2023.02.25 Reflections of Farm Life

Puzzle: https://jigex.com/rXhio

Strange: Out of 7 horses, the one on the ladies buggy is just about the only unhappy one. Maybe the one on the left also.
Excellent photo of 5 happy horses!
My sister bought an Arabian riding horse when we were young.
Angry, didn't like the other horses and very fast. Surprise! As she took off across the field! Hang on sis. 8)

And just how in a 75 year old picture do you tell a happy horse from an unhappy one? Curious since I never was around horses and don't really wish to be.

My guess is the horse on the buggy didnt like the big
flash from the camera and pinned his/her ears back but
just a guess

I agree that Duey is looking at the ears, but I don't agree with his conclusion.

For the ear lookers. Ive been with horses for a lot of
years. Training was my specialty. That horse is not
unhappy at all. Look close to his right ear. That horse
heard something, my guess the ladies said something
and he is listening for a command. I can tell you just by
watching videos or in person what a horse will do next.

I often sat with my children watching video or movies that
had horses in them. I would point out a lot of watch
what that horse will do next. See that. I taught my
children that to know a horse is to be one with them and
you must be able to read the signs. A horse with a burr
under his saddle does not act like a bronc, but can do the
same thing. Watch horse jumping and pay attention to
the horse and you can see what horse will miss the next
jump and if you look close and rewind you can sometimes
see exactly what the rider did to tick him off.

The cows don't seem to care, one way or the other.

Butch

The cows don't seem to care, one way or the other.

Butch

I have been watching the ears of cows for years, and there is a world of difference between a happy cows ears, a mad cows ears or a sick cows ears. I have never worked with horses, but I understand completely what you are saying. And folks think that their computers and cell phones are listening to them, lol.

I'm curious, what's with the 'draperies' hanging from the forward horses? The two in the back are the only ones without them. ...Keep flies away? Keep horses a little warmer?

Fly nets to keep flies away

I think it s funny how it is assumed that the horse is unhappy yet all 3 guys in the picture look miserable!!!!

This picture must be before tractors arrived on farms. What is the estimated date picture was taken or when did tractors arrive on farms.

I'd say mid 1920's or earlier.

I was born in 1934, and when I was a toddler my father had a Fordson tractor and horses, both.

During the Depression and drouth in the late '30s a particular government farm financing program required my Dad to farm with horses. (Typical government).

Tractors were available in the early 1900's, from say the teens on. Earlier than that actually, but not enough to really count.

I think the real question your asking, is when did tractors become common (everybody seemed to have one) on the farm. And the answer to that is, much later than the teens. Some people were known to still be farming with horses up into the 40's and 50's. By the early to mid 50's, horse drawn farming was nearly completely phased out.

So between the teens and the 50's, tractors become more and more the norm. The 30's brought about a big delay to the onset. Many people couldn't afford a tractor during that time frame, if they didn't already have one.

As for the time frame of this picture, I'd date it before 1910 or 15. Apparently they didn't have an automobile either, or they would of for sure had it in the picture instead of the buggy. Many people got an automobile before a tractor. And I'm just going by this photo not having either a tractor or automobile.

For what it's worth, people who wanted a tractor and could afford one, probably had one by the time the 30's hit. But I think it's fair to say, many many people didn't fit into that category. Had yet to get a tractor when the bad years hit. If I had to throw a number at it, I'd guess probably about half the farms had a tractor on it by 1930.

Tractors really started becoming numerous around here (Central Siberia) when Fordsons came about in 1917. Almost every farm around had one. $750. Cost to produce one was $567.14. A government study concluded that it cost .95c per acre plowing with one vs $1.46 per acre with horses. 552,799 of them made. Horses remained on many farms as companion prime movers. I remember cultivating corn with a tractor mounted cultivator and my grandfather with a horse drawn sulky cultivator on opposite sides of the
same field. I would always beat him to the middle but sometimes not by much. Ford bowed out of tractor making in the late 20s but came back with a vengence in 1939 with the famous 9N and its Ferguson System. By that time many other manufacturures had entered the market. Sales were huge, only slowed by WWII. After the war, horses all but disappeared from farm fields.

