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Tractors

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McCormick-Deering

Warren Neal as a young man on an old McCormick-Deering tractor with lug wheels, Dallas County, Iowa, on his dad’s farm northeast of Dexter.

Farmall F-20

An old red F-20 is among my earliest farm memories. Sometimes it was my job to scrape mud off the cultivator sweeps or shovels while Dad came in for midday dinner–south of Dexter.

Ours was never this bright, so I’ll bet Dad bought it used after WWII.
Cultivator sweeps or shovels are those diggers mounted onto the tractor.

Dad’s F-20 later became the power for the elevator to run bales of hay up and into the haymow of the barn.

Picture rectangular bales of hay marching up an elevator like this one, with my sister and me at the top with hay hooks to haul them off. Dad or Uncle Bill had to stack them.
hay hook

 

Massey Harris

Dad had a red Massey-Harris tractor for a long time, but he brother Bill started buying John Deeres. Uncle Bill would even leave our place with two and three wagons hooked on behind. He was tall and slim and usually wore an engineer’s cap–and he stood on the tractor as he drove the parade out of the barnyard and down the gravel road. I can still hear his “Johnny-Popper” and still enjoy hearing that sound.

Uncle Bill headed north on Creamery Road pulling his pickup and two wagons! Fall 1970.
There are four tractors in this picture. One is behind the wagon, pulling a disc. One is pulling the wagon, with one with a cab right behind it. To the right is another one with probably a seeder attached. Uncle Bill (Willis) is on the left, then Clyde Brooks, then Dad (Warren).
Dad got so tired and dirty driving a tractor all day, but enjoyed coming in for a cold Coca Cola.

John Deere

Dad eventually switched to John Deere and finally got a tractor with a cab.

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Fordson

My husband also grew up on a farm. Here is he on his favorite Fordson tractor.

Guy Kidney, near Glidden, Iowa.

Now he rides a Vulcan Voyager!

 

I’m rarely around tractors anymore, but I do enjoy seeing the ones at the Iowa State Fair that the FFA and 4-H kids restored as projects.

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