New Member, just signed up

[junqueyardjim]

Hi Folks. I am retired, age 80, though I still drive a school bus. Spent a lot of time in SW Minnesota in late 40's working on the farm and going to HS. I also drove a school bus during my last 2 years of HS in a brand new 36 passenger 49 Ford that did not even have turn signals. It had the "student stop lights", but no turn signals. They were added to the bus in 1950. I owned a tree nursery in Indianapolis area in the 80's and I did have a couple of Ford tractors, an 8N of about 53 vintage and a later Ford about a 63 vintage with the "selectomatic" transmission, which worked very well for bushhog work and roto tilling. Working on the farm in Minnesota, we had an almost new Farmall M and a new small John Deere, I think a "C", Then we also had a mid thirties John Deere which was a manual start and unstyled which we used for light field work, like pulling the binder. Oh yes, and don't forget the horses. We had four and didn't use them much except for some haying work and on the bundle wagons for threshing. And they were always willing to do the job. I had to put the harnesses on - that was a hard job!:laughing: What fun, great memories!

 

[mguitas]

:welcome:

 

[wyeguy]

Hello & welcome from SW Iowa. I got to see a team of horses stacking hay on a huge ranch in NW Nebraska a few years ago. It was an awesome sight to see how they used to do it. And on that ranch, they still did.

 

[creekbend]

Welcome from North Carolina. I respect You for staying active.

 

[BIG DOOLEY]

Howdy from Michigan

 

[DKCDKC]

You got me on the age thing, I'm just coming up on 70. But I remember the matched team we had when I was a boy. My dad had gone to tractors by then - John Deere - but liked to take the team on sometimes for simple tasks, or a little plowing. They were beautiful to watch. One of my earliest memories was being put on their backs as they walked around the stable yard. They seemed a mile-wide and impossible to fall off. Wonderful. As they approached old age the male broke his leg and had to be destroyed. The female died a month later - of a broken heart my dad said.

 

[The kid]

Great story. :applause: Welcome to TractorByNet. :tractor: -kid

 

[murphy1244]

Welcome to TBN:welcome:

 

[MIKE R]

Welcome to the forum from Canada.

 

[junqueyardjim]

Welcome to the forum from Canada.

Gee guys, what a nice bunch of welcomes. One from Wyeguy in SW Iowa. Well Wyeguy, I feel your pain - just kidding. I spent a number of years growing up in NW Iowa. Sioux County to be exact, from 1944 to 1950. Those were a number of the same years I worked on the farm in Pipestone County, MN Then we moved to Alberta Canada, but in 53 I got married, then the next day I was drafted by the US Army and stayed in the US, but did bring my beautiful Bride of 60 years in September, back with me. My Dad was a Pastor in the Christian Reformed (Presbyterian) Church, so we did move around a bit. My parents did move to Holland Marsh, ON in 1959 and served the CRC there until 1965. Then also, Big Dooley is from Michigan. I was born up there in snowy Chippewa County on a nice summer day in June 1932, about 8 or 10 miles from what was Kincross and the big AirForce base up there, also pretty close to the Soo, (Sault Ste.Marie). Anyway, from Rudyard, MI we moved to central SD in the summer of 1941. I was just a little guy, but I remember our neighbor got a brand new "H" Farmall all on steel, probably was the summer of 1942. I was a really good growing boy in those years in SD. I was my Daddy's favorite bird dog. We lived on pheasant - and you can live really well on butter fried pheasant breast. Dad was awesome with that new Winchester 12 ga. He was also teaching me to drive that awesome 1936 Cadillac that he had. I said Dad, "Why don't we get a bird dog"? He said, "We could Jimmy, but I'd never let that dog drive my Cadillac"! Boy did I put that together in a hurry - I really got the message. Anyway, a couple of replies remarked about farming with horses. It is true, the poor horse could not compete with John Deere and Farmall, Case, Hart Parr and Minneopolis Moline. But I am an animal lover and I just loved those old horses, and I would use them whenever possible. Jack, (my boss and Dad's cousin) would say, Jim, why not just use the tractor. Well I said, they seem to love doing the work and there they are, just hanging their necks over the gate and then in the evening I would ride them. But they were not built to gallop!