Posted by The Famous Grouse on April 18, 2016 at 14:17:22 from (75.146.45.9):
I have to wonder sometimes if we're at the end of an age. All of us who enjoy the old farm equipment.
The stuff we're into now is stuff that can last forever. 40, 50, 60+ year old equipment, yes, but the designs are simple, overbuilt in many cases, and meant to be repaired. These tractors have value, even if they are over a half century old, so we keep them alive and some of us use them a lot.
Will there be any "old" tractors left in the future? Will anyone in the year 2100 even ever see a real tractor from the year 2000?
It just seems like nowadays, there are 2 forces at work that are different:
1. The farm tractors now are huge, complicated, and breathtakingly expensive to repair and maintain. Any collector can generally house and keep something like an old Deere running, but in the year 2100, who will be willing to house and restore a Cat Challenger or a Steiger Panther?
Just driving out to my property yesterday, the farmers were out in force and the smallest tractor I saw in a field was probably pushing 200 HP. Same thing with other equipment.
My uncle still farms and he said that when they got their first Stieger back in 1978, they had the most pulling power of anyone within 10 miles. By 1985, they had the least power of any neighbor with more than 1000 acres. That's how quickly everything got big. And the Steiger ended up getting parked while it still worked because it was too costly to operate and maintain. First time either my uncle or his father in law (who owned the farm) had ever done such a thing--parked a working tractor for good.
2. As the number of people actively engaged in farming dwindles, will anyone even care? It's sad to say it, but back when I was a kid, we ALL played with farm toys. Tractors, farm sets, etc.
My kids still do, but their friends come over to play and they call a tractor a "monster truck" or suchlike. They don't even know what it is.
I've taken my kids to farm and threshing shows and we all love to see and to think about how it once was. You REALLY get a feel for how hard people worked when you look at a horse-drawn plough or a 4 foot sickle mower or a threshing machine.
Are the people of 2100 going to just look at pictures and never see anything in the flesh to give them a real feel for the way it once was?
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