Years ago a person would come around selling pictures he took from a plane of Dad's farm, and probably other farms. Dad bought a picture, of his farm
buildings. This is probably what is going on here also, Someone going around in a buggy taking pictures, and selling them. Where are the kids? I doubt no one had a camera setting around ready to take a picture. I wonder if the white horse and buggy, is like going to town in a
Cadillac back then. Stan

Here is my grandfather mowing somewhere around 1940. His helper was my uncle who didn't live on the farm then but visited frequently. He could make the trip quickly even though it was 200 miles.

Look carefully in the background.


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A story about my grandfather and his family

Thomas and Sarah Seaborn immigrated to Wisconsin
from England in the 1800s They were told by family that
were in Wisconsin that everything was fine and that they
should come over. When they got to Delafield. They
found to many people in a to small cabin. This was the
area on the west end of Pewaukee Lake that is now a
county park. Thomass family ended up living in a leanto
on a rock. There was a crack in the rock that they used
for a chimney. They spent the winter there while they
built a cabin. The chimney for their cabin stood in a field
until the county did landscaping in the park. The family
besides Thomas and Sarah included Joesph, Robert and
four sisters. Thomas had been put off his land for
poaching the kings deer forcing the move to America.
Thomas would still hunt deer but would hide the kill and
have the boys get it later He was able to butcher the
deer with an axe The cabin was near an old Indian foot
path and they saw them from time to time The boys
found arrowheads so they made bows and arrows and
shot them at the barn. Joesph left Delafield after a
disagreement over the division of property. Joesph
bought the John Muir farm in the town of Lisbon. The
Muir family had lost people because of illness and there
werent enough people to carry on. There was 160 acres.
The only cleared fields were on either side of the house.
The house was a grout house , a combination of stone
and concrete poured in forms. The barn was built on the
ground with no basement Stephen Seaborn was home
schooled by his mother Susan. When it was time for high
school Stephen went to Carroll Academy at Carroll
College in Waukesha. He sometimes road his bike and
sometimes took the train. Stephen played football ball
there. At a game in Milton the field was a corn field! The
team left a muddy mess in the hotel room that had been
rented for a locker room

At some point the older son Floyd went out to California
for his health

He didnt stay in California going north to Washington
where he caught pneumonia and died. That left Stephen
to run the farm with his dad They farmed with horses
that were retired fire department horses. Those teams
were well trained. Joesph had dropsey, when he had a
spell and passed out the team felt the slack reins and
would stop. The only time the team scared them was
when they were going to a neighbors barn fire. When the
horses saw the flames they broke into a run. They didnt
think that the hay rack would make the driveway but they
did and the team stopped by the fire Stephen bought
some of the first tractors. He had a Bull tractor that had
one drive wheel. A 6-12 Allis Chalmers that was
designed to use the old horse implements The Bates
Steel Mule was a half track that was suited to marsh
ground. For moving stuff they had wagons. The trip to
the market in downtown Milwaukee used to be an
overnight trip. Stephen didnt like the money his dad
spent at the saloon so he decided to make the trip in one
day. Everyone told him that it couldnt be done. He
loaded the day before and left before dawn on market
day He made it home that night. Later he had a model
TT Ford , a model AA Ford and a 1935 V8 Ford. For his
tractor he got a McCormick Deering 15-30 that he kept in
to the 50s. The farm store by the feed mill in Sussex was
the McCormick Deering dealer. The 15-30 was powerful
enough to pull a disc , a grain drill and a drag. Again he
was told that it wouldnt work. He said that he didnt have
the time to go over the field three times. Stephen was
able to buy two 80 acre farms from the Gilmores. One to
the south and one to the west. That made the farm 319
acres. The missing acre was donated to the Lisbon
Central Cemetery Stephen built his house in 1906 the
same year he married Edith Rankin. Later after his dad
died he built a house on Mary Hill Road for his mom. The
house was a package deal ordered from Sears and
Roebuck. He also built a barn near there for sheep.
Stephen semiretired in 1938 having gone partners with
Fredrick Meissner There was an auction and the horses
and surplus equipment were sold. Improvements were
made to the farm made. Two large corn cribs were built
with lumber salvaged from Bob Stiers barn. A central
power pole was installed to distribute the power to the
buildings. A new well was drilled to replace the tainted
well. When the dairies went to bulk milk a new milk house
was built. The roof from the old milk house became the
start of our playhouse. Stephen sold the farm to
Meissners it n 1958 claiming that paying taxes was giving
him an ulcer

Hard to see it... but your uncle flew
in.