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How old were you?

L

Lazy WP

Well-known Member
How old were you when the first time you drove a tractor? I must have been 3. Was a SC Case. Couldn?t pull the hand clutch so Dad had me driving it with my foot against it. He was pitching hay off the hay sled.
 
I was 7 when I drove it by myself.

Was 8 when I started plowing a few hours at a time, IHC 300 and 2 bottom Oliver trip plow.

Earlier I mighta held a wheel or moved a shifter or some such, in dads lap.

Paul
 
My first tractor was a Farmall B with wooden blocks on pedals so I could reach them . I was about six for tractor but drove a 1934 Ford 1 1/2 truck picking up bales of hay out of field before that.
 
I was six when I drove dads Case V A C pulling a 22 foot Kewanee harrow.It was "War Time" tractor.clint
 
Drove a hay wagon for throwing up hay at 7. Took the BIG leap to disk with a Farmall H and JD KBA disk at 12. Mowed my first hay at 12 in vines and honeysuckles--did not go well :)
 
Starred baling straw at 8 years old with the 4020
And new Holland 283 baler did that through high school
 

I was about 13 when we moved to a farm. First tractor to drive was a Farmall Cub. My youngest brother was 4 when he climbed on it, started it and took off down the road. Dad saw him and took off after him in the truck, got him turned around and followed him home. We thought it was pretty funny.
 
Started on our case 830com first, then the Ford jubilee at 5 years old. Missed my first day of school for farm work in 5th grade.
 
I think I was about 10 years old. That was along time ago. It was a 40B JD that my grandfather bought at my dads estate auction and continued to use it until 1980 when they had his estate auction. At the time of that auction I didn't have enough brains to buy it and keep it in the family. However I did buy a 40B a couple of years ago that I drive in tractor parades and do a little food plot plowing. Not quite the same as my dads but what the heck!
 
Probably 5-6 , really just steering the tractor down the field, and turning and going back to the other end , while my brothers, 10 , 13 , and 15 years older than me loaded hay bales on the wagon. Ya , I was the only one on the tractor, but my older brothers were in full control, lol. By the time I was 8 I was cultivating or harrowing while dad planted grain. By the ripe old age of 13 , I was hired out to the neighbors to cut , rake and bale hay.
 
I started driving lawn mowers by myself when I was 3. And I drove a tractor by myself when I was 10, TO-20 Ferguson pulling a stone boat.
 
Somewhere around 7-9 with a Massey-Harris 44 and 12 foot disc. Started plowing with D-4 cat about 11. Neighbors would call over to dads ask who was that little kid out there running that big tractor when plowing. We got a good laugh out of it.
 
At 7 I was pulling a wagon filled with bagged seed to keep up with the planter,that was our TO-20. By 12 I did most of the ground prep, and dad planted after he got home from work for the state of MO. I would have the sprayer filled and ready,as soon as the field was planted, it was sprayed before we went to bed that night.
 
About 4 or 5, learned on my dad's 39 J.D. B pulling the wagon and hayloader. My dad and older brother were on the wagon. Had 3 sets of slings. Only tractor my dad ever had. 1949 or 50.
 
About 5 on dad's MF 65 gas. Did drive the IH Farmall 350 diesel on the MF baler a lot too while dad loaded. One Saturday late afternoon The baler was acting up with twine issues, testing dad's patience. I REALLY tested it when I yanked on the PTO lever on the 350 and exploded a universal joint...
 
7 when I was turned loose, solo, on a CASE L tractor pulling a 16' Case spring tooth harrow. It had a hand clutch that pulled back to engage. Wrapped both hands around lever and pulled back to get going. When I needed to stop, I grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and used my leg to disengage the clutch.
Loren
 
I was 6 and my dad gave me instructions on the 1010 JD with a 3 point Ferguson drag. Already close to 50 years ago.
 
Probably around 7, was that old when dad bought the new WD Allis. Traded in a CC Case and no memory of driving it. Drove the IH pickup feeding cows. When dad said stop, was about under the steering wheel looking at blue sky to reach the clutch pedal.
 
Around 7 - Dad had me driving a W9 on a baler. I couldn't reach the peddles and probably couldn't have pushed them if I could. He started it going and went back to the wagon to load so all I had to do was steer and I didn't even do a good job of that - we were all over the place. Shortly after that he bought an A tractor and I ran that thing all over the place.
 
