Machine Shows: Ready for Farm Hack?
Photo by Cathy Stanton – http://historyatthetable.blogspot.com/
Collectors and preservationists in organizations such as the International Harvester Collector Club acquire old tractors, keeping the machines in working order and preserving the knowledge of how to do so. What if farmers actually started using these tractors? In her blog History at the Table , Cathy Stanton points out the untapped potential of these skilled mechanics. Instead of looking at old tractors as only a demonstration of past technologies and ways of living, we could be using the valuable tools and knowledge demonstrated at these shows for practical use.
Lots of other great posts in Cathy’s blog of relevance to Farm Hackers!
Cathy, I agree.
For 20 years I own and operate a small farm with Farmall, or, we Farm All with 2 Farmall tractors. Few of these grand working machines are currently used as utility farm tractors. Some mechanical help is available, but much is do it yourself without a mentor or suggestion.
I am constantly amazed and their robust reliability, and year after year starting and working strength.
Members, who are small farmers of organizations, as PASA and NOFA NY, like myself, would love a ‘look what I can do’ illustrated blogs using small farm techniques of tilling, cultivating, transplanting, mowing, haying, harvesting and preparing crops for marketing.
After decades of ‘get big or get out’ of farming coming from backward, county, extension offices,
we’d like some good old American ‘we can do it’ too show offs.
Hal
My 1950 Allis Chalmers CA is my only farm tractor and is used frequently. I have recently begun farming full time and after much deliberation about new big hydrostat etc. i kept coming back to the durability, ease of repair and savings of the older tractors that most have restored and put away. I grow vegetables on about 4 acres and use it for everything.They do not build tractors like they used too and there is a sense of satisfaction keeping a piece of history working. I wish my tractor could talk. I bet it could tell some stories.
Matt
To the writer of the Post,
I am a 5th generation \"real\" farmer, in my 20\’s, and working with my uncle on the homestead of 500+ acres and ~100 milking Holsteins in Central Wisconsin. My great grandfather bought a 1946 Farmall H brand new, and it hasn\’t been off the farm overnight in 50 years. We use that tractor between once a week to once a day. My uncle also owns 5 John Deere New Generations tractors (3010, 3020, 4010, 4010, 4020) none of them newer than 1968, and at least 2 are used each day!
Old iron is a great way for the small-acerage farmers to get real work done, as that is what it was designed for in the first place.
But with old iron comes old problems, mainly safety and usefulness.
That old machine, regardless of the color, can kill you instantly if you are not careful. Starting the tractor is a prime example. Many have been converted to electric start, or came with electric start, and if left in gear the jolt can throw the operator off or run them over if started on the ground. All old tractors never had roll bars or roll-over protection. If not maintained properly, or driven recklessly, old parts can fail and have disastrous results.
Then there is the usefulness aspect. The cost-per-acre of using the 46 Farmall H is about three times as much as the newer tractors we use for tillage and harvest. That 46 H could plant corn, but it would take about 10 times as long and use about 5 times as much fuel per acre.
In reality, if someone wants to farm a small plot, do it! ENJOY it! Though that old tractor may look like the right machine for the job, there are many newer, safer, and more economical machines and implements out there.
Heck, if you really want to feel useful, start with slowing urban sprawl .
Nice to read this feedback on my blog post here – thanks, all.
wbrook_ford, I appreciate your point that there were usually good reasons why people moved *away* from older technologies, something that’s easy to forget once things are old enough to have a nostalgic appeal. The bigger question to ask, I guess, is, “What’s the right tool for this job?”, taking into account that “rightness” may mean weighing questions of safety, speed, energy efficiency, scale, and perhaps personal/aesthetic preferences. No easy answers there, as with anything to do with farming!