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What age did you start driving a tractor?

S

soder33

Member
I was going through some old photos and saw my Dad had me on the tractor at a young age. I think I really started doing field work when I was 7 or 8. Dad's been gone now 7 years, but not a day goes by without me thinking of him.
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Not real sure. Was not in school yet. Dad had a Case L and he would start it going for me pulling a 6 or 7 foot drag disk with a cultapacker and a harrow behind it.
I was not strong enough to work the hand clutch so he would start it then he would hop off and let me steer the thing. He told me when I was tired get to the end of the filed near the house and shove the throttle closed and let it die.
I remember the lady that owned the mom and pop store down the road raised all kinds of cane with him about me being out there by myself.
It was all flat land and I was happy as could be.
Sure would like to find that old Case. It was a gas burner...but it sure could pull. Big tractor back in those days.
 
I did a full days work on a tractor at age 7. I pulled a set of three drag cultivators 8 feet wide with a Cockshutt 30 while my dad ran the seed drill with a Massey 30. We got the 20 acres in before the rain hit. If he were alive he would tell you I was driving at age 2, steering the Massey 30 while he picked stones, but he had to turn it at the end of the row.
 
Was 15yr(city boy)nobody told me brake and "clutch"had to be pressed to stop.Had a loader on it with them spikes.So much for the barn door.
 

wasn't that yound, but the neighbor stuck me on a tractor with a hay wagon at age 8 (just moved to the country from town) in low gear and said keep it pointed toward that tree... They'd load and he'd turn around and head me toward the next tree... The next year, I got to harrow and rake some :roll:

What did you scan these pics with? I downloaded them and checked the properties and they are just what I want... Already deleted your pics, but need to scan a buttload of pics I just found. Last time (a long time ago) that I scanned a pic, it was oner a MB for it.

Thanks, Dave
 
I was 5-6 when my Dad put me on the Swisher three wheeled riding mower in the late60"s, then I graduated to the MM 112 riding tractor, then at 7, I started driving the IH 856 and Oliver 88 around the lot and various things. I was about 11 when I started doing field work. First thing I did was mow wheat stubble with a sickle mower, then moldboard plowing.
I was 14 when I started running the combine and 17 when I ran the planter for the first time.
 
My dad was pretty cautious, so I was probably 10 or 12 when I first drove a tractor. He was standing right there on the tractor with me the whole time. The tractor was a 51 Deere A that is still on this farm and has been passed along to my son. Jim
 
Oh yeah, We had a 9-N Ford. Dad started taking me with him when I was pretty small. I can remember sitting in front of him on the seat and he would have some excuse to have me steer. I don't remember ever learning to drive but by the time I was 8 he had me baling hay with him in the wagon stacking bales.
 
I drove a JD 60 with power steering in the summer of 1956. I was 6 years old and was going to start school that fall in the first grade, no kindergarten back then. Dad would start the baler with the hand PTO lever, then he would engage the hand clutch for the tractor and then jump off the tractor and run back to the bale wagon and jump onto the wagon from the ground without putting his knee up. I thought that was neat, I wish I could do that. I could stop the tractor and the baler if we needed to or something went wrong. Thinking back on it, we always baled hay in the heat of the day. 80+ small square bales per load. Now I most always bale hay at night to save more leaves and make a tighter package. Most everything is big round or big square and not little square. But that was almost 50 years ago and little squares was a step above all loose hay. I can only remember dad and grandpa putting up loose hay one year.
 
I was 5 years old when I started driving our 240 utility in the feild while dad picked up hay bales. I remember him cussing when he realized my legs were to short to push in the clutch and brake at the same time. He said to just drive and he'd control the brake while walking beside the tractor if I pushed in the clutch.
 
When I was 4 years old, I would steer the SC for Dad feeding cows. At 6 I stayed home from school to run SC and 10' disc. As others have said,neighbors raised a fuss!! Last year of high school missed 44 days doing farm work, principle sent home note saying, misss one more day, can't graduate!!
 
