Just wondering.

J

John from Michigan

Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

Way back when tractors were just starting to be purchased and used to replace horses what was the cost advantage to change to a tractor. A tractor cost more than a couple of teams but you did not have to feed the tractor every day. The tractor could work more hours in the day. Dad farmed with horses so I know from personal experience how much work it takes to care for horses.

 

Jaden

Member

Location

Eastern Nebraska

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

My Dad used to say that in 1934 when it was so hot and dry, farmers would buy a tractor to avoid overstressing the horses for summer plowing of wheat ground.

 

Gambles

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

My uncle, who just turned 90, has said several times that he can remember the farmers would tell him that tractors will NEVER become a permanent fixture on the farm because they compact the soil too much. He always heard this when he was a small kid.

 

3

37chief

Well-known Member

Location

California

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

I think horses were a lot more trouble. In the winter they still had to be cared for. Dad used horses for years, before my time. When he bought his tractor he didn't need the horses any more. He took them to the San Diego Zoo about 30 miles away, for animal feed. He told me he cried all the way home. I remember the names he gave them, Molly, and Polly. Stan

 

F

FBH44

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

Pop and us boys had to raise oats, feed, put up hay in the barn, keep the windmill going, keep ice broken on the water trough, etc., just to keep the horses alive. I think the thing that convinced Pop was that old red haired Dan, used to wait til Pop got half-way across the barn yard, with the milk buckets and etc., , and then he'd charge right at Pop right out of the horse stables. Always tried to run him over. Pop said he got tired of milk buckets and filters and his hat flying all over, so one morning he balled up a right fist and got ready, and let old Dan have a right, right in the chops. Pop said he knocked Dan down, and old DaN NEVER TRIED IT again. True story? I tend to believe it, I know some feats of strength Pop did, Picking up Model T's, etc., swinging two 16-lb. post mauls, one in each hand, to drive fence posts, one in each hand, one after the other.... so I believe him.
But I BELIEVE Pop got tired of the horses, and it was a lot easier to just go start the Massey Harris.

 

O

oldtanker

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

Saw an old ad a few years ago from the early tractor days. The ad stated that on average ever horse a farmer got rid of was another 20 acres that could be turned into more profitable livestock or crop land. I want to say it was an old AC ad but I'm not certain.

Rick

 

Crazy Horse

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

FBH ..... great story, you're dad sounds like they might have broke the mold after they made him up ..... ha! Kids nowadays won't have any stories like that to tell their own kids.

 

OP

OP

J

John from Michigan

Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

You did need to give the horses a rest after pulling the plow for a ways. More often when the weather was hot. Horses compacted the soil about the same as tractors. Maybe one of our math people can figure out the compaction per square inch of foot size versus wheel size. A big draft horse weighs around 2000 pounds.

 

C

Case Nutty 1660

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

My Dad grew up farming with horses,, even when his Dad finally got a tractor it was ONLY to be used if they got behind as gas was Expensive and they had the horses to use, my Dad said a horse either has his tail up or his head down,, Dad also spoke of how at each end or corner of a field you had to sit and let the horse get back their air,, but he talked very fondly of having teams to use,,the first tractor was bought used in the mid to later 30's
cnt

 

Steve A W

Member

Location

Northwest Indiana

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

My dad just told about his uncle getting his first tractor.
His team was going blind and he got tired of having to treat
them whenever they got tangled up in the barbed wire.
He replaced them with an International Cub.

Steve A W

.

 

C

C.Amick

Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

I remember my dad talking about the that drought in the early 30's in West Virginia.

 

M

Mike(NEOhio)

Well-known Member

Location

Newbury, Ohio

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

FIL farmed with horses since his boyhood and did away with his last team in 1956, wife remembers them. He was one of the first to go to a tractor, a Mc C 1020 I think. He passed in '91 and in his last months I used to sit with him on Sunday mornings while MIL went to church. I asked him once if he had any regrets. "No, I did the only thing I wanted to do....and I think I liked it best when we did it with horses."

 

T

Ted in NE-OH

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

With tractor:

No pasture-Plant in in cash crop
The hay can be sold
Oats can be sold
Can work longer hours and farm more acres.
Less chore work -more time to plant
No vet bills
No farrier bills
Straw used for bedding can be sold.

 

D

Dachshund

Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

The Local Amish are talking about tractors. A good, used draft horse is running around $8,000 to $10,000 average for EACH horse around here (a good "Driving" horse is between $2500 and $3500).
That's more than a good used tractor. When the horse dies, you have to get a whole new horse - when a tractor dies, you can get spare parts. The cost of feeding the horse is more than "feeding" the tractor, too.

 

Bob N.Y.

Well-known Member

Location

Norway, N.Y.

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

I remember an older relative telling about an extremely hot summer probably about 100 years ago. Many horses went down and died that summer. His family had an International 8-16 that they used for field work all summer and saved their horses.

 

showcrop

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

My grandfather wanted nothing to do with horses. Look in the back-ground of this pic of him and my uncle.

My uncle had no car and this farm was in northern NH and my uncle lived In CT and worked at an aircraft company. If you look close you can see my uncle's airplane that he used to get around with. This picture was probably taken in the early forties, and another uncle took the farm over in the early fifties, and immediately got his first Ford 8N.

 

J

Josh-nhihguy

Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

Reminds me of a children's book by Gary Paulsen called Harris & Me. The tale of a city kid going to live with his rural relatives. The bull started getting snotty at the kids and the uncle stepped in, knocked the bull on the skull, and knocked him out. His hand/wrist weren't in good shape.. Muttered something like, "Too hard.." It may be a stretch but it's an interesting thought.

I liked your story.

 

M

Moonlite37

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

My old aunt, bless her, was burned with envy when we got a B Farmall. She said she hoped her boys would farm with horses because in her mind the exhaust fumes from a tractor was bad for health. Her boys smoked and all have died. I did not smoke and still live. A couple years later they bought an Allis Chalmers C

 

C

coshoo

Well-known Member

• Aug 5, 2018

• #1

Dad had a team when he bought our place in 1948. I have a memory of the team (Tom and Jerry- original, huh?) plowing the garden, when I was about 3, in 1951. Must have bought the 8N in about 1952- don't know if he sold the horses separately or traded them in on the N, but they were gone.