Easier with horses?

I came across a picture from the late 30's of my Grandad with a team of horses and a harrow, the interesting thing is that a tractor is seen parked in the backround. I do know what brand but am not going to mention it as I don't want to start a battle over tractor brand reliability. I remember asking him about it and his reply was "Damn thing rested more than the horses." I know he was dirt poor and if he were to need parts that would have sidelined it, but I don't think fuel was a problem. Anyone else remember useing the horses instead of the tractor?

When I was a kid (1030 s) my father had a fordson parked. He farmed with horses. He said he could not afford gas. I don't think that it was the price as much as the fact that no one had any money. Maybe a dollar or two from eggs and that was needed to buy food. The horses worked half a day and ate grass the other half. No grain or hay.

Dad kept a team until I was about 12. Mostly because he liked horses, but also the daily barn cleaning required pulling the manure spreader. He knew the horses would start, regardless of Wis winter temperature, and that could not always be said for the tractors of the early 50's.

When I was a kid my dad drove a team to feed with and also he hooked them to a sleigh to take my sister 1.5 miles to school. I remember getting to hold the the lines while the team did their thing. Never once got the team stuck.
Bud

In place like the Big Hole in Montana, they stillwinter feed with teams . It"s gets so cold there that diesel start real hard and even when they start you can"t use the hydraulics until the fluid shears down enough to flow properly.

there was an episode on dirty jobs where the guys pulled logs out of the woods with a team of mules, so the forrest was not disturbed too much

My Dad farmed with a team of horses and a Farmall M. He used the horses for a lot of jobs including raking hay and bringing bales in from the field..in his mind he was saving on buying gasoline for the tractor..so any job the horses could do they were assigned. I remember him cutting hay with the team as well..so cut rake and draw in hay, the tractor ran the bale elevator. My Dad came through the Great Depression and he always worried about another one, he always saved and set aside for rainy days,so using the team was being frugile.
He always warned me about saving and only buying when you have the money to pay for it..he left a good sized estate..I think any farmer that came through the 30's used horses where possible to save fuel and repairs.

My father had a Fordson, and four draft horses back in the '30's. I was too little to understand it then, but I seem to recall there was a government organization called "FSA", (Farm Service Administration?) that helped farmers who were subject to the depression and drouth keep their farms. Seems to me participation in the program required a farmer to do at least some of his work with horses.

As I recall, the local FSA agent was the enemy of the area farmers. He was pretty much calling the shots for a bunch of farmers who had been pretty danged independent up to then.

my grandfather farmed with horses exclusivley until he bought a new farmal M in 1948, after that the horses were still used for numerous jobs, into the mid 50's when he sold his team, he told me one time the horses were easier to use in the winter as the m was hard to start in ill. winters, and since you have to feed a horse weather its working or not you may as well use them for something, the last time i was in the horse barn on his place [ mid 90's], which is still in the family all the horse collars and tack were still hanging on the barn wall where they were put the last time they were used

When I started farming in 1968 at 12 yrs old, I used a team of horses. I wouldn't say it was easier, just less expensive. What cash I had was needed to buy seed and fertilizer. I loved to work with my little team and I liked the peace and quiet. The B started easy and pulled more than the little team but I had ride on implements for the horses. I plowed 60 acres that fall with the B and a P&O 1-16" plow and knocked it down with a homemade tire drag. I hauled seed with an old wagon and planted with a 6' wooden wheeled IH shovel drill. Everything I had was horse drawn and free out of old fence rows....James

My Grandfather and uncle farmed together for some years. My grandfather didn't want to give up his horses even after my uncle bought an 8N around 1950. In the picture is another uncle who didn't have a car but he owned his own airplane, which you can see in the background. He worked in an airplane factory in New Britain CT. Finally one day when everyone else went off somewhere my grandfather got on the tractor and made peace with it, and did use it sparingly after that.

My grandfather kept a team into the 50's even though he first bought a Fordson in the late 20's. The horses would go through more snow hauling manure, hay ect. My dad can remember him walking behind horses and a drag in soft plow ground, no wonder he always said his legs hurt when he was older! Other than that most farmers were glad to see them go, no more breathing horse far+s!

horses need to be worked to keep their muscles built for work and as many farmers they keep the old with the new no sense in keeping horses for pets they eat way more than a dog and dragging a field is pretty light work wich would burn at the very least 1/2 gal. of gas an hour lot cheaper to use the horses for that not to mention youll get less soil compaction with horses

The Granpa at the neighboring farm used horses to plant, cut hay and pull wagons with well into the 50's. I'd wait by the fence with lemonade my mom made and usually get a ride up and back. Once He was lighting his cigar and burned his fingers...no ride that time.
His Son farmed with an Oliver 70. Rubber in front, tip toe steel on the rears. Those looked like race cars to me with their sleek lines, slanted steering wheel and dash...I never got to ride on that tho.
Now I've got a barnful of Olivers and I sit on them whenever I feel like it!

Hi Fullthrottle: You asked if any remember using horses and I do. One day is still very clear in my memory. I was riding one horse and my cousin was on the other as the team pulled a hay wagon. We did not control the horses, my uncle and father were walking alongside pitching loose hay up unto the hay wagon. They controled the horses with voice commands as well as special sounds. The horses responded very well in pulling ahead to the next pile of hay and/or turning when needed. Nice and quiet. We heard a smaller airplane high overhead circle a couple times and it was guessed it was an older cousin out on a solo flight. Great way to ride a horse on a Summer day.. This was during WW-2 as they didn't like using gas if the horses could do it.. ag. ret.

