Man guys, I'm out of town taking care of family business and I get a text reporting to me that my eighty five year old Grandfather plans on discing tomorrow with the MF165 in an orchard. After several strokes and heart attacks and the fact that he hasn't even been on a tractor in over a year, I sure hope he's okay. Do you guys have any stories of your old men still working hard on the ranch? Are any of you guys the "old man"?
- Thread starter LJS30
- Start date
I don't know where you're located, but it's pretty hot here in Southern Illinois, especially for a man that age. I've known several old timers who didn't seem to notice extreme temperatures, and got themselves too hot. I have an old friend who is 81, and I remind him every day that he don't need to be fooling around in the garden in the middle of the day. Sometimes he listens - sometimes he don't. He's gotten himself in trouble a couple times, mainly because he can't get around very good, and when he falls he sometimes needs help to get up. He'd cook in an hour or two lying in that hot sun.
Bless his heart, he's still trying. I hope I'm half the man he is if I live to that age.
I hope your Grandpa does OK.
Paul
Bless his heart, he's still trying. I hope I'm half the man he is if I live to that age.
I hope your Grandpa does OK.
Paul
pete black
Well-known Member
wife's great uncle at age 99, yes that's 99. lives in colbert county, alabama. raises a garden each year complete with watermelons. this year he bought a new 50 hp kubota for gardening, bushhogging and box blading his drive. amazing man, wormy little thing, probably wears buster brown sizes. said if he ever slowed down he would die and likely so.
pete black
Well-known Member
truly an amazing man. passed his home this past january and he was box blading his driveway with his ford 3000 tractor. early this spring he was on a new kubota bushhogging his pasture.
rlp in Co.
Well-known Member
I work for a farmer that is 89 years old. He just swathed and raked about 200 acres of hay and his son ran the baler. Unfortunatly he just lost about 400 or more acres of hay to a bad hailstorm. He had me do the disking to prepare to plant sunflower seeds. He said it hurts his neck to turn to see the disk. I disked and planted around 420 acres of sunflower seeds. This is a picture of his tractor and a corner of the field that I just finished disking.
rlp in Co.
Well-known Member
I'll try again with the picture.
Larry in IA
Member
My neighbor just turned 82 on July 4. Still feeds his cows in the dead of winter with his JD 730, even though there are 5 tractors with cabs in the barn. It is amazing what he has seen. Started farming with horses. Now he works the same dirt with a JD 8420 with auto-steer. Just like a kid with a new toy.
Keith Molden
Well-known Member
I think it's great that he's able to do it. I only hope that I can when I'm his age. And I'd rather be out doing something on the tractor when my time comes rather in some nursing home. He's an old farmer doing what he knows & it makes him happy. Let him do it & be VERY happy for him. Just my thoughts, Keith
Use to be a feller that posted on this site called "Old Farmer", name was Dale Jensen, from South Dakota. You can find his memorial page on this site under "Miscellaneous" on the left hand column. He passed away after going to the barn to start his trusty 3010 for his last harvest. Quite a guy, that Old Farmer, he spun a good tale, lived a good life, and I'm proud to have made his acquaintance here on YT.
My dad lived by the philosophy that a man should work 14 hours a day 6 days a week and 8 hours on all the rest. It wasnt because he had to or needed to but because thats what he loved doing. It kept him going until he was 85. Last day he lived he went to church, came home and changed, checked his cows, went out to the shop and had me help me move a book shelf to put his fencing stuff on. Then he organized some tools and spent the rest of the day straightening bent nails. I still remember him taking a smoke break by the stove in the shop that day. That was how he worked, farmed almost 400 acres of hay and cows by himself up until he died. He would always rush to get his hay done so he could come help me.
pete black
Well-known Member
what i have notice and impressed with is that nearly all of the old farmers are not only hard workers but soft spoken and rarely complains about the life they lived.