I was a city kid and didn"t drive my first "real" tractor until age 25. I did get my nephew who is age 10 on my A over Easter and I think he is now hooked. He drove it solo on Friday night for the first time and didn"t hesitate to take the wheel when we had it out on Sunday.

My dad on the other hand was 2 when he had his first short drive. Apparently he was riding on a JD B with my grandfather and when grandpa stopped to get something out of the barn he left my dad on the B with it in gear, but the clutch disengaged. My dad knew enough that if he pushed the clutch lever up it would go and off he went. Gradma noticed and came flying out of the back of the house sreamming and my dad said he pulled the clutch lever back and that was the end of his tractor rides for a while.
 

I had to have been less than 10. The tractor was a Fordson and was hard for me to steer.

KEH
 
Age 8 using a D-14 Allis Chalmers raking hay with a Nixon 5 wheel hay rake. 25 years later and still use the D-14 on a regular basis. (neighbor has the rake now) Can't be beat for using on the grain drill. Grandpa died when I was 13, and me and my 9 year old brother took over farming. All in all, I think we've done pretty good. (Dad has quite a few health issues and does what he can, but is pretty limited)
 
You sound like me. I don't ever remember not driving a tractor. Dad had a SC Case that I steered while he pitched hay off of the haysled. I remember I would have to use my foot to hold the clutch forward, because if it snapped over center, I wasn't strong enough, or heavy enough to get it back. I missed 2 weeks of school when I was in the 6th grade, driving a D21 Allis, pulling a 24 foot disc in front of Dads planter tractor.
 
Hi, I was about 5 when I drove the tractor in the field towing the wagon as my older brothers loaded it with bales. But by 11 I baled hay with a New Holland 66 baler with wisconsin engine. I have been on a tractor of some kind or other almost every day for over 60 years now. Ed Will
 
I started at 12 on a Farmall Cub cultivating strawberries. By 13 I was sidedressing with a Super A for most anything the farmer I worked for would let me do so that I could drive. I had to wait until I was 15 to drive his 666 diesel and 16 for the 966. Funny thing is now I prefer green to red tractors.
 
I was on the tractor from day 1. prolly by myself discing at age 7 with the WD45 diesel. earlier it had been driving for hauling bales and around the yard. had my own tractor to run by age 9.
 
Starting driving tractor pulling wagon while Dad and Granddad loaded bundles or bales at age 7-8 with a 1951 IHC MD. Then Dad had a IHC WD9 but I couldn't push in the clutch, so he traded for a new one in 1953 for one with a hand clutch, so started working Dry land wheat ground at the age of 9 by myself. I still have that MD and WD9. I also have his 1949 IHC KB2 pickup.
 
35. grew up as city boy in Germany...
First tractor was TO-30,high gear, clutch loose and full trottle: front wheels came off the ground and I went down the gravel road like a madman hangin on for dear life!! Friends still had belly ache days later. Glad nobody filmed it!!
 
at age 12 went to work for my uncle paving driveways and parking lots. Ran his 5 ton roller a lot and ford loader tractor. That hooked me and bought my first dozer at age 16, a Cat R2.
 
(quoted from post at 06:39:37 04/19/12) 35. grew up as city boy in Germany...
First tractor was TO-30,high gear, clutch loose and full trottle: front wheels came off the ground and I went down the gravel road like a madman hangin on for dear life!! Friends still had belly ache days later. Glad nobody filmed it!!
Click to expand...

I had a big break... drove a lot of stuff in the army but got back on a 26HP tractor at 35 or 36... I do stupid stuff and make the neighbors nervous... Always pushin the border (immer am grenze :roll: ) as far as safety.. but gettin more cautious....
 

I was 8 or 9 when Dad left me cultivating milo. He was irritated at me when he found I had finished & had brought the tractor back to the house from the field 12 miles away, instead of going to another field near the first.

