(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Just a nosey question

M

Minnie Mo John 2

Member
How many of you grew up on a farm where horses were use? My dad did not buy his first tractor until I left the farm and joined the Navy. 1951 and Korean War. I did not want to live in the dirt. What is the biggest team you have driven? I drove eight to pull a three bottom plow. Not easy and difficult to turn. I did not return to the farm. Worked forty years with telephones.
John
 
Dad used horses till 53, then bought a 36 JD B, but kept the team for raking hay and pulling the wagon for picking corn, by hand.
 
We fed during the winter with horses and raked hay with dump rakes with horses during the summer. We quit using them in about the mid '70's.
 
Not me, my dad positively hated horses. He grew up with them, said the worst day of his working life was cultivating corn behind a horse on a hill side. In fact he hated it when I turned my horse boarding business over to him.
 
We had tractors on the farm, but my dad thought every boy should know how to plow a mule. Ours was named Liza Jane. She could let the stink-in-est alfalfa f--ts known to man. When I would have to cultivate corn with her and she would let one rip, I'd get a dirt clod and smack her in the a$$ (no punt intended). After awhile of this she would f--t then remember what she had done and would jump straight up, I thought it was great stuff. One day daddy was plowing some corn and I was hoeing, when he came back the next row the comment was made that our mule had gone crazy, she f--ted and jumped three rows of corn. Never did mention to him what the problem might have been.
 
Was caught by the thought police and had do do some re-work on my post so that it would be clean enough for the FAMILY FARM readers. What is this world coming too in the name of political correctness?
 

Had 2 mules named Kit and Kate when I was small. Before I started Daddy would let me ride with him on the wagon taking cotton to the gin. After they died daddy got a horse and didn't replace it when it died. Realized it took an acre of corn to feed the horse, we had stopped growing cotton, and could use a tractor for other things.

KEH
 
Have to go back into the 1950's to find a working team on the farm. Dad likes horses so always been a few on the farm since then, but mostly just to look at and burn hay. He will occasionally ride one, and has had a driving team or two over the past 20 years. Next door neighbor still uses horse power for everything except baling. He has a WD with a roto-baler for that. Otherwise mowing, raking, hauling hay, manure spreader, firewood, etc. are all done with a team. Used to have 3-4 working teams, but he only has 3 draft horses left. Others died of old age. He's in his 70's and not the greatest health so I imagine these three will be the last.
 
M Nut, we might have had the same father. One of my early memories was him plowing the garden with Tom and Jerry. Don't remember him doing anything else with them, and I imagine he sold them in '52 to raise money to buy the 8N. We always had some horses around, and he couldn't resist a cheap horse, so we all learned to ride on one renegade or another.

He got into driving after he retired, and once he wanted to take 3 outfits to the "Tugs and Hames" meet, about 3 miles from his house. He and my wife and I each drove a rig. Dad had the flashiest horse, of course, and he got out ahead of us on the way home. Trouble was, the horses my wife and I were driving were a little over fat and under fit- hers, especially. Finally got to the point where hers refused to continue, about a half mile from home. We found that he would lead, so I got ahead of her, tied him to the back of my buggy with a 20 foot rope, and "towed" him home. Still remember my dad on the porch, roaring with laughter, as my much smaller horse towed Roly Poly down the driveway.
 
Minnie MO John 2: Good topic you started...I've enjoyed reading these & sure more to follow! :lol:
 
Learned to drive a vehicle with a clutch (tractor) back in the early 60's - then them dang horses showed up about 4-5 years ago. Still can't figure them out!

Whoops, guess I'm going the wrong way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Increasing usefulness of a Model A?
Replies
17
Views
863
Fordy20
F
crsutton81
Saturday tractor show pictures
Replies
9
Views
503
crsutton81
crsutton81
D
You have a new JD convert. I'm gonna need some on-going advice
2 3
Replies
41
Views
2K
Poppy Johnny
Poppy Johnny
P
RIP
2 3
Replies
41
Views
3K
dcarp
dcarp
Ultradog MN
Driving tractors as a kid
2 3
Replies
41
Views
3K
chucksoliver77
C
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top