang board. You would drive through the field picking the ears off and throw them against the bang board to keep them from going over the top. The guys that enter the contest see who can husk the most corn in a given time. In the picture it shows some of the teams and guys headed for the field to start the picking. It was a cold wet day but still fun to see all the horses and wagons and the corn picking. They had contest for different ages from 12-80 men and women. SD is the only state that still uses horses to pull the wagons like they used to. The horses get so they know when to move ahead to keep the wagon where it belongs. A 100 bushel a day was about all one man could pick in a day and scoop it off the wagon into a corn crib in a long day.