Times have sure changed!!!

JD Seller

Well-known Member
I can remember when a 150 HP tractor was "BIG". Now that is just about a chore tractor. I was moving a planter around this weekend. I bought a JD 1770 16x30 planter for the liquid fertilizer openers and pumps. The weather was good enough this weekend to get it taken off. I had the one JD 4450 here on the snow blower. So I just used it to move and unfold the planter. It would barely lift the planter when it was folded. Even with duals and front weights it would not pull this planter in the fields around here. That is kind of shocking. A tractor that was a primary tillage tractor on many farms when it was new is now not even a planter tractor.

Here are a couple of pictures. It is rare you can take pictures out in a field this time of year without much snow.
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jd , that's impressive and bothersome at the same time ,,... at least you got better weather than we have here rite now ,. you can always come to my place in southern ind , and revisit those good ol 4 row planter days,.. my brother goes thru all that folding with his 12 row planter,. it is quite a site to watch ,. my farming is on a 10 % scale of his ,.../ I got it made i guess because when I finish a 15 acre field I simply raise the planter up kik out the pto , flip the driver idlers off the planter ,,. hop back on the 4-530 CASE crack it into 4th hi and wind Him on out to a smooth 26 mph to get to the next field ,,no escort needed,.;. but I do spend a lot more time going Back and Forth ,./ Lol
 
Pulled one of those with a 4840 for 2 years. Plenty of power and weight, problem was hydraulic flow.

Boss thought I should plant 200 acres a day. If not for refilling fertilizer every 35 acres and moving every 2-3 hours to plant tiny odd-shaped fields, I maybe could have.
 
I put liquid on my 1760 12x30 a few years ago. That was a heck of a chore - it will be staying on there until I don't need the planter anymore. I don't envy you that job.

You can sure get some planting done except for the refilling. 30 acres just isn't much. I'm too much of a worry wart to try to go much more than that on a fill. I know there are some extensions made but when it's all full that's a lot of weight. The 7800 doesn't have any trouble but I wouldn't want much less hydraulics. Especially folded without the outriggers to help. I've broken the belts on four tires on those main tires and I don't even have much road or rough travel.
 
I've never needed anything that big but I remember the look on my Dad's face when as a teenager I starting asking for a 50 horse tractor instead of our MF 35 diesel that did all the tillage and haying. He just felt like I was always in a hurry and I wanted to get stuff done. The MF 35 is a bush hog and blade tractor now, the haying and tillage get done with a 50 hp, 60 hp and 100 hp fleet now. I'm still in a hurry I guess...
 
notjustair: We run 2 bushel boxes and pull a trailing cart with a 1000 gallon liquid tank on it. We can go about 65-70 acres between fills. Seed is the limiting factor for us.
 
That's one nice planter! Corn is a pretty small percentage of the crop in this area as its primarily potatoes so you don't see planters like that here. The biggest I've seen being used is a 12. The guy does custome planting and did our 55 acres in 4 hours in 3 fields,
 
You should take a spin through central Illinois about the end of April, you will have a greater idea of large equipment. One guy down the road pulls a thirty something row planter with a 4x4 Versatile
 
Philip d: Sixteen row planters are getting real common around here and many larger operators are going to 24 and 36 row planters. I can remember going to a 6 row from a four row and thought how nice the "JARGER" planter was. LOL
 
My son works at the J.D. plant in Valley City ND. They're building an air seeder now with a cart that is supposed to hold a semi-load of seed. I'm pretty sure that's what he told me, Hard for me to imagine. Keep wanting him take me thru the place but he ain't done it yet. DP
 
I remember farming a quarter section with a VAC Case as the only tractor.

Farmers around here used to be obsessed with who farmed the most acres. Now they seem to be obsessed with who has the largest equipment. But, there seems to be a point of diminishing returns on equipment size. The fellow who farms a 40 acre field south of my house came in with a 24 row planter a couple of years ago. He spent more time jacking around on end rows and getting lined up for another pass across the field than he did actually planting. Someone could have come in with a 12 row planter and been done in half the time.

But it looks so impressive pulling a folded up 24 row planter down the road. (And taking up the entire road).
 
JD have often thought about that here: seen 4wd tractor 45-60hp as normal then 70-100hp now as you said even bigger. Not sure where it will end as same fields years ago they were doing it with Farmall h, Ford 8n. Just not so fast and a few more passes. Another fatal trap is buying these implements they have to have a tractor to handle them can't go smaller.
 
In 1953 my Dad bought 40 hp John Deere 60, the niehbors thought he was crazy buying a tractor that big,,now we plant with 8330s and work ground with 9400s, we went to 6 row planter in 1980, using a 16 row now,,,how did we get the work done with the smaller equipment,,,we were out in the field longer that's how.....
 
I can remember when the 4840 was huge. Now its not big enough for tillage and not small enough for hay work. Still not going to get rid of it though!
 
I remember my dad saying that when he bought his ZAU MM, his dad said "What do want such a big tractor for? Its going to use more fuel." Grandpa only had a WC....lol. My dad said to me... Good thing I didnt by a U MM.
 
4520bw; What you posted about your JD 4840 is why a JD 4640 and a JD 4840 will sell cheaper than the smaller JD 4440s. The larger tractors with only the 1000 PTO and longer wheel base just do not work for chore or haying tractors as well.
 
