Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 1st tractor on the farm

Another tractor thread.

What was the 1st tractor on the farm?

My Great Grandfather bought an International Harvester Titan 10-20 and a three-bottom plow in the 1920s. It did not replace the work horses, but it speeded up the field work a bit, so he said.

Very neat old picture...

Farmall H was first one grandad had. I caught the corner of the chicken house with the rear wheel and [bleep] it up pretty good. Grandad laughed his ass off but the old man took a belt to my bare ass.

Dad wasn't a farmer, but I remember us having an International "A", not a super A, with a hand lift for plowing the garden. Of course he bought it used, but the neighbors said they thought it was the first tractor in that community.

No picture Wayne, my father talked about an F 20, steel wheels, no road gear.

Bet those were rough riding sob’s. But it sure would’ve beat the heck out of walking behind a horse or mule drawn plows

I’ve still got one of my Great Great GrandDad’s mule drawn plows.

It’s long gone now but I remember an old FarmAll tractor that GrandDad had the barn when I was a kid that he had to start with a hand-crank like a Model T Ford.

A first tractor of a friend's family

Anything mechanical would beat staring at a mule's azz all day.

A guy at our county fair had an International hay baler made in 1929 there. After inspecting it for some time, I told my wife I sure would enjoy seeing it work. Just at that moment, an older gentleman walked up, climbed on his old John Deere tractor, and backed up to tighten the belt. Then he dropped a wood block in it, ran wire through it, and began tossing straw in it. It made as tight and pretty a bale as any baler available today. I found that fascinating.

that I remember Ford golden Jubilee. Parents are part of another Farm before I was born and I really don't know what kind of equipment was there.
I can remember my grand father's one and only tractor.orginal farmall cub. Before that he used real horse power. So goes the story

My grandpa got a John Deere A but took it back and got the B. We had it for a long time too. I dont know what happened to it. We used it in 1981 to plant some trees . It replaced the 2 mules he had , Bitsy and betsy.

First one I remember was a Farmall Regular on steel. I can remember walking down the dirt road to my grandparents place rather than ride on that rough riding thing.

About 20 years ago, I bought a 1929 Regular as a basket case and got it running. It came with a parts tractor. This one was on rubber. I played with it for several years then found a fellow who had also been around one as a kid. He had to have it. There were tears in his eyes when he drove it for the first time. Mine too.

http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/004/6/8/4685-farmall-regular.html

I can remember when I was small, being at my great uncle George's house one day when a couple of guys stopped and asked if he'd sell the two mules out in the pasture. I'll never forget what he said. He told them he owed everything he had to those two mules, and since he now had a tractor, they'd never have to work a day again as long as he had any say about it.

I grew up in a small town of about 1000 people. Helped bale hay and walk beans, but lived in town.

Graduated, got married. moved to a county rental house and twisted wrenches at the local Allis Chalmers Dealership.

First year there, learned a snow shovel did not clear a 75 yard driveway very well!

Got an old Allis Chalmers WD-45 from work for about $100 as I remember. Bad engine.
Overhauled it at nights after work. Found a cheap loader and chains.

No more carrying sacks of food 75 yards to the house due to snow. On the cheap...but it served us well for starting out as newly-weds.

We need to keep in mind what is old to us was new at the time, better than what they had prior.

Dad used to talk about the F20 Grandpa got when he was a kid. He started out with a team of horses, but when that F20 showed up he was ready for change.

GrandDad had one of those too. Learned to drive tractors on it. At a very young age. 🤠

First tractor we had was a Jubilee, but my uncle farmed and I remember him having tractors with steel wheels. I remember him talking about changing from steel to rubber and back to steel, depending on what the soil conditions were and what he was pulling. I dont remember what model tractors he had. There was 4 or 5 of them, but they were all Farmall/Internationals. He liked red paint.

Long after tractors were widely available, an old fellow who lived up the road from my grandfather kept a big mule. I was just a little kid at the time,...maybe 5 years old,...but I recall my grandfather borrowing the mule to break his garden.

He didn't have to. He didn't own a tractor at the time but many family members in the community had tractors and would have been happy to break his garden spot.

The old fellow who owned the mule had a couple of tractors, also. He didn't need to plow with a mule.

I didn't think anything about it at the time. But looking back afterwards, I guess those old men just liked having a mule around to stay connected with their youth.

My grandfather got a box of sugar cubes after he finished plowing and we stood in the yard feeding them to the mule. I recall being a bit anxious about the mule's teeth so close to my hand and my grandfather telling me to just hold my hand flat as the mule ate the sugar cubes out of it.

Then I was allowed to walk the mule home to his owner about a quarter mile up the road.

It's one of those little incidents that you look back on and realize that you didn't appreciate it enough.

My grandfather was not only connecting with his youth by plowing with a mule,....he was making the effort to connect me with it also.

It was a fun time,...but I was too young to take as much from it as I should have.

You will notice there is a single bottom walking plow in front. I have that and also my Great Granddads "breaking plow" with a wood beam.

Our farm Was established by my grandfather in 1942... I think his first was an Allis c and ca ...them in the early 50s he got a Wd 45...
Then a JD MT....the first JD on the farm...we had that Wd around till the late 70 s but sold it when he bought my other grandfathers Wd 45..which we still have along with the MT....that origonal Wd 45 came up on a sale and dad went to bid on it to get it back...it was selling way to high so he let it go...turns out the kid that won it was the grandson of the guy dad sold it to...they talked some and it turns out his grandad owned it longer the we did so it's fine...