My Grandpa and Dad worked into the early 50s with 2 teams. They also had a JD B with steal wheels with large cleats on the back. That B did a lot of work, but never any Haying because those cleats would stab the hay into the ground. At least that was my Dad's answer.

Remember using horses? Cripes, we're still using them! Seriously, with rising fuels costs, repair costs, tires, oil, parts...if you have a few horses, use them! I don't care if it's a 20 year old Quarter horse or a nice 5 year old team of Percherons, put them to use. That old riding horse lets you check fence or look for lost cows just as easy as a 4 wheeler and the team will do a lot more than some people seem to think. If you have the time and skill they add to the versatility of your operation.

Some might laugh at the idea but for a smaller operation they make sense. I've got lots of rough pasture that the horses can make use of so why not!

Heres my dad in spring of 1944 dragging down corn ground prior to planting with his two teams working together. Although he had two Hart Parr's ,a row crop 70 I think and an older standard tread in the shed he did not want to use what meager gas ration he got from the gov't to pull a 4 section drag with when he had these horses around who needed a job to pay there board.World War 2 was still going on and rationing was still in effect,or so he told me when I got old enough to understand.

Until my grand father passed away in 1991 we always had a team each of horses and mules. I did not care for them. So I sold them several years after he died. I still have all of the harness.

He used the horses to cultivate. He always went through the corn one last time when it was waist high. Single row cultivator and one horse. He also mowed all of the pastures with a sickle bar mower that he pulled with the horses.

The mules he used to pull logs out of the woods. They where good at that. All you had to do was walk the mules one time on the path that you wanted them to go on and they would follow it. He would fall trees and top them. He would hook the chain and send the mules to me. I would unhook them and send them back to him. While they where gone I would saw and trim the logs to length. He and I logged quite a lot of woods around here. The Federal park guys called for years after he died to trying to get us to thin some of the trees in several of the federal parks around here. They liked that we did not tear up as many trees and the slopes as you would with a skidder.

I remember that last team of big black mules pulling thirty foot long, three foot diameter oak logs up out of a river bottom. I only remember one time that we had to shorten the logs to get them to pull them. They would tighten up the harness and lunge that log up an off they went. I know that they would out pull most of the smaller tractors built in the 40s and 50s.

My youngest brother kept them until they both died. They where almost thirty years old. They still would pull together as a team right up until the last two years of their lives. They both got sore knees and he kept them stabled in deep saw dust to cushion their knees.
The first year he had them he took them to an antique show down in Missouri. It rained almost six inches the first day. They had cars stuck every where. The old tractors where not the best in all of that mud. So he hitched up that team of mules. He just put a lead rope on the left ones halter. He would hook up a chain to a car. and then tell those mules to GO. He had to run to keep up after they got it going. He laughed about how those mules would yank so hard on some of the smaller cars they would get the wheels to jump off the ground at the start.

I dont know because Im to young. But my father in law told me farmed with horses, milked by hand and saw electricity come to there farm. He said he would go out early in the morning to cut hay with the horses as later the horse flys would bother the team. I think he said the first tractor his dad bought was a Oliver 70 or maybe 77 NFE. I told him dont you wish you still had it today. He said the Oilver was such a nice tractor.

Just plain sad. I can drag four section spike tooth like that with my Honda ATV. Could do that acreage in 1/10 the time it took him. His oats cost him more than 2010 gasoline. No wonder we are at 9.8 unemployment.

My Dad bought a new C Allis in 1942 and traded in eight horses as down payment. Still had enough horses left for the haying and culivating.
And I started driving that C in 42--thrilled to death too.

The Amish, among others, still use horses and are quite prosperous. At least they're not up to their ears in debt for that big mean yellow and green machine.

Many of the Amish around here own tractors

What was your point? That your rice burning Jap trap could pull that unit faster than his horses? Bragging that you could do it in 1/10th the time?? WTF? It sounds like you are putting him down for using horses and feeding oats?

Starting to wonder about this Gordo kook.

Thanks to everyone that replied. The farm was in southern Colorado. The tractor was a Fordson for those of you curious. Grandpa was working for a mining co. besides farming at the time of the picture. (The mine owners wife took the picture.)Besides being a miner he hauled the supplies for the mine, which included gasoline and coal oil, so I'm sure he had fuel but chose not to use the tractor for this task. I do have some experiance with horses, but as much as I cuss the tractor I can't imagine I'd get much done trying to farm with horses. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and pictures with me.

Hey Gordo, when your ATV can reproduce itself, run off grass hay, heal itself when it breaks and when it can can skid say 1500 lbs of pine out a narrow skid trail on snow and mud (which it won't be able to do) then you can brag and rag. You simply aren't aware of what you don't know.

FYI- he wasn't using 4 horses because he had to, he was using a four up because it balanced out better, was more efficient, and because he could cover more ground. Like I said, you don't know what you don't know. I believe they call that "ignorance".

You mean they're finally being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 20th century? (;>))