I was 6 when I was driving a Ford pulling a hay rack that my Dad and Uncle were loading small bales of prairie hay on that had been dropped on the ground by the square baler.
I did a lot of driving after that, mainly with my Dad riding on the fender or sitting in the truck. When I was 10, I got to disc wheat stubble by myself with a JD 5020 and 20' disc. I can remember like it was yesterday. I was thinking all day that when I had Grandkids I could tell them I was in the field by myself at 10 years old.
I drove a 2 ton loaded with wheat to the elevator when I was 13. Like a lot of other kids, we farmed about 1500 acres and I was considered slave labor..lol! My Dad would have been hauled to jail today..lol!
 
5 years old on a 51 8N that I still have, dragging the farm yard with an old 4 section harrow set up 2 wide and 2 deep. I think Dad had the smoothest yard around and he got tired of me asking to run that tractor sometimes. Around 6 he cut me loose harrowing the fields at planting time with the 'good harrow' and I was really in heaven then.
 
First time ever driving I was six and setting on the hired hands lap pulling an IH silage wagon with a 2040 John Deere. I still remember him telling me I was hitting every hole in the lane. One year latter Dad put me on the square baler while he stacked on the wagon. He would jump off and turn into the next windrow at field ends. Tom
 
Not sure how old when I drove by myself. Dad had hog self feeders in the barn yard and as soon as I could push the clutch down and let it out easy he had me drive thru the gates to keep live stock from getting out. I started fitting ground on one tractor with him in the same field on another when I was 8. I spent a lot of time riding on the tractor with dad very young as the pictures Mom took shows.
 
F-12 on steel to a farm sale, Dad got it moving and followed me and then got on and stopped it at 7 yrs. old. Started working the JD D at 10 plowing and disking, about 12 yrs. old in picture.
cvphoto14234.jpg
 
About 5, Dad was clearing thorn trees with the BR. He would wrap the cain around the tree, give me the go sign I could snap the clutch in, go 6ft, snap the clutch back. When we were going to the house for dinner Dad advised me against telling Mom what I was doing. That was 53 years ago.....seems like last summer.
Still have the BR
 
I was 5-6 steering Dads new Zetor 4911 picking rock. Our ?big? tractor back then was a Massey 1085 and our loader was a 2wd Massey 165. Dad traded a Farmall MD in on the Zetor.
 
About 13. Used neighbors cub to cut his pasture so we could keep a couple ponies there. Good swap. 1st tractor I owned..,I was 45 or so. Just been playing with old tractors for a couple years.
 
My Father added 2" X 4" blocks to the 8-N Clutch pedal....6 years of age ??

My legs were not 34" inseam yet!


Bob...
 
SMS
Same for me but it was a Ford 8N. Dad was pitching hay from the hay rack and I just turned the steering wheel the way dad pointed when I was about 3 years old.
 
Thinking back, about 8 years old, but an easy tractor to learn on, '64 Ford 4000 S-O-S. Did a lot of rotary mower work, and baled with a 532 Ford baler, can remember trying to keep the baler lined up correctly with the wind row of hay.
 
about 6 or 7 I was driving the W6 for picking rocks. I could not push the clutch in so dad said just push the stop button every time we had to stop. he had it in low gear and then when it was time to move I just stepped on the starter and it would start and be going. then at about 8 or 9 I was discing with the W6 and a 10 ft J.D. drag disc. then in 1967 dad bought a 560 and I was 10 years old and was discing with it. I thought boy this is a nice tractor.
 
i was 8 pulled blower pipe with a farmall 200. next year was the hay rope with the M. the summer i was 10 i picked up grain from the combines with the trucks. couldnt reach the clutch or brake so turned the key on to start and stop. pulled the hand throttle out to go faster.
 
6 or 7 when I drove my dad's JD M for any length of time. At 10, my older brother and I did almost all the field work on a MH 30 and 44.

Ben
 
4 almost 5 minnie mo Z. In the fall dad was pickin corn with the ole 77 ollie and mounted picker. RB
 
In between second and third grade I put up all of the second cutting of Alfalfa. Mowed raked and stacked the hay myself.
I did more tractor work before my teenage years then most people do most of their lives. Maybe
 
About 6 steering a Super H if I had to stop, i shut it off. Picking up hay bales. 80-90 pounders from a Case hand wire tie. Jim
 
about 8 or 9 from what I remember, dad had a pull type combine and when he wanted to bag wheat I was the startstop person on the tractor clutch, MF-135 pulling a JD25 combine.
 
