Originally posted by ivanvernon I grew up as a poor farm kid on a small cotton farm in Texas. We could never afford a Super M but got by with a smaller Oliver 60. The Super M can handle 4-row agricultural equipment, and is still a serviceable tractor today on smaller farms with lighter soil. High labor costs in some areas of the country are forcing farmers to use much larger equipment to handle more than 4 rows at a time, and heavier northern soils make heavier draw bar loads. Driving from Cleveland south to Columbus one winter, I saw three huge Caterpillar tracked farm tractors working through a snowy day--three abreast, slightly staggered behind each other, moving at speed (for farm work, that is). There was at least a million dollars worth of equipment wiping out probably one thousand acres of plowing in a single day--why American agriculture is the most efficient in the world. Nowadays this equipment is handled through satellite, no drivers on board--the old story of substituting capital for labor.
The farm my mom grew up 20 miles east of Quincy, Illinois, on a farm that was probably still only 40 acres when she was born and never got bigger than 120. Her Dad farmed with horses. Sometime, probably shortly before or after WWII, I understand he got a tractor but didn't really take to it. It didn't communicate with him like a good team. Maybe he sold it to his younger brother. I never saw it when I was on his farm in the mid-50s-to-60s, but there was still draft horse tack hanging in the barn. He didn't have a row-crop farm, but a diversified one. He sold cattle and hogs, and fattened them on pasture and corn and hay he grew. Grandma had a flock of chickens and a very big garden. They had a family milk cow, one of which was the first cow I ever milked. Grandpa hunted, and most members of the family fished and collected wild berries and hickory nuts when in season.
I love the streamlined look of the Oliver 66 and 77. I'm not sure how different the 60 might be. I was a bit disappointed that no Olivers that old were at the South Fulton Antique Tractor Show this year. I recalled there being one or two of that era the last time I attended. There was a later 1650 this time though:
Here's a shot with more of the manufacturer breadth of the show appearing all together--Massey-Harris, Ford, Case, John Deere, Farmall:
And here's a goodie, a Minneapolis-Moline! What a great name--it sounds like the name of a railroad!
Same lens, camera, and film for these three as for the previous film shots from the tractor show.
- - -
For historical comparison, here is a picture of my Grandpa with one of his teams of Percherons, possibly Dot and Dan. Original most likely taken by my mom with her Brownie box camera.