O/T great story Hugh MacKay

My dad was the one that surprised me with horses. My grandfather had imported Western Canadian horses into Nova scotia for use in the forest industry. For the most part these were wild horses. Dad saw that was coming to an end and went into the dairy business. He farmed first with 5 horses and a Fordson. I asked him once about the Fordson. He said it just created work for the horses tow starting. In 42 the year I was born he trade the Fordson off for a new W4. Got rid of 3 horses at the same time. He went to an H with a loader in 51 then a wee Cub with a C-22 mower. They sold that last team of horses. There were a couple of teary eyed men around that day. A farm that once had 30 odd horse stalls and not a horse left.

Now another humorous one about Mort. Mort was a one horse farmer and had one good horse. If some job came along needing a team, Mort would go out and buy some old broken winded nag. Mort got a job hauling freight some 15 miles from the nearest railway station. Mort's good horse was just a bit fast for the old nag. When he pulled in to the railway station with one fast and one slow horse, a few young lads started poking fun about his slow horse. Mort said, " OOOOO HH, he's not bad, only got behind by 4 feet in 11 miles."

Tim

1952 that last team of horses complete with all the harness and equipment when down the drivway. Couple of times in the 50s dad borrowed a single horse for use in the farm woodlot. He just used that single horse to pull logs to a skidway where they were loaded on sleds or trailers behind 300. In 1959 we fabricated a winch for back of 300 and that was the end of horses.

I have a friend with a modern dairy farm, computers, 100+ hp tractors, all the bells and whistles. His 80 year old dad still keeps 6 to 10 horses. My friend has to admit, maybe his dad is right. During the bale thrower days, there wasn't much use for the horses. Today however his dad and a friend haul in most of the round bales with the horses. He claims they each have a team trained to follow the loader tractor for loading. One team is actually good enough they pull up in front of every bale, thus you only drive forward 6' with bale. Sure beats climbing on and off tractor. Some things just never perminantly go beyond use.

Years ago, I was lucky to see one of the Budweiser Clysdale teams pulling their beer wagon. What a sight.

I grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona and worked on a ranch for awhile. We had 35,000 acres and did our herding with Fords. A neighboring ranch did their herding on horseback. They would drive the herd down the fenceline by Interstate 40. Tourists from back east would pull over on the shoulder and experience the "real" west. The cowboys would really ham it up with their six-shooters. I wondered how many of the tourists were worried about Indian attack.

Speaking of barbed wire, a friend and I were discussing the perils of barbed wire at a local watering hole. A guy at the next table overhearing our conversation, inquired, " Where can I meet this Barb Dwyer, she sounds like quite a gal, is she a local?"

I was a young teenager and worked on several farms in our area during the summer, helping mostly with haying. At one place, we had a little Farmall C that was used to power the elevator, which was set up to carry the hay bales up into the haymow. Well, wouldn't you know, the farmer did not bother with any PTO shield. One day while unloading a wagon, a couple of bales dropped off the elevator onto the ground. So I thought I would just lift them OVER the rotating PTO shaft and place them back on the elevator. If I had been a strong, full-size adult, it might have worked. But, as a young guy, I had to struggle with the bale. But I tried it anyway. The next thing I knew, the PTO grabbed the bale and shredded it, demolished it, right before my eyes. Hay flew everywhere. In that same instant, the shaft also peeled a glove off my hand. It left my hand alone--just peeled the glove off. And that was it. It was over. I just stood there, kind of dazed, and I realized how close I might have come to getting tangled up in, and maybe killed by, that PTO. As I said, I still shudder when I think about it.

In my lifetime I've heard far more horror stories of folks getting tangled up with turning shafts. The injuries are usually quite severe. I only personally know two people injured in tractor upsets. I can't begin to count the numbers of acquaintences injured by turning shafts. Even the lowly Farmall Cub has enough hp to fatally injure a human being. Most of the folks I know, injured by turning shafts were not habitually careless folks. It only takes one false move. "BE CAREFUL" is all I can say. If in doubt, shut it down.