[AT] Old tractors and old men

[John Hall]

Well, you've got me by over 20 years, have more medical troubles, and 
farm 3x's what I am--that's the difference. Similarities are we are both 
running old to antique equipment and apparently enjoy farming, and have 
a well equipped shop. Dad still does a lot of farm work for me, at age 
86. However the past 3-4 years he has had major health issues and has 
only about 1/2 the strength he did have. I find I must set priorities on 
work that needs doing and stick to it. Try to be as organized as 
possible with your plans. Have your equipment serviced and gone over 
with a fine tooth comb prior to needing it. If you can hire help, do it. 
I won't let dad drive my grain truck, he's not able now anyway. I have a 
retired fellow that will haul for me for $25 a load in the fall. It 
would cost me way more than that in lost wages from work. Make sure the 
crops you are growing are "worth it". To give an example my grandmother 
was the farmer in the family--dad and uncle worked for her. She insisted 
on having about 200 laying hens and selling eggs. About the time she 
turned 90 (yes still farming wide open) her mind began to slip and her 
health was bad---the boys made the chickens disappear--they were costing 
too much time and honestly not making a dime. I would also suggest if 
possible to have enough tractors to where you don't have to hook/unhook 
implements often--you'd be surprised how much faster it seems work gets 
done.
Sometimes I have to make a checklist of things that must be done to 
equipment before it can be used. I literally write it down and then 
check it off as it gets done. Quite a feeling of accomplishment seeing 
the list get knocked out. You have time where I don't, since I work full 
time and farm part time. I don't have time to go chasing after parts so 
I use UPS religiously. If needed I will even do express shipping, 
anything to make life easier.

Would hiring someone part time help you out, maybe a school kid or 
retiree? Is there a buddy that would help? Sometimes having a friend or 
co-worker to help with tasks is motivation to get working.

Since you are running old stuff, how about getting out there and using 
it then reporting back to the list what you did with your old iron 
today? I like to know that I ain't the only one that is using a 70 year 
old tractor for farming. Anybody can drive a Farmall M 2 hours a year 
off an on a trailer at an antique show, but how about running it all 
afternoon in the field?

Hope there is something in my ramblings you can find encouraging!

John Hall

On 2/2/2017 8:19 PM, Greg Hass wrote:
> This will be somewhat of a ramble and may wander so bare with me. Lately
> it seems some have hinted at problems so I suspect I am not alone. At 69
> much of what I thought would be the fun in life has left. Many of the
> things I looked forward to enjoying are going by the wayside. My brain
> is at about 35 years old but my body says go to he- double hockey
> sticks. A few months ago I found out my back is shot and can not be
> fixed.  It started 5 years ago while planting spring crops, every night
> I ran a small fever and in the morning I was fine only to run a fever
> again that night. After about 3 weeks I went to the doctor who ran some
> tests and found nothing. A week later the fever spiked and I went to the
> emergency room about midnight. More tests were run which showed nothing.
> The doctor said it had to be hiding somewhere and ordered a cat scan. A
> couple of hours later the results were in. For at least a month I had a
> ruptured appendix. That was bad enough, but come morning, they told me
> one of my kidneys had cancer. Six weeks later, I had surgery and they
> removed my appendix and my kidney. Fast forward to late fall; at the
> last checkup for the surgery, they told me I had prostate cancer. 50
> radiation treatments later I was moving forward but had lost the
> interest to do a lot of things. I have the best shop of my life to work
> in. It is only 24 x 24 but is heated and I have some nice tools such as
> a bridgeport  mill, torches and 3 welders plus other tools but have lost
> the go to it to go out and work plus my back is always sore. As someone
> has mentioned, if I get down on my knees I must get a hold of something
> to get up. Also for the last 4 years I have not enjoyed the 3 tractor
> shows I like to attend each year because of the pain in my hips only
> lets me walk about 200 feet at a time so I don't see much. I thought it
> was bad muscles but now know it was my back. For this year I hope to
> enjoy shows more as I bought a small electric handicapped scooter. None
> of our shows allow golf carts or 4 wheelers of any kind. 3 years ago I
> took my Polaris Ranger to one and it was great, but someone  else with
> one "bumped" someone and they sued the tractor show and that ended that.
> Handicapped scooters are allowed as they only hold one person and are
> slow moving. I guess the purpose of all this is how do some of this list
> handle problems and work on old tractors and such. I farm 110 acres and
> only have 2 pieces of equipment under 40 years old.  I used to look
> forward to getting  up in the morning and working on equipment.   All my
> life I have enjoyed working on mechanical things but now I still want to
> do it but I can't get the will power to do it. It's not the lack of time
> as I have lots of that but no getting it done. How do others on the list
> with health problems get it done. I don't want to sound like I'm
> complaining as I have much to be thankful for, however , not being able
> to work without pain and even then taking all day for a 1 hour job does
> get me down. I hope my thoughts are sort of clear and are not to off
> topic as these problems affect old iron in a big way.
>                  Greg Hass
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