100 years ago. In east-central Wisconsin, the fields were about 30 years old after having been covered with dense white pine forests when the settlers first arrived. Ours was logged off by two brothers from upstate New York. Logging and lumber products gave way to potatoes and dairy cows and then mostly dairy, hogs and poultry, all of which burned corn. Different varieties of corn were tried, in many cases being planted with hand planters but corn planters were becoming the machine of choice and, in our neighborhood, there were very few check row planters. most corn was hill dropped, meaning that the planter would drop 3 or 4 kernels at once. Cultivation was at first performed with walk-behind horse-drawn cultivators but sulky cultivators soon followed. Further weeding in between the plants was accomplished, in many cases, by the whole family plus hired men with hand hoes. Hill dropping made weeding in this manner easier. Harvesting the corn depended on whether the corn was being picked ripe or put up for silage. We put up our first silo in 1911. Poured concrete 12 x 30. Corn for the silo was, in the first few years, cut by hand with corn knives, tied into bundles using a cornstalk as a tie wrap and hauled to the silo to be chopped and put into the silo. Corn to be picked ripe would be cut later in the season and shocked up. Then a big corn bee was held, sometimes in the fall moonlight, and the shocks would be broken apart, the ears removed and thrown onto wagons and hauled to the corn crib. The remaining stalks would be loaded onto wagons and cut up using a stalk cutter and used for bedding. A lot of shoveling involved. Not suprisingly, corn planters, corn binders, tractors with mounted cultivators, etc. became popular. One variety of corn that became a favorite with silage growers was Leaming Fodder corn. Exceptionally tall (not good in strong winds, some called it "leaning fodder corn") but otherwise very hardy with large ears. In those years, there was no shortage of manpower.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo and video filesizes should be less than 5MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
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. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Talk of the Town: The Saga of Grandpa's Tractor - by The following saga is from the Tractor Talk Discussion Forum. Someone. The saga starts with the following message: Hey guys I have a decision to make. I know what you all will probably suggest and it will probably agree with me way down inside, but here it is. I have a picture blown up and framed in my "tractor room" of a Farmall M. It was my Grandpa's tractor, of which whom I never got to meet. He froze to death getting this tractor out of the barn to pull a truck out of the ditch before I was born. Anyway my dad and aunt had to sell it at the auction,
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
Sell 1958 Hi-Altitude Massey Fergerson tractor, original condition. three point hitch pto engine, Runs well, photos available upon request
[More Ads]
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.
