Re: farming with older equipment

Posted by LenNH on November 20, 2009 at 06:45:08 from (71.192.137.159):

In Reply to: farming with older equipment posted by Robert Simmons on November 19, 2009 at 13:27:44:

I knew a young fellow who started farming vegetables and fruits for the wholesale market. He bought some extra land near the family farm, rented a lot, and really went to town. Sadly, he died very suddenly at the age of 47. The family couldn't continue his operation, so they sold the equipment. At the sale, there were about 40 tractors, almost all letter-series Farmalls or their successors (for example, A, B, C, 130, 140, H, S-H, 350, and so on). He had a mechanic come in during the winter and take care of any problems, AND he would do exterior restorations wherever things looked ratty. Because of the nature of his operations, he wanted a number of tractors that would do certain jobs without having to mount and unmount equipment. He'd set aside a few tractors with cultivators on permanently, a few others maybe with planters, sprayers, etc. He probably had no more invested in these 40 tractors than he would have in maybe 2-5 modern ones (depending on size, of course). Incidentally, every one of these tractors was an absolute beauty, and at the sale, they brought very high prices from collectors. The idea behind all this was versatility at a low price. Can't speak for the economics of it all, but it sounds like it made sense. One thing it does point up is just how long a well-made tractor can run. Farming with a 60-year old tractor is just amazing. In a way, it tells you how good some of what we call "old" was, even as long ago as 50 years--fairly comfortable, fairly easy to drive, fast enough, and reliable. There is a generational thing, here, too. The generation that preceded the letter-series IHC tractors would be dinosaur-like today. Imagine working with a steel-wheeled 10-20 or F-20! For that matter, I wouldn't much want to farm with these tractors on rubber, either. I spent (mis-spent?) all my youth and early adulthood on those beasts. I loved them in their day, because we didn't have anything else to love, but I have to admit now that they were awful hard on the driver.
I think I should point out that not ALL this man's the tractors were IHC, but most were. IHC had more dealers in that part of the country than any other manufacturer, and for that reason (I think), most farmers bought IHC equipment because it was easy to get parts and repairs closeby. I never thought IHC was especially innovative--some of the other manufacturers would come out with newer things first (six-speed transmissions and independent PTO come to mind)--but the quality was always there, and that counts for a lot (In 22 years, my father's 10-20 NEVER required any repairs, and I don't think his F-12 did either in the 15 or so years he used it before replacing with a '41 H, which he ran until 1961, when he replaced it with a '51 H; that was still in use with a Bush Hog in 2001--not too pretty, but it ran just fine).

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