Farming the hills

db4600 · Jul 21, 2020

The sister sent me this historical tid-bit. I’m thinking this is
circa 1972 and made me realize how long I’ve been driving
tractors. The farm we grew up on was a sampling of rich low
ground along the lake and gravel side hills on the high
ground. (Hills mellower than in picture) All of it blessed with
rock. That 1650 was a mainstay in my sandbox fleet. Did a lot
of light field work and pulled the baler. About 1974 I got a big
tractor in the form of a Ford 8000. I loved that tractor and
worked it hard. It did all the heavy fieldwork and was the
tractor that did the rented land far away. (I wore the front
spindles off running through mud puddles). I still have that
1650 and my son farmed with it for a couple years, but wasn’t
a BTO like Pa. Ironically there is a “65 1650D in my current
collection.

The background shows the milk room/ parlor addition that was
under construction. It also shows the drive in ramp and the
cedar stave silo.

Bruce from Can. · Jul 21, 2020

That does look like some tough ground to crop. I was more of a flat lander myself, had a nice strip of ground to work on the edge of the garden, out in front of the house were mama could keep an eye on me. Put over 10,000 hours on my Ford 5000 , all on my hands and knees before I started school in 65. Thinking about it now, it wouldn’t have been too hard to predict that I was going to end up a farmer.
You have me curious about the silo, can you tell us more about it ? Like how big it was, age, and what was stored in it?

db4600 · Jul 21, 2020

Your testing my memory. Barn built in the side hill so the first 6’ was poured concrete and on top of that were vertical 2x6, more like 3x6 that carried the hoops in notches. Inside the verticals were 2x6 T&G staves bevel cut to lock together behind the verticals. I would guess 12’ x 30’ was out of the ground. I’ve seen 1 other erected this way. Most in the area were T&G Cedar or Redwood run vertical with hoops directly on them. We tipped it over in ‘77 and put up a 16’ x 50’ Hanson. The neighbor salvaged and rebuilt it for silage at his young stock loafing barn.

T.R.K. · Jul 21, 2020

Mine was a 5020. I used 544 indusrial for the lighter jobs. The IH disk and plow wore completely out. But the 544 and 5020 are still on the shelf here.

tomstractorsandtoys · Jul 21, 2020

I had a Deere 4020 wf. Once I needed more traction so I took the rear wheels off a 1030 case and glued them to the 4020 to make duals. I also had several IH 544's,one I painted green (with a brush) to be like dad's 2520 the other was orange to be like grandfather's D17 Allis. I always wanted a toy chopper but to make do I added a hitch to the back of the a 12A Deere pull type combine. It was mt chopper with a direct cut head. Also had 2 or 3 Deere 112 chuck wagons for hauling silage. I still have the 3020 but the hitch broke off,the fenders are gone and the casting is breaking behind the wide front. Tom

db4600 · Jul 21, 2020

Pa built me a chopper out of light gauge for Christmas one year. He knocked the axel off of some Tonka toy and built off of that. It was a bit small. Probably modeled after the Papec we had at the time. It was fitted with a corn head and couldn’t be changed out for haylage. It was a tough machine and is still around today. The son ran it for awhile, but had trouble in today’s heavy corn.

Farming the hills

db4600

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Bruce from Can.

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db4600

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T.R.K.

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tomstractorsandtoys

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db4600

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