The biting cold this week reminded me of being a kid on a small dairy farm in the 60's. Everyday we cleaned the barn and had to go out into the weather to spread manure. I spent a lot of bone chilling hours on a tractor with no cab facing into the wind because we know happens when you spread manure with the old spreaders with the wind behind you. I hate now just walking to the barn in that kind of weather.
- Thread starter Charlie M
- Start date
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I remember in Dec. of 57 I was at my grandfather's farm in Vermont where it was (then) regularly 20-30 below zero, yet the barn was really comfortable. We would milk, then I would take the H and spreader out. One cold day the chain broke and I and my grandfather had to shovel the whole load off in the bonechilling cold. I'll never forget that even tho' I'm now 70, but don't ask me what I did yesterday.
Al L. in Wisc.
Well-known Member
charlie M; I like your topic. If I got to spend a winter day or weekend at my grandma and uncles farm - mid to late 1960's as I'm a 1957 model - in such cold and if the snow was deep, it was out the barn door with the wheelbarrow to the manure pile. Sometimes there were even planks put onto the pile to allow the operator a 'runway' to the top and across for dumping; that was when winters didn't allow hauling and my uncle wanted to conserve as much space as possible in the cow yard. Sure doesn't seem like we have those winters anymore...say what you will, I love winter and have fond memories, yup, even those cold ones. A trip from the barn or chicken coop or outhouse always entailed a trip to the woodshed for an arm load before going into the house as the kitchen stove and wood furnace in the basement needed 'refueling'...a trip wasn't wasted.
I remember it was warm in the barn with all the cows no matter how cold it got outside. West barn door was insulated, but I remember the frost building up on the inside. I was sure glad when Dad quit milking in the winter of '55/56 and didn't have to haul manure any more, or climb up the silo to throw down insilage. One bad thing was we kept my 4-H cow for house milk and one cow didn't warm the barn and I had to milk her by hand. Hated coming home from basketball practice and still had to milk the cow... game days were better, Dad milked her.
Super-H-Mike
Member
Yes, here in Minnesota the winters lately are low in snowfall but still cold. My barn cleaner is currently frozen solid. In the old days, the barn would be nice and warm with 30+ cows in there, but really moist ! Frost would cover the windows and walls even. Chopping and throwing down the frozen silage is something I dont miss!
Super-H-Mike
Member
Agreed ! When heat housers come up there are those who say they are better than nothing, well, I love mine . Bouncing along a frozen windswept plowed field spreading manure in sub-zero without it will convert you real quick !
I too grew up on a dairy farm in NE Wis during the 50s & 60s. We had all the cold weather problems that others have mentioned. But my dad had a 37 Ford 2-ton truck he used to haul manure. But if the snow got too deep, he also used a Farmall H with a weather break cab. I liked the truck better as it had a heater. Wish I would have taken more pictures back then. Al
I can just remember Dad hauling manure with horses... now that would have been cold. First I did it was on a C with a Heat Houser and a New Idea 12A spreader, that would have been about '50/51 when I was 8 or 9. I remember Dad had to saw a few inches off the muffler so it would go through the aisle of the barn. Dad had his horses for a short time after buying the C, but they kept scratching their rear ends on the machine shed door and breaking it or knocking it off the track, so they finally had to go.
Man, the things you remember when you start thinking about it.
Man, the things you remember when you start thinking about it.
Super-H-Mike
Member
Your Dad was a very resourcefull farmer it would seem, very neat old photos !
Paul from MI
Well-known Member
My brother and my regular Saturday morning job was cleaning the chicken house, 28' x 140'. We had 2,000 layers on the floor, no cages back then.
No messin' around in the winter when my turn to spread came, I just wanted to get back inside.
No messin' around in the winter when my turn to spread came, I just wanted to get back inside.
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