|
Mark you mentioned reins on a tractor to operate it as a bad thing. That tractor used that as a sales pitch. It probably makes no sence to the younger crowd, but if your manure spreader was horse drawn you could sit on the seat and put the spreader in gear. Cow barns were often built with a alley behind the cows to place the spreader for loading, you could move the tractor forward without geting on (just like a horse). You also could load a load of hay, or rather level the load on the hayrack (loose hay) or load the bundles of oats / wheat and still run the tractor. It saved a man or kid on the tractor and put him to work loading the wagon. Often you had a plow with a seat, again you could operate the plow and if needed kick the corn stocks thru with your foot. Often corn stalks would plug a plow real bad. You could also save some corn with a stick while cultivating with your horse drawn cultivator if you coverd some up. Also cultivators were moved sidways with your feet to keep it on the row. A single disk needed the operators weight to make it cut the corn stalks, and when you got to a mud hole you could climb off and still operate the tractor. The tractor took over the horses, and the implments were not up to speed, and if so farmers could not afford them and a tractor. I'm not certian if that was as good as auto steer, or GPS operating systems now days, but probably just a good start compared to a tired horse at the end of the day. I have heard that numerous farmers were injured trying to tie the reins in a nuteral position and the tractor responding to the wind blowing the reins, unlike the old horse that would gladly just stand there.
| 