In the fall of '08 I was mixing 3rd crop hay and corn silage. My dad was in poor shape but still wanted to help, he suggested I put the 1850 on the hay chopper because knew how run it better and would be easier for him. My dad was on continuious oxygen but we had portable tanks. We talked him out of running the chopper, a decision I still regret.
My 93 year old father in law, cut and baled hay three weeks ago..He had a light stroke two weeks ago and went down hill from there . We had his services last Wensday but he had a great life and really enjoyed the last 20 years or so. Retired from the railroad at age 65 but carried on a very active farm life for the last 30 + years. We (the 4 daughters) allways took it that if he felt like doing it let him do it. We did start TRYING to limit is driving after dark in the last two or three years but were not always successfull in that... I am 67 today and would probably punch my card for 90 today..If i could have as good a life as he had.
My friend and neighbor is getting up there in age, 90 I think now. Retired from farming about 10 years ago. Still cut his own firewood until 5 or so years ago. Every once in a while I would get a call from him needing help with something or find him waiting for me in the driveway when I got home from work.
In the spring he would sit in the porch watching other farmers in the field and get the bug. Id come home to find out he cant get the plow hooked up and needs a hand. Next day he cant get the plow to raise to get it out of the field. Next day he cant get it unhooked from the tractor and has it all kitty wampus in the shed. His mind worked fine but his body didnt listen to it. Not growing up on a farm I would do what I could and learn a little from him every day. Now he lives with his daughter many miles away. Since he left we started farming our own land and I could use his advice quite often. Funny how that works sometimes.
In the spring he would sit in the porch watching other farmers in the field and get the bug. Id come home to find out he cant get the plow hooked up and needs a hand. Next day he cant get the plow to raise to get it out of the field. Next day he cant get it unhooked from the tractor and has it all kitty wampus in the shed. His mind worked fine but his body didnt listen to it. Not growing up on a farm I would do what I could and learn a little from him every day. Now he lives with his daughter many miles away. Since he left we started farming our own land and I could use his advice quite often. Funny how that works sometimes.
A friend of mine's Dad was in his mid-70s when his wife died. His kids asked him if he intended to stay on the farm by himself, and he told them that's what he wanted to do. He had about 400 acres of corn and soybeans and perhaps 20 head of cattle. He continued farming the place himself. One summer, he remarked to one of his kids that he felt pretty tired, and he didn't live to see the fall harvest. But he had planted the crops by himself that spring at the age of 102!
I've got a good friend that is now in his nineties. He was going strong until his wife of 50 plus years passed away a little over four years ago. At that point he seemed to take a downhill turn. Up until then he took care of quiet a few head of beef cattle as well as doing mowing, bailing, and putting up about a hundred acres of hay every year. When his wife passed and he slowed down his health took a turn for the worse and now he has a couple of ladies that come over to take care of him and he pretty much sets around and snoozes. These old guys are really interesting to talk too and are a wealth of information for those willing to listen and learn.
Paul from MI
Well-known Member
I remember dad telling an old friend who chastised him for working in the heat at age 85 "Marjorie, I'm 85 @@@ years old, how long do you think I'm gonna live?" He was 95 when he died nd she was long gone. He was a typical old farmer, still out cutting weeds out of the beans at 90, just wouldn't quit. I only hope I can be as tough.
730 virgil
Well-known Member
- Location
- IL Wis state line near Monroe Wi
a friend of mine dad was still running the chopper at 85. when wagon was full he would pull wagon to building site where someone would help him swap wagons then he would go back to feild.
he would chop 3 or 4 wagons full freed someone up to do chores
he would chop 3 or 4 wagons full freed someone up to do chores
Erik Ks farmer
Well-known Member
When I started helping Harold, he was 75 and it was all I could do to keep up with him. Now at 82 he still has the drive, but since his wife has gotten sick with cancer he spends nearly all of his time with her. He still enjoys to watch the calves in the lot beside the house and get on the tractor when has a spare moment or two, it is an honor to keep these oppurtunities open for him, and they may well be the things that keep him going down the road. I am with many others, let them do what they love and don't regret it for one moment.
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