A story about IH 550-/Case 300 choppers

I didn't want to hyjack Tom's post below, but he is correct in saying that they won't feed in downed corn.-----Case made a deal with IH and sold rebadged IH choppers as their model 300 chopper. We were Case dealers when this happened, and had the header feeding problems described by Tom. Case got with IH engineering and an IH engineer and a pallet box full of different gathering chains and other parts were sent to us. When the parts arrived, Case branch service people and the IH engineer showed up and we hooked my uncle's 1963 Case 831C to the chopper with a 30" two row head.------We experimented with different styles of gathering chains, knock down bars over the row unit, bolt on teeth for the feed rolls, and finally some spring bars that we bolted at the front bottom of the head to hold the corn straight up as the gathering chains grabbed it.----- The bars and extension teeth helped the most. ------Now the good part of the story. On the final day, The IH engineer was feeling like he had solved the problem, and my dad, myself, 2 Case service reps. and the engineer were walking along behind the forage wagon, (low sides,no roof) looking at the remnants of stalks that were left, and the engineer was bragging how smooth the chopper was now running and how uniform the silage cut was. He no more than got those words out of his mouth and a piece of cob about the size of a tennis ball cleared the back of the forage wagon and hit him square in the forehead, knocking him down.
The rest of us were having a hard time keeping from laughing as he picked himself up, but we never heard any more about uniform cut.------WE went on and started selling Hesston choppers.
Loren
PS The 831C is now mine and you have seen it hooked to my wood trailers, and still earning it's keep.

The major manufacturers selling less than elite products opened the door for short liners at most dealerships. It's how New Holland, Hesston, Glencoe, Brillion got impressive market shares during most of the latter 20th Century. I don't recall one dealership being 100 percent their major supplier in terms of marketing while growing up during the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's. Now some dabbled in short lines much more than others. Some due to proximity were boxed out of certain short lines. For whatever reason New Holland would not place more than one franchise within a 20 mile radius where we are in the Finger lakes while in Western New York just about any dealer that wanted New Holland had it even if they were only 10 miles apart. It was a handicap in the long run for some dealers to rely on short lines. When the consolidations happened during the 1980's a grudge was held against some dealers who heavily leaned on short lines. At the same time there were those who were fairly loyal to their major that suffered greatly when the 1980's hit. AC dealers marketed fairly heavily to small dairies and when AC discontinued their hay and forage and had no short line to cover they were left very vulnerable to low customer traffic. Some transitioned to Ford New Holland where possible but quite a number closed up during the 1980's.

What you have outlined about dealerships closing in the 80’s is pretty much the same as what happen in Ontario, Canada during the same time frame. I think the biggest factor was the declining customer base. 4 small farmers would each have a Baler , at least two tractors, a manure spreader and so on. And maybe share a forage harvester and wagons among them. Now one farm may have only 3-4 big tractors and might have a manure spreader, or might hire a huge custom out fit. Same with forage harvesters , probably hire in a custom operator that cuts corn for 8-10 big farms. Fewer pieces of equipment get sold , and fewer dealerships to sell the equipment. A larger farm operator is more likely to go farther away from his home area to get a piece of equipment from a dealer that has technicians trained to work on specific equipment, like a self propelled forage harvester, and where the dealer may sell several of these specialized pieces of equipment each year. Instead of the local dealer who sold one once a couple years ago, and the guys in the back shop are not familiar with such equipment, and don’t know were to start when it comes to fixing it. These kinds of things I see have hurt local equipment dealerships . You need to sell quite a few combines each year to have a trained repair man on staff to work in new combines. And in this I see the problems.

No doubt that declining customer base or weak customer base was the largest single factor for some dealerships to close. Probably more so after the 1980's consolidations as many farm operations went out of business. The closest JD dealer to us during the 1960's closed due to a combination of declining/ weak base. They like many other dealers had their best years during the 1940's and 1950's. The units sold in terms of tractors were in steady decline from the WWII year onward to the point where maybe a few New Generations tractors were sold per year. Their facilities also lagged in that they were adequate for the products of the 1940's and 1950's but small for like a self propelled cabbed combine. The JD dealer I mentioned chose to retire rather than invest in new facilities in a declining market.

I have the Case colored version,, I would not have bought it but I was told it was a 200 Series which was made by CASE I paid for it then went few weeks later to get it and see it was a 300 model,, too late to complain I loaded it it could sure be bought for what I gave for it, has the pick up and two row heads with it

Thanks for posting as I really enjoy stories like this. I can remember 30 years ago going to sales and see a few of the Case 300 choppers. My 550 is a one row which is basically a two row with one side missing. I wonder if the two row might just work a little better. I remember two neighbors having 550's and they got along good with them. Dad had a 350 and I do not remember problems with it. We are going to try it later this fall in some double crop sorghum that is about 5ft tall and see if that works any better. I bought it to put a direct cut head on it for oats so hopefully if the corn heads will not work that will. Tom