OT:One man haying circa 1943

Dad bought a 1940SC in '42 and I got to be 'real important' driving it through gates held open at age 8. That summer I "mastered" turning corners pulling a hay wagon with long tongue for horses and with the old wooden Dain hayloader dragging behind..a trick to get the hayloader not to miss the windrow at the corner.
Next year I was demoted to be a hay spreader/tramper in the wagon with my father and 8 year old sister was driving the magnificent Case with a rope from the clutch to the wagon standard.
Try that with your foot clutch tractors!
Oh, of course we had to do other mundane things like drag the hay rope back while mother backed up the Case. They didn't trust us "important helpers" not to pull the end of the barn out because we didn't stop in time. The team of horses just stayed in the barn and ate the hay.
That SC came with sheet steel front wheels which made it lighter on the front and steering almost like power steering.
BTW, you build the hay load around the outside edges first, then the center so that the mass tries to tip inward. And when hooking up the rope slings layed in the layers, do not hook them up around one of the wagon boards!

Leo

I'm sure most younger fellas don't have a clue what your talking about,brings back some great memories. Rich

The youngest one in the family always got to pull the rope back!!!!!! We used the grapple fork to unload the wagons. Working up in the haymow when it was 90 degrees was more fun than pulling the rope back. The good ole baler was a welcome addition to the family.

My favorite uncle died in 1973, using his horses right up until the end. He only made one crop of hay every summer right after the 4th of July until the 1st of August. I remember pretty well the hayfork coming down and grabbing a big bunch of hay, the horses lifting it up and then the trip rope being pulled to drop it in the mow, with several older guys spreading the hay. I also remember feeding that hay. You'd have to peel it off in layers, otherwise you couldn't get much of anything. Great memories, thanks for posting and jogging my memory of those olden days. Don

Grandpa started farming in 1936, his first tractor was a Case C. He would have often have a nephew help to pull up hay using the C. The driver once got the clutch over center, and couldn't get it back in time, and tore down the hay carrier track. I guess grandpa wasn't too happy that day!