[AT] Plows, was Re: Supervision

[Carl Gogol]

Growing up in central NY I remember back in the 50's 60's as Oliver plows having the reputation as pulling the easiest and for fully turning sod.  The original plow that was part of the farm's legacy equipment was a 2-bottom Case pull type plow that the Farmall H struggled with in sod.  One of the first pieces of replacement equipment my dad bought was a used set of two bottom Oliver pull type that he thought did a good job and pulled significantly easier.  When the JD 60 was bought as a second tractor a set of 3-bottom JD plows were bought as they were the only ones that would mount to the odd ball two arm upper link system the 60 had.  Dad never liked the job they did on sod.  When the D-17 was bought they used the JD plows for the first year and then a set of 4 bottom hydraulic reset semi mounted Oliver plows were bought.  I remember the ad they ran in the farm journal that said essentially no matter what color your tractor was it would plow better with Oliver plows.
Carl
Manlius,NY

   
I interviewed an 80 year old John Deere Dealer in Mount Veenon, WA a few years back because he had worked at a John Deere dealer in the 50's and I wanted to tap his memory about some JD research I was doing at the time. Eventually we got around to talking about JD plows of that era. He really surprised me when he told me they didn't sell many JD plows. He told me that the farmers wanted Oliver plows because they pulled easier. That was the first time I had ever heard that and I was on a farm myself during that era with all J D plows. Your comment now is the second time I've JD plows pulled hard.