B T O way back when...

What was a BTO back in the day there's always talk about today's ones. Also what did the BTO use way back when or how much they farm. My earliest memories are of the 80's one of dads renters had a 2-150 same one some Oliver with a Detroit motor I remember the sound a differnt one had an 2-105. I also remember the little guys with ther picker sheller and one with a two row combine.

When I was a little guy back in the early 80s there were 2 brothers who milked cows and farmed everything they could get their hands on. They ran whites and Olivers. Some if their bragging points for back in the day were: they were the first to no-till, first to use all bulk inputs (seed tender built from gravity box, hauled fertilizer in a triaxle, had their own lime truck) they were the first to milk over 100 cows, first guys with fwa tractor ( 2-180) and the first guys to ship 10000 lbs of milk in 1 pickup. Their run was short lived like must b.t.os the cows were gone in the early 90s and the only thing left of their farming operation was debt.

It would be the biggest tractors and implements made in the 1970s and early 80s, as that's when things went bust the last time.

What goes around comes around, the USDA grain report an hour ago was not friendly to grain farmers, oh boy.

Paul

When people began to homestead and settle in ND, some people with money bought up lots of land from the railroads that the government had given them to sell to raise funds to build the railroad.

After the Sioux uprising in southern, MN, the MN Guard ushered the Indians through half of ND territory to the reservation at Devils Lake, ND. The government had no money so they paid the guardsmen in script that they could use to buy land in ND. The guardsmen were already established farmers in southern MN, so they had no use for the script. Two brothers in the Guard bought up the script for 5 cents on the dollar and bought large tracts of land.

A friend of my grandpa worked for them. There was no large equipment, so they had a lot of horse drawn equipment, men and horses and mules. The men would leave the headquarters farm early in the morning with their team and plow - and plow 5 miles straight south and 5 miles back. That took all morning; in the afternoon they made another round and 20 miles was the limit a horse in those days.

My mother recalled another Bonanza farm moving 100 binders and teams by her Dad's place to another farm. Most of the Bonanza farms failed for various reasons. The one that our friend worked for went under because the brothers gambled on the grain exchange until they lost all but 480 acres of the land. Some of the Bonanza farms hung on until the depression of the 1930's. There was so much equipment to sell and so little money in the hands of the smaller farmers, the bankers used to stash jugs of whiskey around the farmyard the day(s) of the auction to get farmers to bid on the equipment. Must have been a sight to behold.

There is a book titled: "The Day of the Bonanza" that may still be available if you are interested in reading about them.

My great grandpa homestead here in 1910. During the first few years he worked at the what you would call "BTO" ranch/farm just north of us. The guy ran thousands of sheep over thousands of acres, had his own steam tractor and threshing machine, broke sod for everyone and had lots of hired hands. He encouraged his hired hands to take up homesteads so that when they failed (and a lot of them did) he could come in and swoop it up. That never happened to us but the ranch changed hands a few more times. The last guys that owned it bought a Wagner TR 24 tractor in 1960. For you guys that don't know what that is, its a 300 hp four wheel drive articulated tractor. Google up "wagner tractors". Everybody else at the time including us were putzing around with JD 830s, IH WD9s, Case 500s, and D6 and TD 14A crawlers. So that tractor set the neighborhood on fire when they bought it. They farmed until 1991 when they sold out and us and two neighbors split the place.

Guess it depends on what men did with their lives. An old friend of mine, who was killed in a tractor accident about thirty years ago, milked about 80 cows, planted and harvested tomatoes and corn on every acre he could find, and ran 6 or 8 miles from his farm was considered a BTO back in the fifties. His father and three brothers all had farms, and two of them still survive and farm with sons, and SIL's. Cliff was like another father to me in many ways, and has guided me in what I do with my life. He was in the fire company; he was a Mason; he didn't spend too much time sitting. Even though he died early, his legacy survives. His brother bought his farm after some years, and it is still one of the premier places in our region. He is now gone, but his SIL and grandchildren still are about the biggest operation for many miles. Another brother and his son are famous for the embryos they ship to Japan and Europe. Cliff had an RC Case at one time and a bunch of A JD's. He also bought an S88 diesel, one of the first around here. His death was caused by an 806- about the biggest one around at the time. But, he and his hands covered a lot of ground with the machinery they had. A 237 picker on an A, and an old Diamond T-Reo. He was color blind- his gear came in a vast assortment. Thinking about him makes me sad there are few like him today....

