Beet lifter pictures

tall german · Aug 17, 2023

During the 1960's, there was an effort to grow sugar beets in southern Minnesota. It lasted about 10 years and then fizzled because the transportation was so expensive. In those days, my dad bought a shortline 3 row lifter mounted under the belly of a John Deere 70 high crop. I don't remember any decals on the lifter so I don't know who built it. It didn't have a tank so you had to drive a truck along side the tractor as you were lifting. After we quit raising beets, we removed the lifter and used the tractor for field use. If anyone can post a picture of a machine like this, I would appreciate it because I don't have one. Thanks.

flying belgian · Aug 17, 2023

My grandfather raised lots of acres of
beets in Southern MN. But this would have
been in the 30s and 40s. He hauled his to
the beet dump in st. Clair. They loaded
them on rail cars. There was a dump in
Mankato also. He did real well and kept
buying more land until he was one of the
biggest growers in Southern MN. He had 9
kids and hired many Mexicans.

Kow Farmer · Aug 17, 2023

I can't help you with what you are looking for, but sugar beets are still thriving in South Central Minnesota,
especially in certain counties.
Kow Farmer

moresmoke · Aug 17, 2023

Dont forget western MN! Sugar beets are a staple crop in the Red River valley.

mrhud · Aug 17, 2023

any one have any photos ofa one row marbeet digger mounted on a tractor

gene bender · Aug 18, 2023

owners manual shows the tooling for liftingbeets just used reg cult with
the lifting tooling

DeltaRed · Aug 18, 2023

I was raised in the beat growing area of northeastern Colorado There were several brands of harvesters. JohnDeere;Farmhand;Hesston were the most popular.Gemco;IH'Heath/HFE were lesser brands.IH was the only
under the tractor mounted harvester.Dont remember any others.Be interesting to see. Most likey it was a small local company that made them and they were never sold out of the area.

mrhud · Aug 18, 2023

blackwelder marbeet made in california

stevieb49829 · Aug 21, 2023

I remember tagging along with my college girlfriend when she was hauling beets from the family farms in the Freeborn area, in the late 60's. Think they went to Wells. steve

tall german · Aug 21, 2023

I grew up over at Elmore. We drove over to New Richland once to look at a lifter just like ours only the tractor was Gas instead of LP. We had trouble with our trucks over heating when you were driving beside the lifter. Looking back now, the trucks were all old cheap Junkers and wouldn't stand that much of a load. Probably, they needed to have the radiators "rodded out" and needed fans with more blades. The system didn't work very well and we only used it for a couple of years. We went back to using the 2 row farmhand with a tank because you could keep it running and didn't have to deal with the trucks overheating. oh, "the good old days".

Beet lifter pictures

tall german

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flying belgian

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Kow Farmer

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moresmoke

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mrhud

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gene bender

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DeltaRed

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mrhud

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stevieb49829

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tall german

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