Alan: I can remember my Grand Father talking about when a neighbor bought an Oliver 88 all the other neighbors asking the owner why he bought such a LARGE tractor. I just looked it up and the Oliver 88 was 47 HP. Heck that will not run most grain augers anymore.
 
There's a sliding of responsibilities, in the east you still commonly see these formerly big 2wd tillage tractors:
-on medium square balers
-mid size manure tankers
-planters
-grain carts

Just don't see the hours they used to and when the PS goes its moved to manure pump duty. Here its not always the larger machines that displaced them but newer mfwd models with fairly tight steering radius that can be out working more days a year.
 
Sure different territory than we have in MO (for the most part). You would not be able to get that equipment down most of the county maintained roads in this area. I know parts of the road I live on are just over 20 feet fence to fence in some areas, and on the average most "large" fields are 20-40 acres. Northern MO is a different story of course, mostly flat land. Just for reference, I hired a guy with a Cat 963 to do some excavation a couple years back, and he could not turn his 3 axle lowboy around, and had to offload and move his trailer sideways 3 times before getting back to the highway. He said it is not unusual, and used to it.
 
I remember grandpa disking down 350 acres of Big Creek bottom land down with a SH Farmall and 8 ft IHC disk ahead of dad on an 8N Ford and 2 row, 3 point JD planter. They milked a small grade A herd of Holsteins as well. We always raised a few calves, ran hogs, and sold eggs to the local hatchery. I didn't see a lot of either of them except in the dead of winter. gm
 
Yep,a 2 plow tractor was a planting tractor. If you had a three plow,you were a BTO and it was your "big tractor" and was probably only used for tillage.
 
When Massey Harris introduced their model 55 in 1946, it was advertised as " The biggest farm tractor on wheels". It held that title, all 60 plus hp. for several years. What is the biggest now? Ten times as much power? Ben
 
. I planted a lot of corn with a 999 JD 2 row horse planter with the tongue cut off. and pulled it with a JD GP tractor on steel. Then the old man wondered why I wanted to be a dumb truck driver the rest of my life. Oh well I'me all retired now and as I look back to those days ,I do miss them some. I also remember planting corn across the road from the house and a neighbor went down the road with a new JD 1240 4 row planter. god how I wished I was as lucky as he was. LOL
 
My Grandpa (passed away last year) said there aren't too many farmers out there who still know how to hook up a team of horses. And he's right, I can't think of any farmers who know how to hook up a team.

Then he talked about getting their first tractors. Then rubber tires, rollomatic, and lights. Once the lights came everybody went crazy at night!

To me it's hard to believe the amount of change he saw. From horses to tractors that drive themselves.
 
You talk about that 88, in the fall of 1960 I started to work for an Oliver dealer and an 88 was still a good size tractor. Now some are still being used as well as other tractors of that age. But in 1960 you did not se a 50 year tractor being used on the farm anymore!
 
My great grandpa was born in 1884 so all he knew was
horses and steam power when he started farming. First
tractor he bought was a new steel wheeled Twin City in the
late 1920s. Last tractor he bought was a 4020 powershift in
1964. Last combine he bought was a Massey 510. Kind of a
step up from the old wooden threshing machine. So he saw it
all and lived long enough to see us buy our first 4 wheel drive
tractor.
 
JD,

That planter is nearly identical to the one I had but had a 4850 MFWD on the front of it till I bought a 8100. Both were a good match fot the planter. Just sold the 8100 to a friend, 2230 hours. They will plant a lot of acres in just a very few engine hours. I still have the 4850 and that tractor has only 2615 original hours and is going to make somebody a nice tractor when I sell it. I also remember a neighbor telling my Dad that he could have bought two Ford tractors for what he paid for his new Farmall M. Dads answer was that he could not drive two Ford tractors at the same time.
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Tom OConnor: Grain farming, with the large equipment of today, means that tractors and combines get way fewer hours than they did in the past. In farms with livestock many tractors are ran year round so they add up hours much faster than your do. MY JD 6400 just turned over 18,500 hours. It is a 1993 model and for 20 years it loaded feed every single day.
 
It is just like backing a wagon but easier. We also rarely have to back into corners. If the field is that odd shaped we usually plant the ends out with a JD 7200 eight row narrow fold planter. We usually plant smaller fields and odd shapes with the smaller planter. With the GPS systems we many times plant the ends row last. So the main part of the field might already be planted and the smaller planter will do the ends rows at a later time. We also have a few guys that want the end rows planted to a shorter season corn so they can open the fields up earlier to allow the internal rows to air dry faster.
 
Dad and I farmed with a JD 70 and an A 494A planter. I busted the flywheel on the 70, and the new one was three weeks out. A neighbor loaned me his JD 720 diesel. I was in love with that thing!
The local "I am a BTO and I want everyone to know it" was a one man show and had a 4020. When the across the fence neighbor started lapping him when plowing, he decided he had to have a W&W turbo kit. It really ticked him off when he still could not keep up with the hot MF 1130 pulling a 8 bottom on land hitch, and he only had a 4 behind the 4020.
 
If you want clumsy, hook it to an articulated tractor and plant a 2 acre field.

"I don't know what you're doing you should be planting 200 acres a day"

Couldn't explain it to the guy. 3 years, and that planter never set foot on a pivot. Wonder why the 12 row planted more than the 16. Notta clue. Often spent more time turning around than planting on some large fields even.

Then he traded it on a 12 row and put it on the steiger, too.
 

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