How many acres !

I read an ad for IH farmall H that said it was a quarter section tractor. Thats 160 acres. Did Ford ever make an estimate on the 8N? Whats the most acres you ever knew of someone farming with an 8N?

Interesting question. We had an 8N (still have it) and a Farmall H (long gone). We typically farmed 120 to 130 acres each year. Many hours per day and many days to plow, fit and plant. Same with harvest. I would not want to try that today.

Pretty realistic assumption if it was based on how farmers worked in the 1940's era. In some ways the N could out work a Farmall H. We farmed over 200 acres in the 40's with our 1940 8N and two teams of horses that were gone by 1947. My two uncles were the work force with me as a helper and part time tractor driver. In those days it was milk the cows at 6am, head to the fields when done and back to milk at 6pm. No need for lights on the 9N as cows needed milking every day. Our neighbors farmed a similar operation and had a Farmall H and horses too, again father and two sons were the operators. To me 80 acres for either would be a better one man estimate, no milk cows, crops only 160 possible. How hard do you wanta work?

Now thats interesting. My Amish neighbors figure 10 acres per horse.8 horses per 2 bottom plow. Thats 80 acres per 2 bottom plow. The 8N pulls a 2 bottom plow. Seems like an 80 acre farm is in order. More then I want to try,but possible.

I'm starting with 7 acres of organic corn. Next year maybe 20. Some hay if I can rent some more land.

You shouldn't have any problems with 7 acres, or even 20 if you have some time.
When I was a kid my dad (who worked full time) and I farmed about 120 acres with a 2/14. It wasn't an 8N, it was green and yellow but similar results.
Slow, and a lot of hours.
Two row corn planter and a one row tow behind picker.
We had a few head of cattle, a few pigs and some horses, nice little farm back then.

Well if you go back in time and think about things. Back when you could still homestead a farm you could get 160 acres per house hold member. So if you had to people in your home you got 320 acres and you did that with a team of horses. Then the tractor came along and back in the 40s it was common for a farmer to have 1 tractor be it what ever and he did his 160 or 320 etc with it. Back then an 8N was the tractor or the JD-B etc. So all depends on if you know what real work is or if you want to play at work

OK they figure a day as 8 hours so figure Width cut in feet x miles per hour = acres per day

So 2-14=28 inches or 2.333 feet. An 8N will pull a 2-14 in 2nd gear but I don't know the ground speed of an 8N at WOT. So lets say 3 MPH.

2.333X3 would do close to 7 acres a day. We went about 6 MPH at 2 ft with a AC CA.....so 2X6=12.


You have to remember that back in the day a farmer would prep his fields in time to plant for the crop. SO first would be wheat, plow till and plant. then the same for then corn/beans then oats and hay. He could plow and plant about 40-60 acres in a week to 10 days with an 8N or similar sized tractor. Once the first crop was finished he'd start on his next crop. Depending on weather often there would be no break between plantings and right after the last was planted he was starting on hay. Then because he was using smaller equipment hay ran right up to wheat harvest followed by oats the 2nd cutting of hay. He may have had a small break between 2nd hay and corn but only if he wasn't combining beans.


When dad retired from the Army and started farming he had an AC CA with a mounted 2-12 inch plow. He plowed, finished tilled and planted 67 acres in 10 days. But he milked, then went to the field, mom would take him lunch and he was back on the CA, then milk, then back on the tractor till 10 or 11 each night. The following year he had a larger tractor and rented another 250 acres. He ran the same kind of hours plowing with 3-16's and using a 12 foot disk and digger. I would try to get 2 weeks of leave to help with the spring and fall work. That worked a few years but once I went overseas he had to cut back some. LOL i used to look forward to my leaves being over.......with duty days from 6 AM to 5-6 PM and most weeekends off the Army was easy! When I was home on leave he would try to have some plowed and would put me on the CA while he started doing the finish tilling. We had it worked out without me milking to where about the time I finished plowing (sometimes 14-18 hours a day to stay in front of him) he would be right on my tail.