I was in elementary school when dad set the stabilizers down, set the throttle, and said that I know what the levers do, dig some gravel loose while he hauled this load. Probably 3rd grade.

Wasn't long til I figured out I could have the bucket filled waiting on him if I saw him coming back through the barnyard.

I think the 4 stick Ford backhoe controls were swing, lift, bucket, stick. That 555a got traded on a late 2-stick 555b fwa when I was in 6th or 7th grade. That one I could extend the hoe and balance on the back wheels, and drive through mud to the 580 sm to pull dad through the mud while digging field tile.

First tractor I ran regularly was the B with the 16 hayrake in 5th grade. Graduated to the 300 and SM the next summer. In 95 we got a CIH 4240 with a sunshade, we were supposed to rotate between it and the old tractors to get out of the sun. I started on it one day, swapped with my cousin onto the 300, and wouldn't give it back. The sun wasn't as hot as the heat off the engine with the transmission between my knees.
 
Well driving the tractor would have been 6-7 year old while picking up hay bales. JD "B". I could work the hand clutch and right brake by standing beside the steering wheel.

Earlier would have been riding a work horse while picking up corn shocks. 4-5. I was not in school yet. I really was not doing anything. The horse was broke to voice commands by my Grand Father. Mom told me years later it was more to keep me out of the way while they worked. LOL That busted that balloon of importance. LOL
 
I was relegated to the little 8N when I was about 7. I wasn?t heavy enough to get the clutch in so I would have to drive standing up and jump on it. We had a loader on the little thing. That seemed impossible to steer. I did a lot of mowing with it at the home pasture in the days before we knew what an over running clutch was. It scares me to think about it now. To this day I can make the little 8N I have do just about anything.

I didn?t graduate up to the field tractors (IH856) until I was about 9. Disking all of the wheat stubble was my job every morning. When it was dry enough to start cutting my job was the grain cart with the Farmall H. I almost didn?t have enough strength to get the old 8 horse Briggs started on the auger. The knot on the end of the starter rope always clobbered me because I had to stand on a bucket to reach the engine and then jump off to pull the rope and start it. Graduated to driving truck to town when I turned 12.

The tractors we had didn?t have any comforts so you were always alert and aware. I?m not sure I would turn a young me lose with my field tractors now. They are too modern and you can forget about the power you are harnessing. I sure wouldn?t put a kid on my articulated tractor.
 
Around 9 or 10 dad bought 8N drove from field to house. It soon got replaced with a 430 Case in about 64 cause 8N wouldn't pull Case 140W baler. Drove many hours till sold out in spring of 1971.
 
We had a D and an F-14. Still have the 14. Dad sold the D to a collector, and when the collection was sold off his D went to Belgium.
 
About 6, John Deere 50 slinging chicken litter on pastures, within a year or two I could line the Oliver Super 77 up with the hammermill.
 
Alone....about 5 or 6......JD 620 with hand clutch.....dad would get off to open hog lot gates and I was to drive through so he didn't have to get on and off and could keep the hogs from getting out. I wasn't big enough to be the one to open the gates as they were home made wooden gates and were not in hinges.

By age 8 or so, I was raking hay by myself.

About the same time, I started driving the pickup.....a '52 Ford 3/4 ton......he would load it with hay for the cows.....get it in the pasture, tell me what direction he wanted me to go and I'd take off driving and he would get on the back to kick the bales off.

First thing I ever remember driving with help was a brand new 57' Chevy with my grandfather. I was only 3 and was standing on his lap steering......pinballed my way up the lane, hitting both ditches at least 3 times before we got to the top of the driveway. Same car he died in a few years later when a drunk hit him head on coming home from town one night.
 
BTW, most impressive thing I've seen lately was a few years back.....was in Amish community about 4 PM.......looked up to see a team of Belgians....each horse about 1 ton..... trotting towards me......no driver? Then they passed......it turns out they did have a driver.....a kid about 4 or 5 years old. Had a set of reins on both hands......horses were trotting and he was running to keep up. Nearest house was at least 1/4 mile away. I'm sure team was broke pretty good....but still. :shock:
 
I was five when I started driving our 41 john deere B. By six I was plowing the fields with a 2x12 trip plow Had to use both hands to pop the clutch out.
 
All alone would have been 5 or 6 on the Farmall Super C , I remember having to slide forward off the seat just to reach the pedals.
 
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