Re: wheatland tractors and farming out west, what was it ...

Posted by greenbeanman in Kansas on August 26, 2009 at 20:55:35 from (99.151.42.61):

In Reply to: Re: wheatland tractors and farming out west, what was it ... posted by Ken 46 on August 26, 2009 at 18:24:58:

I lived at Utica in the NW corner of Ness County, and I'm sure you know the corners of Finney & Ness touch.

Almost always we grew wheat and of course grew it on summer fallowed ground. There was always a feed crop for the cattle which was a cane or if you wish a sorghum. Dad's preferred variety is still available today and is Hegari. We used an old McCormick-Deering grain binder to put it into bundles. Dad tried silage, AC Roto baled hay, bucking it, but always went back to bound feed. We often grew winter barley for cattle grain and ground our own feed with an International burr mill driven by flat belt pulley.

Generally boys in my area started operating tractors in the field anywhere from age 7 to age 11. Sort of depended upon the maturity of the boy and how badly they were needed. I had two older brothers so probably didn't start until age 10. I operated the left hand clutch LA Case as I was left handed and also got the short end of the straw. We generally ran two tractors in the same field, The LA Case and the GTB MM. They were fairly well matched for speed and power, but the Case always drank an extra 5 gallons of fuel with both fillings of the day.

In the mid 1960s dad was given the opportunity to rent more land and did so. Because it was terraced, our first, he bought a G-705 MM Wheatland model to take advantage of hydraulics, our first. Expect he was also facing that I was graduating from high school and he might be farming on his own again.

We cut our wheat with a Gleaner Baldwin pull type until late in the 1950s when a used 21a Massey Harris self-propelled was purchased for not much more than salvage price. The old pull combine was traded in on it.

Sometime in the 1960s, probably after the additional land was rented harvest became such a choice time-wise that we began using custom cutters.

After schooling, being drafted & a military stint, I married and in 1970 had the opportunity to rent the extra land dad had rented as he found the terraces too difficult to farm at his age and wanted to slow down. He was 70. I then farmed for 13 years.

I grew weary of high interest rates after they had doubled in a years time and the bank began pushing me for a mortgage on my free and clear land as collateral on cattle, combine, and tractor. After a couple of lean years due to weather the fun of farming was gone and I simply sold out. I made the decision timely and walked away with a lot of money while later other farmers had their farms taken from them. Like I said, it is a good life is you don't weaken. Still not sure after all of these years whether I weakened or simply made an intelligent decision.

I have sold all but one quarter section of land. It was homesteaded by my grandparents, willed to my parents, and willed to me as well. Just three sets of owners since 1886, not too bad.

In reminiscing, the fun implements to pull were our 30' spike-toothed harrow, 20' spring-toothed harrow, a rotary hoe in milo because you got to go so fast, and an old disc harrow we had that was a 21'. The disc was only two gangs which were end to end, not a tandem. Often wonder what brand it was, sort of a reddish color. Discs weren't very large in diameter. Couldn't use it for much as it didn't cut in a great deal. Did its job wonderfully, i.e. disc harrowing and left a nice level seedbed. Dad finally gave it to my uncle as it needed new wooden boxing bushings.

I guess our biggest step up was when we finally gave up disc drills and went to hoe drills which were better for drier conditions.

Dang shame I don't have a photo----the last couple of years I farmed I had Vee fertilizer tanks on my Case 1070 tractor and incorporated it with an 18 foot Sunflower disk. Behind the disk I pulled 16' of JD 9300 hoe drills. As the disk turned corners it tended to pull the drill further into the corners and actually made them smaller than if pulled by a tractor.

FYI--Dad was brought to KS from TN by an aunt and uncle after his mother and father had both died. The year was 1910. He retired from farming in 1986. After retiring he lived another 10 years and died at age 97. Eating KS farmland dust must be good for a person as he never owned a tractor with a cab nor 3 point. RIP Pop, you did good.

Sorry for the length folks, once you get the well primed it tends to keep running.

• Hegari Cane

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