Knock, Knock. Who’s there?
Irritated with tough corn stubble damaging tires on farm equipment, Randolph farmers, and brothers, Dave and Kenny McGargill, decided to take matters into their own hands.
Their solution, Stalkknockers, is a compact, bendable combine corn head attachment that breaks the stalk, rendering it unable to puncture or speed up the deterioration of farm equipment tires.
“We looked at what was already on the market and didn’t like any of them; they were bulky and too expensive,” said Dave. “We pulled our corn head into the shed over the winter, about three years ago, and came up with our own design and a couple prototypes. That next fall, we put the attachments on our heads, took them out, tried them, and made adjustments where and when needed.”
The McGargill brothers then had their neighbors, James and Pete Doyle, as well as their uncle, George McGargill, try Stalkknockers – the attachment was a big hit.
“That’s when we thought, maybe we should try to patent these and sell them? We’ve been in the patent-pending process for almost 18 months,” said Dave. “Last year there were 800 rows of Stalkknockers in 13 states, and this year there are 3,000 rows of Stalkknockers in 15 states.”
There are a dozen different Stalkknocker models available, depending on how the product needs to be mounted to an individual corn head. Attachments have been designed for models of John Deere, Case IH, Caterpillar, Capello, Geringhoff, Gleaner and Draco.
“We’ve got most of them on the market and if not, we will grab a pen and a piece of paper, a tape measure and go draft one up,” Dave said.
Stalkknockers range from seven to 13 pounds per row. They are made of 1/4 inch steel and produced by Red Oak Fabrication in Red Oak. A bright blue, yellow and white Stalkknocker sticker finishes off each piece, which also serves as a directional tool on how to mount the piece.
Modifications were made through trail and error by issues encountered by the McGargills in their own fields, whether it was getting too close to a terrace, going around corners and even the consistency of the soil.
“It’s not rocket science, but people are looking for something like this. We were fed up and wanted something simple that works. We figure if it works in the hills of Southwest Iowa, they’ll work anywhere,” said Dave.
Stalkknockers attach to the corn head frame, just behind the snapping rolls, which allows the corn head to be placed on a trailer without having to remove them. Stalkknockers also don’t drag on the ground, but rather hover above it about 3.5 inches.
“The typical corn stalk is eight inches to a foot tall, and we want to hit it about half way down; we want to take the brittleness out of the stalk above the bridge root, take the rigidness out of it, too.”
In addition to prolonging the life of tires, McGargill said it also leads to cleaner corn stalk bales with more tonnage and the process creates a better seed bed in the spring.
“It’s been a fun process, and it’s been great getting to meet and talk to people from all over the Midwest,” said Dave.
The McGargill brothers have also decided to branch out a little more with Stalkknockers T-shirts and koozies. More information on Stalkknockers can be found at stalkknockers.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/stalkknockers. They’ll also be at the Farm Progress Show in Lincoln Dec. 10-12 and in Des Moines at the Wells Fargo Arena Jan. 28-30 at the Iowa Power Farming Show.
“We never thought we’d be entrepreneurs or inventors; it’s been just kind of a fun sideline for us,” said Dave.