I was already pretty handy with the 4020's by then.

Dad mentioned one of the neighbors working the kids when he was growing up... He said the dad would tie the kid to the seat of the old John Deere D - not because he was mean - but because he didn't want the boy to fall asleep and then fall out and get run over by the one-way he was dragging...


Howard
 
11 years old. Raking hay and discing were my jobs.

Buried that tractor on the first turn when discing my first field! Not only that, I got real uptight, tried to jam it into another gear, got it stuck between gears.

Had to walk home, tell Dad, he came and fixed it. I bet he was thinking that having me 'help' was no help a-tall! (A-tall is one of my dad's words).
 
44 days? There was a story on the news this week about a kid that missed 14 days to help his mother who has cancer, get to her doctor appointments. School is refusing to allow him to graduate because he missed too much school.
 
(quoted from post at 05:03:09 04/19/12) I was going through some old photos and saw my Dad had me on the tractor at a young age. I think I really started doing field work when I was 7 or 8. Dad's been gone now 7 years, but not a day goes by without me thinking of him.
a68252.jpg

a68253.jpg
Click to expand...

Steering while dad loaded little round bales on the hayrack at 3, hauling manure with the WD45 diesel and JD ground drive spreader at 6, plowing and discing at age 10. I was the oldest boy so dad started me out young.....
 
Mom has a picture of me steering while Dad rode on the drawbar pulling a manure spreader. Dad had hogs in several lots and as soon as I could stop and start the tractor Dad opened gates and had me driving thru. I was 8 when Dad let me start fitting ground by myself while he was in the field on a different tractor.
 
Started looking at the rear end of a team of horses around 7 years old. Got to drive them to the field and back with no equipment hooked to them. Could get the harness off but couldn't put them on by myself. Was 12 when I drove 430 John Deere and M Farmall.
 
5 or 6 driving the farmall H on the hay rake. Bought my first tractor at age 12. A farmall A for $400 that I had earned over a 2 year streach working as a bale handler for the neighbors. still have the A 40 yrs later
 
I started at 10 years old. Drove the lawn mower at 9 and dad felt I had driven clutch enough to get on the 4020. Started hauling round bales at first then raking hay then everything else came fast.
 
5 hauling manure. We didn't have a spreader, dad threw it out of the trailer, while I drove the 8N, with sherman o/u.
 
I used to come home from morning kindergarten at the age of five and haul manure in the afternoon with the 8N Ford. I don't remember if I was older or younger when Dad bolted a wood block to the clutch pedal of a Massey Harris Pony that he took in on trade,so I could plow snow with it.
 
8n Ford when I was eight years old. The top of the septic tank caved in and dad and I formed and poured a new one. Dad had to set it in place, so that left me to drive the tractor and maneuver it into place. He sure did have alot of faith in me looking back!!!!
 
About 6 driving Dad's Allis B hauling feed and water to his chickens. Only ran over the dogs tail once, but that's another story. By 8 or 9 doing all types of field work, cultivating, etc.
 
Not until 12 I was also a city kid. never looked back (to the city) I now own 4 tractors and alwways looking for more
 
The whole thing was a setup, the couple friends that went with me to look at that tractor for purchase, told me to get seated, put it in high gear for me, and set the throttle, then told me to EASE off the clutch....well, with that power setting, it bucked a little and then went down the gravel road with me...luckily they had enough sense to also tell me where the brakes were.....lol, roll...and rolling from laughter they were....!!
Now I am pretty much Mr. Cautious, used to fly privately and professionally for a few years, we always use checklists. While I don't have a checklist for the tractors, I do follow the manual and instructions to the "T". Plus all of mine are open station, no roll bars and I like to live a little longer!!! Plus, I don't like repair bills, either.
 
A new Allis B when I was ten. Before that everything was done with horses. Drove a tractor every year fo seventy years--was eighty yesterday.
 
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