Farming In 59

No, its not my farm. Just an interesting cover on the popular farm magazine, Family Herald, from 1959 showing a Case running a hammer mill or chopper grinding cattle feed in Alberta. Not sure what model Case it is. 400? 600?

The farmer probably did that job hundreds of times and probably was an expert, but seems to me trying to line up the belt pulleys with out seeing the one on the machine inside the building would be very difficult.

(quoted from post at 19:05:59 04/14/20) The farmer probably did that job hundreds of times and probably was an expert, but seems to me trying to line up the belt pulleys with out seeing the one on the machine inside the building would be very difficult.

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Maybe the first time or two but after that I'm sure he would have a mark picked on the building wall to line up with. I have a hole dug in the ground that just fits the tractor tire for when I line up the belt on the old McCormick hammer mill.

It's not that difficult, harder to explain than to do.
You put the belt on the grinder pulley and pull on it
away from the building until it just feels right.
Then you drop the belt on the ground at that spot
and line up the tractor pulley above it. The first
time you may need to tweak it a little bit.

That?s a neat magazine. Are there any other good tractor
pictures you?d care to share from it ?

(quoted from post at 21:39:25 04/14/20) That?s a neat magazine. Are there any other good tractor
pictures you?d care to share from it ?

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They had some good vintage ads in them sometimes. Like this.

I love reading those old adds thanks

I like it ,,,thanks!!

Looks like a 400 Western standard.

Good years for farmers and equipment
manufacturers alike. By 1968, farming had faced
many dramatic changes. Tractors and other
equipment had gotten bigger, and farmers began to
specialize even more than ever. Hybrids and
herbicides had increased crop yields, and selective
breeding increased livestock productivity. Farm?s
got larger, while the numbers of farmers dwindled
and continues to decline even today. The margin of
profit gets slimmer, yet production increases.
Processing falls into fewer and fewer hands of large
multinational corporations. And the whole time the
cost of food to the consumer has declined to less
than 10% of their take home pay, yet many in the
general population demonize agriculture. For
destroying the local environment, the water and air
as well as causing climate change. And animal
welfare advocates call for the end of livestock
production. Modern agriculture... now look back at
that photo from 1959, those were indeed good
times to be a farmer. How did we end up here??

About 25 years ago I bought an old steamer trunk filled with old "Family Herald" and Farmer's Advocate" issues dated between about 1910 up till 1968. Made interesting reading before we got the internet. Still have them in the trunk out in the barn gathering dust. Free to a good home.....

Something I've always wondered about.

When I grew up on a farm in Nebraska in the 1940's and early 1950's, we controlled weeds and insects with cultivation and crop rotation. I joined the Marine Corps in 1953.

By the time I left the Corps ten years later, chemicals had taken over farming. No young farmer was considered up and coming, and therefore worthy of renting farm land to, unless he regularly and routinely drenched his crops with all manner of chemicals. When chemicals first came onto the farm scene, little thought was given to personal protection.

Sometime in the 1960's, Farm Journal magazine ran an article about a farmer who had fabricated a front mount sprayer boom on a tractor. They even ran a picture of the fellow spraying some form of chemical, seated on the tractor wearing only a baseball cap, T shirt, and jeans, while driving through the fog of spray he was generating. It was lauded as a great innovation.

Then, 30 to 40 years later, these same farmers began dying off of all manner of strange cancers. I always wondered if there was a correlation. When I posed that question recently to the moderator of a public health seminar, I was told a correlation does, in fact, exist.

When I farmed in the 1980's, when I sprayed I always wore long sleeved clothes, wore a face mask, and took a shower and put on fresh clothes as soon as I was done. I don't know if it was real or psychological, but I still always felt yucky for a day or so afterward. I finally began simply hiring our local Co-op to do my spraying. From the economies of scale involved it really didn't cost that much more, and it got me off the hook for spraying.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but that's been a concern of mine over the years.

I'm guessing that tractor is a 500, or not as likely, a 600. I wonder if North Star is a brand of buildings or a name and drawings the farmer added to the barn? The farmer is sitting (at least I think he's sitting) on the roof of the granary. Wonder why?

Rusty - any more information available? It's an interesting photo for sure.

Nice combine. I worked for a neighbor farmer who owned one. But he wouldn't let me run it! I was
the swather guy with a Farmall "M" and 16 ft John Deere swather. Nice swathing rig though.

Nice combine. I worked for a neighbor farmer who owned one. But he wouldn't let me run it! I was the swather guy with a Farmall "M" and 16 ft John Deere swather. Nice swathing rig though.

(quoted from post at 07:41:39 04/15/20)
I finally began simply hiring our local Co-op to do my spraying. From the economies of scale involved it really didn't cost that much more, and it got me off the hook for spraying.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but that's been a concern of mine over the years.

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Its concerned me as well but I can't grow crops without controlling the weeds. Charcoal filters in the tractor cab and rubber gloves anytime I work around the sprayer is about all I can do. Better than the old days sitting out in the open.
I'd want a cab on that old Case tractor in the picture for sure

(quoted from post at 07:54:49 04/15/20) I'm guessing that tractor is a 500, or not as likely, a 600. I wonder if North Star is a brand of buildings or a name and drawings the farmer added to the barn? The farmer is sitting (at least I think he's sitting) on the roof of the granary. Wonder why?

Rusty - any more information available? It's an interesting photo for sure.

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I'm guessing the North Star name is the farmer's own addition. Although there was a very early grain company called North Star here in Sask. it was eventually bought out by United Grain Growers.
I didn't think the 500 ever got the yellow paint scheme but I could be wrong.

David I'm interested in your magazines. Where are you located. E Mail is open. Thanks Gerald

Yup Rusty you're right on the paint scheme. 500 was all Case orange. I think that tractor looks too big to be a 400 so it's probably a 600. Or maybe it's my turn to be wrong.

You can?t control weeds in small grain crops with cultivation. All the greenies are wanting to go back to the good old days but they thing nobody talks about is erosion and more fuel use to cultivate row crops and you still don?t have a decent option for controlling weeds in crops that are not planted In rows . I have sprayed without a cab for as long as I?ve been farming and I feel no I?ll effects after spraying so my guess is it?s psychological.





Started with a 4020 and 25 foot of my dads and now I have a 25 foot century either on the 3029 or 4020

The design of the drawbar and mtg bracket plus the center slot in the floor boards
suggest that the tractor is a 400 Western Special. The 500 model was all Flambeau
Red, so the only other alternative would be the 600, but the rear floor boards on
600's had no center cutout and mounted lower. The center cut out in the 400's floor
boards was to allow access to the relocated and lowered PTO location in the 400's
The 600's also had the 2 batteries mounted on much lower floor boards, which I don't
see in the picture. The 600's also had a wide swinging drawbar and this dractor does
not. The view of the rear of tractor does not lend itself to seeing the small
details clearly. even when enlarged.

Loren

(quoted from post at 10:22:24 04/16/20) The design of the drawbar and mtg bracket plus the center slot in the floor boards
suggest that the tractor is a 400 Western Special.

Loren

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Thanks for the observations Loren. Yes , its a hard angle to positively identify the tractor. I know there were a lot more 400s than 600s sold in my area anyway. I don't ever recall seeing a 600 except in pictures. Plus I have a 1/16 Ertl replica.