Your first tractor

[Mark_in_NH]

Mine first one was a Ford 8 N, back in the late 60's, we used it on the farm for haying, firewood, plowing, harrowing, manure spreader etc. Later we added a Farmall C and a John Deere B and our last tractor was a International 444 Diesel w/ a Sims open cab.

 

[Thomas]

Farmall H wide front end in a middle of a big hay field. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

My job was doing the raking & baling than transport the hay to the barn..winter time doing the plowing..spring gathering the syrup..fall hauling firewood home.

People might think those were hard times today but they really weren't,for you felt good at the end of the day and what you put into it thats what you got out of it.

 

[hwp]

McCormack Deering WD 30 with steel wheels and lugs - many moons ago!.

 

[RoyJackson]

My first one was a Ford Loader/Backhoe in Columbia City, MD. This was in 1968/1969.

I was just out of high school. Worked as a plumber's apprentice ([censored], do I wish I'd stayed in that field!!). The company offered me a buck more per hour to run this thing. I took it, but reckon I never realized how cold it could be driving it from one job site to another!!

The Fords were nice backhoes...easy to operate because they only used two levers to control the 'hoe rather then four as many other machines used (at that time).

However, in winter, we often had to break the ground with a jackhammer first to do trenching. The Ford wasn't heavy enough to break through.

Then I got drafted...

In the early '80's, my Dad had an ancient Farmall ('51, I think). That was my next tractor to run.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I remember helping my grandfather when he used to hay and it was fun, hard but fun. I do miss being around farming and enjoy looking back at it. My other grandfather had a dairy and I remember climbing over the pasture with the cows to go try and catch crayfish in the creek, do you ever notice crayfish were the size of lobsters when you were a kid but when you grow up they are really small/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. He had a lot of old equipment parked in the pasture that I never really thought much of at the time but miss it now.

 

[Thomas]

Those little giants are now priceless in this area $$$.

 

[Thomas]

Robert,
Your bring back way to many fond times of growing up,and that shall tell you my age. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

I sure do remember scooting across the fields..had to run lot of the times for the was a boss bull there..yikes. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Indeed those crayfish look bigger when I was a kid,and catch them w/2 fingers was a nack in the cold brook,but it was well worth it when you caught a big bass w/them. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

My father also park most of his equipment now,and I can still remember hitching up the trailers,plows,rakes etc..like it was yesterday than go bouncing along for hours w/out a care in the world..life seem so much easier than.
A big part of me really miss those days,and wish some of the children of today could taste those days.

Would you want to return to those days if you could and continue. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

Would you want to return to those days if you could and continue.

<hr></blockquote>



Even with the modern conviences of today I think I would like to go back. Not so much in age but in simplicity, if something broke you could fix it without having a computer have to tell you what is wrong. Things are so much more complicated now adays and you have to worry about everything like saying the wrong word and offending someone, also most neighbors got along back then, now farms get sold off and broke up and all sorts of new people move in and automaticly post their 5 acres of land and gaurd it like fort Knox. You also didn't have to worry about someone getting injured on your land and sueing you because it was your land he was on when he got hurt 4 wheeling. Oh well, we live in the now but at least I was fortunate enough to experience the tail end of the old small farms and I won't trade that for anything. Take care.

 

[GregGG]

Heres a good laugh, my first tractor was our Ariens GT17...lol, that was almost a whole 3 whopping years ago. Oh the good old days (whistleing through my dentures)

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Poppin' John
John Deere B - Hand clutch, one brake on each side.
Making hay may seem satisfying looking back on it after 45 plus years, but I sure never noticed at the time. It cut severely into my time on the river.