A BTO is anyone who has more than you do.

The perfect definition.

No I more accurate definition of a b.t.o is a guy who is substantially bigger than most of the other farmers in your neighborhood. Also the classic bto does it with a certain attitude.

That is a gripe of mine with farming and other industries. The price what you get, and how much you are projected to get for a crop is broadcast to everyone. Then most people know if you are going to have a good year or a not so good year. That rarely happens with other businesses. Their costs and prices aren't made known to the public like farming is.

The author of that book is still living in (I think) the Moorhead, MN area. Name is Hiram Drache and he owned (maybe still owns) a farm in that area. I think he was a professor of history a Concordia College in Moorhead.

you seem to be describinbg any of my Dads great uncles ..,there were 8 brothers with a God fearing set of parents that taught them by example ...,my dad was the same age as the youngr side ..boy they were apower to be rekoned with ,, equipment was one thing .. I think the key ingredient that was most important for a BTO back 50 yrs ago ,, was being able to get the very best out of everyone with a smile and to work productively , and at the end of the day , give appreciation for a job well done ,.. most the time by sharing the fruits of the labor of the day along with some labor dollars ,,. be it green beans ;potatos or sausage,, also very important was treating all with respect ,,be it the neighbor farmer who was also a senator ,, or the lowliest blak fella helping sack up potatos and clean out the pig pens ,..still important today , but some BTO ignore them on the grounds that they can roll over anyone that gets in their way ,. on the contrary ,,. it was very evident that my dad and his great uncles practiced life well by the amount of folx that come out to their funerals and told their heart warming stories of them ..

I guess they would have been considered BTO's in the late 60's and early 70's. Had neighbors that milked a bit over 100 cows, father and two sons, rented land probably 25 mile radius. farmed with 2 D-17's and 2 WD-45's. never considered them BTO's because they didn't have the attitude.

In my days on the farm in the '60,s it was the man and his father 2 mi. down the road with a sizable beef operation. They bought two brand new Ford 6000 Comanders and two 4btm plows and paid more for rent on land than anyone else around "BTO"? In the '70,s it was another cash crop farmer (who is still one of the biggest BTO,s around here)who buys/leases two of the biggest 4x4 every two yrs. Started with Case in '70,s but now switches every two yrs between Case/IH and JD. Does the same with two largest combines. Another in the '60,s had 3 4020,s...big time for then.We thought we were pretty good with two 830 Cases..whooo hooo!

We had a guy here back in the 70's who was old school and considered a BTO. He was a jerk and most people didn't care for him at all. He died early right around 80/81 of cancer. His widow died 2 years ago now to give you an idea of how old he was. At the same time another guy was a BTO of the era for our area and although he was a task master he paid fair and on time. Got on well with others and wasn't above helping people out. Yet people still didn't like him much because he had what they wanted. And he got it all through hard work and being frugal. But the smaller guys were green with envy. Yet let one of them get sick and he was the first one there to see if they needed anything. He was cropping about 750 acres, running 100 or so head of beef and milking 40 cows. I knew him well. He was my BIL's dad. He died of cancer about the same time the other guy did. To big for the day farmers, one nice guy the other one not so much.

Rick

There were many "BTOs" throughout the US dating back over 100 years although the term "BTO" is fairly recent. One that comes to mind is Jacob Tanis Sr who came to the US from Holland around 1902 when he was about 5. He started out selling milk from one Guernsey cow, bought his first 40 acre tract at the age of 11, and by WWII (The Big One), was milking 1100 Guernseys and owned about 3400 acres of land. Had his own creamery with a rail siding coming into it where milk was processed and sent on its way. Hired a lot of people to do all this. The big home he put up on his property is a bank today.