[AT] Showing tractors

[Francis Robinson]

    I am still hoping to hit Portland tomorrow (Wednesday) but it is taking 
longer to get this gypsy wagon built than I expected. That is a common 
occurrence these days...   :-)   If not Wednesday PM then Thursday morning. 
I have had a few things pop up lately that took blocks of my time. I have 
about had my fill of doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, funeral homes, wills 
etc...
    An interesting side note here, (well, I thought so) I understand that 
the oldest living woman in the world is now right here in Shelbyville 
Indiana. It seems that she followed the most basic rule to become the oldest 
woman, she didn't die...   ;-)

    Now about showing old tractors... Now that I will have less (hopefully) 
demands on my time and energy for personal family care and farming I have 
began thinking again about doing a lot more tractor stuff and showing next 
year. I have had some thoughts bouncing around about showing. When my mother 
(and Diana's mom) began to demand too much of our time caring for them I 
cash rented most of the grain land on our small farm just one year at a 
time. I kept my equipment in case I wanted to return to grain farming. I 
have decided that grain farming simply doesn't pay well enough even with 
this years higher grain prices to justify it on a small farm (122 acres). At 
a tractor show auction Sunday (I didn't buy a thing) a fellow was chatting 
about how bad the drought was hurting his crops. I responded that my cash 
rent was doing just as well as the year before... He nodded knowingly and 
walked away laughing...
    I have very mixed emotions about selling much of my equipment. My 
current plan involves planting part of the land to horses over the next 
year. I have been trying to do this for a couple of years but it has moved 
slowly. Now it will happen quickly.
    I will likely sell my old Gleaner Combine but I just can't seem to 
convince myself to sell my John Deere 4020 even though it has just sat in 
the barn for over two years... It needs little more than painting and the 
existing paint isn't just awful. The trouble is that I don't even belong to 
the local tractor club any more (our local show sucks big time) and that is 
the only one close enough that I would want to drive it to. It is heavy 
enough that I would have to buy or build a trailer heavy enough to haul it 
safely. I also have an excellent 16' IHC disk, a very good John Deere 4-16 
semi-mount plow, a very good Glencoe 10' ripper type chisel plow and a very 
good John Deere 24' 3-point field cultivator w/harrow bar. If I sell the 
implements I don't need the 4020. If I sell the 4020 I don't have anything 
else that could use the implements. They are kind of a set.   :-)   My 4 or 
5 smallest tractors are all big enough to till my pumpkin patch. None of the 
hay equipment requires very much HP. Even the Vermeer round baler operates 
very easily behind my Farmall S-MTA. For the time being I am telling myself 
that since none of my stuff owes me a dime and all of it was paid for in 
cash when I bought it that I might as well just keep it (except for the 
combine). At least I would have it if I want to till a field and plant it to 
horse pasture or hay. Of course son Scott's Oliver 1755 would pull all of 
it, just not quite as fast as the 4020. I don't know if he will keep his 
Oliver or not and I don't think he knows quite yet himself. He did mention 
maybe selling some of his stuff like his pull-type John Deere 24' field 
cultivator and his Ford 4-16 semi-mounted plow. At the same time he 
expressed reluctance to selling his really nice working John Deere 15" disk. 
It needs new blades but he bought a big pallet load of very  good used 
blades and I know that he has more than enough to replace all of them on his 
disk. We were usually using my IHC disk with like new blades to disk the 
first time over and usually just hitting the ground with the field 
cultivators before planting but if  a second disking was needed we usually 
used his Deere since it left the ground quite level compared to the IHC. I 
bought his hay equipment from him and his solid old 1966 IHC Loadstar 1600 
grain/dump truck. He still has an interest in his old tractors (and mine) 
but his house addition (and remodeling the rest of it) promises to occupy 
all of his extra time and money for the next year. He also hopes to build a 
40'x40' pole shop/barn and if he gets it built then he may be able to do 
more old tractor stuff in it. Right now he is squeezing in a tiny bit of 
work on his Harley and my 65 Mustang when he can. He has about everything he 
needs to get his Allis 190-XT, that he bought cheap to restore, running but 
it is a gas and he is wishing he can find a diesel for it. He once found out 
which diesel engines will fit but said Sunday that he lost the information 
in the move. Does anybody know off hand?
    I have a small "fleet" of wagons, mostly hopper wagons and several are 
small ones. I am slowly converting them to hay wagons. I may keep a couple 
of the larger hopper beds for hauling sawdust for horse bedding.
    I have also thought about painting and showing my Yanmar 1500-D. I might 
get tarred and feathered due to it not being old enough but I suppose it is 
maybe 30 years old... I have never really checked. Well, if I did, I forgot. 
:-)    One reason is that it is easy to haul in a full sized pick-up. I 
could haul the Farmall CUB in the gypsy wagon and the Yanmar in the truck 
bed. That would allow me to show two tractors at more distant shows. How 
would everybody else's club react to a Yanmar 1500-D showing up?
    I mentioned that our local show sucks (not just my opinion). I tried to 
do my part to help the tractor numbers a few year ago by hauling in 5 
tractors and an Allis Roto-baler and the only thing I heard from the club 
leaders was a couple of negative comments about my "rusty old junk". I 
believe that most of the list members here that have been here to the farm 
or seen my tractors at Portland will tell you that while most of my running 
tractors may not shine in the sun, they are generally good solid working 
tractors with out caved in sheet metal, bashed lights or are smoke machines. 
:-)   The next year I just took my two restored tractors but the show just 
keeps going downhill. In that club if you don't pull you might as well not 
exist. When the show starts half the tractor in the display line-ups are 
pullers and as soon as they pull they leave, even early in the show. I have 
not been in the local club for several years now. I have shown at the next 
county south-east of us.



--
"farmer"

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net