Took a drive thru Central WI today

I took a drive from MN to Athens WI today on Interstate 29 to go pickup a drum mower today. Nice country. I saw a few things that caught my eye. First was Front wheel assist tractors with steel wheels. I couldn't believe it. Amish I'm sure. I didn't realize they were "allowed" tractors. I guess the rules must have relaxed a bit. I really was kinda neat to see. It looked like a modern day steam engine.

The crop situation looks better there than it does in Central MN. The corn and beans are each a bit taller than ours, I even saw some hay laying down. Some fields still not planted, they looked wet.

All in all a good trip with good scenery, pretty country.

I thought I 29 was in SD and ND.

I29 is in SD/NE, I90,I94,I43 are in Wisconsin

I-39?

29 was a regular two lane road that has been upgraded to a 4 lane highway but it is not an interstate. It runs east and west in the central part of the state,

DWF

I 90 is here too

Details details details. Lol that was my first thought too. But I didn't realize they still put steel wheels on new tractors.

Correction, not Interstate 29 but WI Highway 29. Sorry about the confusion

I29 is not in Nebraska.

Can't remember if it was route 21, or routes 23 and 82, that I took a few times west off rte 41. It was a nice drive.

In Ohio Holmes county I got to see a David Brown 1210 or 1410 with steel wheels that had rubber tread bolted to them some how (I guess it was so they could drive on the road) man did that thing make a lot of noise when I passed by it though

They are not Amish. Machinery with power is the Mennonites. You cannot have comfort or vanity. No rubber tires and all things shinny are painted over. Know a couple in Lancaster PA.

I live 11 miles south of Athens on 97. I saw that drum mower on CL. Those are Menonite with the steel wheels in this area, the stricter sect. We had a very productive week last week. Lots of seed made its way in the ground. Now we are wet again. Glad you could make it out this way. Very diverse farm country.

Couple years ago I was in the Lancaster PA area and I saw a lot of tractors fitted with something that looked like tank tracks on tractor wheels. A lot of forklifts fitted the same way.

That is a very strict group of Mennonites that have the steel wheel tractors. I've even seen cases where they have steel wheels on riding lawn mowers & ATV's. They ride bicycles with rubber tires on thou. And they take the horse and buggy to church.

I-29 is in Iowa, on the east side of the Missouri River.

Same thing with the Mennonites out east of town. New FWA tractors on steel,JD 4440s on dual steel,skid steers on steel....... Quite a sight.

Was on an Amish farm some years ago, a friend had some work done on a carriage.

They had a D17 AC on steel with a grinder mixer hooked to it. They had a pole hooked to the front of the tractor for a two horse hitch. They would sit on the tractor and steer it/drive the horses to pull it around. Then start it and run the PTO to grind feed. They also had a 14T baler and a one row chopper that were PTO driven.

I have seen many Amish balers and other stuff with pony motors on them. I had never seen that setup before though. To each their own, but it doesn"t make a lot of sense to me to own a tractor and not be able to put it in gear...BW

with the Amish it all depends on their bishop.

We have amish here with tractors on steel, some with tractor with steel and rubber over the steel, Most can only drive tractors over a certain age (not too fancy) seems like mostly early 1960's at the newest. Some still are only allowed to use the tractor around the farmstead, like grinding feed and filling silo and must use horses to do field work. Alot around here have custom made sulkies with their own engine, hydr, pto and some even 3pt hitches.

any menonites around here drive rubber tired tractors and you would be hard pressed to know they were menonites ececpt the ladies where head coverings. a few where they dress a little more amish like but with printed fabrics

In Ohio where the in-laws live some amish have rubber tired tractors.

Let us know how you make out with the drum mower. I am starting second season with mine. Sure beats the sickle bars hands down.

Here the Amish are strictly horse farmers. Menonites however may have tractors with various wheels - most steel wheels. Amish may use PTO driven impliments with a motor on a cart in front of machine.

Our local menonites use tractors with regular wheels/tires, but when they go to town they hook up a homemade trailer (back half of a pickup) and drive the tractor forward using the trailer wheels with the tractor pto. I have seen them doing over 45 mph on the highway. Guess they take advantage of the higher gear ratio in the trailer rear end.

There is a lot of confusion about Mennonites and Amish. As mentioned before a lot of what's allowed or not allowed is up to the local bishop. Both are faiths descended from the Anabaptist movement, the Mennonites follow the teachings of Menno Simmons, the Amish of Jakob Ammann, both faiths are of Swiss origin. My Mother in law was Mennonite but converted to Lutheran when she married my Father in law. My wife's maternal grandfather was a John Deere Dealer for most of his life. But they were a more abundant sect that came to America by way of Russia. Their history was they made an agreement with Katherine the Great to immigrate to Russia as Russia needed farmers. After Katherine the Great died the new powers that be didn't want to allow the degree of religious freedom they enjoyed so they came to America. Settled mostly in 3 areas, sections of Minnesota, Kansas and somewhere in Canada (Alberta, Manitoba or Saskatchewan). We would visit her family in Minnesota and you wouldn't know it was a Mennonite Community. They had a Chevrolet Dealer and an Allis-Chalmers/Gleaner dealer. Over the years there was eventually a Lutheran Church founded and last time we were back they had a Pentecostal church on top of the three different Mennonite congregations. Her Uncle would talk about the past and explain they used to have a Chevy, Ford and Dodge dealer in town as well as a John Deere dealer (theirs) a IH and the AC. Last time we visited when her Uncle was still alive he was all excited and had to take us out to see the new turkey farm, as we drove out there he explained they were Haydite Mennonites. He allowed he didn't really understand what that meant, but they all dressed the same, the men in green trousers and light green shirts with flat brimmed hats, the women in green dresses and green bonnets. When we got out to see the farm it was a big barn with 15 or 20 1000 gallon propane tanks linked together. Looked like the farm (barn) was on a 40, the barn in the middle and mobile homes all the way around the perimeter. I assumed it was some sort of communal arrangement. There were cars and trucks around the farm so I assume they could drive, didn't see any tractors or implements or horses. I don't know if or how they farmed. We went to her Uncle's funeral at one of the Mennonite congregations, the Pastor was a women, I would guess they were a little more abundant than the Lutheran church we belong to.

Yep, Nebraska- only state in the lower 50 without a primary north-south interstate.