Rick

Don't have any actual numbers for proof, but in the day, Ford salesmen claimed that because of speed, an 8N with mounted 2-14 would turn over more ground per hour than a red M or green G dragging 3 bottoms.
WJ

A neighbor bought an 8N in 1950 that was used to do all the tractor work on his 240 Acre Dairy Farm for many years.

This Centennial Farm was sold 5 years ago and that "first" tractor was sold at auction with most of the original equipment.

The tractor still ran good and was no stranger to frequent engine rebuilds...the last of the grandsons that was farming that ground always said how well that tractor ran, but did admit that he would hate to try to make a living with it today.

Tim

I remember my Dad and Grandpa talking about those days. By the time I came along Grandpa had retired but still had his 2N. He and Dad talked about the "old days" in Plaut Dietsch (Low German). Farming 160 acres with only the two youngest boys at home, being Dad and my Uncle. Plus Grandpa taught school and worked part time for the neighbor. Grandma had her hands full with gardens and chickens and pigs and grandkids. I don't know HOW they did it but I have never known anyone in that crew to underestimate the value of HARD WORK! Although in their defense I will add that these were Mennonite homesteaders, and there were lots of other family members in the area that sent the older boys (nephews, cousins, what-have-you) around to help on any farm they were sent to. I can't imagine me working like that nowadays. Makes my 2 and 3/4 vegetable farm look like a bad joke, although I'm sure Grandpa's smiling down that I'm trying to get back to the "old" lifestyle!

Dad started with 80 acres and milked 14 cows. First it was horses then an 8N did all the field work. In about 1955 he bought the neighboring 40 acre farm and added a MH-50 (3-14 plow) so each of us kids had a tractor. Later on another neighboring 80 acres was added and the first year it was all farmed with the 8N and the MH-50. There was one 40 acre field that took 45 minutes to make one round plowing - remember it well. The 8N would plow in second gear at approximately 4 MPH, the speed for the MH-50 was similar only pulling another bottom. We never worked tractors at full throttle - just how I was taught.

Our first "big" tractor was a 4000 Ford (3 cylinder) diesel purchased somewhere around 1967.

" Grandma had her hands full with gardens and chickens and pigs and grandkids. "

LMAO!

That's how it was w/ my grandmother.

My grandfather was a tenant farmer; they lost the farm in 1867 thanks to the Civil War, so grandaddy always worked for others.

I recall asking my oldest aunt once if grandaddy planted whatever in the garden; she just laughed & said "Daddy never planted a garden. Oh, he'd plow it, but the garden was worked by momma & us kids".

My Grand Father started with horses then bought an 8n in the 50's. He raised my 10 aunts and uncles on 80 acres. Dad tells the story that when soil conditions where right the 8n would run 24 hours a day till the job was done. With 6 other brothers, labor was not a problem. They would run 4 hour shifts. Dad's favorite time was early morning. He still talks about the exhaust running cherry red and watching the sun come up. The girls kept the coffee on and the boys fed.

I take it the the number acres a tractor was rated for was with one man operating it?

I heard that too. My Grandma had a load to carry too. Likewise, chickens, garden, washing clothes, cooking, separating the cream and help with milking when time allowed. No running water and cooking on a wood stove too! Electricity came by in about 1947-48.

According to the 8N operators manual 3.56 MPH for plowing at 1500 RPM in second gear. Our's likely ran nearer to 18 or 1900 when plowing. 8hrs a day, not likely.

My father said growing up on a farm in the Depression wasn't all that bad because you always had something to eat, and they got electricity in 1940.

That being said........

My father would not eat greens of any sort (collards, kale, turnip green, etc) Sometime after he died, I mentioned that to my aunt; she said it wasn't unusual for for lunch to be greens & cornbread, and for supper to be greens & biscuits. For 3 or 4 days in a row.

When I was a whiny teenager, my father would often tell me that I had two choices for dinner: take it or leave it.

What an interesting thread. I really enjoyed reading all the stories. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, after those stories I feel really lasy. I think most of you are talking about good farm land and thats something I don"t have. Right now I"m going to use my stone rake so I can seed some hay ground. This old farm hasn"t been plowed in decades but I"m going to give it my best effort.