Detassle - contracting

**twojman** · 02-03-2011, 08:59 AM

Just wondering if anyone on this board has detassled before...I did while in high school and college.

My main question is how do I contract out acres to detassle myself? I live in Central Iowa (Clive). Does anyone have a contact? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

**CtownCyclone** · 02-03-2011, 09:02 AM

I detassled for a summer. Sealed the "going to college" deal in my mind (not that I needed much convincing to begin with). Nothing like walking around in a wet cornfield in the heat.

**CYEATHAWK** · 02-03-2011, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by twojman

Just wondering if anyone on this board has detassled before...I did while in high school and college.

My main question is how do I contract out acres to detassle myself? I live in Central Iowa (Clive). Does anyone have a contact? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

I am not sure if they contract anymore. I contracted 4 acres in high school myself........but that has been a few moons ago, and from what I have heard, they run only crews right now. Put in a call to a seed company(Pioneer, Dekalb) and see what they have to say.

**BirdOfWar** · 02-03-2011, 09:13 AM

I was a corn pimp(pollinator) for 3 summers. Two at Pioneer and one at Mycogen. There were some people I knew that detassled for Mycogen on contract I believe. You could call their office in Huxley and see if that is still possible.

**DRCHIRO** · 02-03-2011, 09:57 AM

My Dad has run a crew for 30+ years and he contracts out about 2000 acres a year. The way he made it sound is that most seed companies are not contracting out acres here and there to a lot of people but rather a lot of acres to a few people.

People would do it all hours of the day and it was tough for the checkers to keep track of who was doing what and when they were doing it.

Either way, it wouldn't hurt to call the seed companies and ask.

**sodakjoe** · 02-03-2011, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by CtownCyclone

I detassled for a summer. Sealed the "going to college" deal in my mind (not that I needed much convincing to begin with). Nothing like walking around in a wet cornfield in the heat.

I did it for one summer when I was 13, for two days. On the second day, I got heat exhaustion (the heat index was like 115 that day), collapsed in the field, and got carried back to the bus. At the end of the day I was "released". Made me decide I wanted a job with A/C. Yep, I'm a pansy, and I'm loving it.

**CloneIce** · 02-03-2011, 10:11 AM

I used to contract acres through a seed corn company called Ansco in Western Iowa (by the small town of Whiting).

Made $41 an hour one summer, tax free! Great way to make some cash in a short time, but the work sucks.

**cy4prez7** · 02-03-2011, 10:16 AM

Probably not work out for you. They are slowly cutting contractors across the state as they implement their new tassleless corn. Eventually detasseling in Iowa will be not existent. You can always try but you probably don't have a very good chance.

**jbindm** · 02-03-2011, 10:20 AM

In high school and college I used to rogue and detassel during summers. You might have better luck trying to contract some acres for roguing. It's generally easier, requires just a few people to get through one average sized field in a day or two and the money is about the same.
Call the local offices for Mycogen, Pioneer, etc., and see what they offer for that.

**Ms3r4ISU** · 02-03-2011, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by sodakjoe

I did it for one summer when I was 13, for two days. On the second day, I got heat exhaustion (the heat index was like 115 that day), collapsed in the field, and got carried back to the bus. At the end of the day I was "released". Made me decide I wanted a job with A/C. Yep, I'm a pansy, and I'm loving it.

13? In my younger days, one had to be 14 before they could detassle on a crew. It was kind of a right of passage for some of us. Two junior high teachers ran the crews and the older, experienced kids got to go out early and rogue.

**BirdOfWar** · 02-03-2011, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by jbindm

In high school and college I used to rogue and detassel during summers. You might have better luck trying to contract some acres for roguing. It's generally easier, requires just a few people to get through one average sized field in a day or two and the money is about the same.
Call the local offices for Mycogen, Pioneer, etc., and see what they offer for that.

At the risk of sounding stupid, what do you do when you rogue?

**Clark** · 02-03-2011, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by CloneIce

I used to contract acres through a seed corn company called Ansco in Western Iowa (by the small town of Whiting).

Made $41 an hour one summer, tax free! Great way to make some cash in a short time, but the work sucks.

Just because you didn't pay taxes on it doesn't make it tax free

**sodakjoe** · 02-03-2011, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by Ms3r4ISU

13? In my younger days, one had to be 14 before they could detassle on a crew. It was kind of a right of passage for some of us. Two junior high teachers ran the crews and the older, experienced kids got to go out early and rogue.

In South Dakota, you only have to be 13 for farm labor. Pretty much every kid on the crew was 13-14 years old. If you were 16 or older, you led a group. They were able to hire us super cheap because we couldn't legally get other jobs.

**jbindm** · 02-03-2011, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by BirdOfWar

At the risk of sounding stupid, what do you do when you rogue?

Without getting too detailed, it's identifying and removing any plants that may be diseased or an unwanted variety to maintain the quality and integrity of the crop....seeking out and destroying the mutant plants, more or less. Fun stuff. It's usually done a couple weeks in advance of the detasseling season. Or at least it was back in my day.