By Cindy Ladage

CLINTON, Ill. – Stacy and Lindy Carter farm, raise Angus cattle, collect antique tractors, and enjoy the collecting hobby together, along with their sons Krayton and Kreston.

Krayton is a sophomore at Lakeland College going into ag production. Krayton was also a two-term FFA chapter president in high school. Kreston is a junior in high school working several jobs as well. He is also active in FFA.

The entire family is bonded to the land and farming. Lindy and Stacy enjoy antique tractor drives taking their equipment on the open road. Lately the Rockville, Ind., tractor drive has been a big family favorite.

It’s an all-brand farm.

Stacy said that he doesn’t collect just one brand, but whatever “calls to me.” Every piece of equipment on his farm comes with a story and has some sentimental value behind it. Not all the tractors (and trucks) belong to Stacy, a few belong to Lindy and a few to their sons. “The Massey 44 is Krayton’s, he got it for his 16th birthday.”

The equipment on the Carter farm comes in all sizes and colors. There is a 1947 John Deere H and a beautiful Oliver 77. One truck that was a three-year project was a Lineman truck they use to pull equipment with.

Stacy has had a G and an A John Deere. “The A used to belong to a neighbor that I baled hay for. He passed away.”

Then Stacy also bought the H from a local family. Stacy said they purchased one John Deere D because, “We bid one more time. We got it and our son Kreston drove the D pulling the FFA Chapter float this year in the homecoming parade.”

He was following in Krayton’s footsteps who pulled a float using the unstyled A during his senior year.

Besides the John Deere tractors, there is a cool 1937 International Harvester F30, and a Minneapolis Moline UB that the brakes were locked up on, but Stacy got it running. “I bought my combine at the same sale,” Stacy added.

There is an MM Z, and a 1947 Massey 30, a Case SI Industrial, and a JD 3020 to love, as well as a Farmall 560 diesel. One of the nice things about a lot of the tractors Lindy added is that Stacy makes parade seats with room for two adults, which makes it perfect for tractor drives.

One sentimental truck that means a lot to the Carters is a 1967 Ford F100. This beautiful truck once belonged to a close family friend. “He was a Chevy guy, we bought it when he passed on,” Stacy explained.

One repowered tractor they own “has an attitude,” Lindy said. She said that the Farmall Super M is “obnoxious” because of the noise from the modified Chrysler engine.

The family has implements as well as tractors. They obtained a lovely John Deere 290 planter from the Historic Days show in Penfield, Ill.

Among their antiques is a farm tractor, a muscle bound 1982 or 1983 Steiger that Lindy claims. They have three total. Stacy said it is because of her height challenge that the Steiger is easier for Lindy to shift. “I used to work for John Beery,” Stacy said. “He was a dealer, and he prepped all three of our Steigers for us. The Steiger has 12 power shift speeds.”

Added Lindy, “The power shift makes it easier for me in the fields.”

How the hobby got started

The collecting hobby began right before Stacy and Lindy got married. “The John Deere A that he bought on our wedding day started the whole thing,” Lindy said.  “I didn’t know he got it until the wedding and the best man, Stacy’s cousin, announced it during the dollar dance at the reception.”

Stacy started from the beginning. He and Lindy were in the second grade together before they ended up at different schools. Stacy graduated in 1985, then began farming in 1986 when a landlord rented him the 130 acres that he still farms today. “Our semi-truck driver is married to one of his daughters,” Stacy said about the man who got him started farming.

“I grew up on a farm too,” Lindy added.

“We got married in 1988, it was a drought year,” Stacy said. “Mom still has a Valentine that Lindy gave me in second grade.”

After going to different schools, a cousin that went to Lindy’s school reintroduced them and six months they later tied the knot. Stacy moved to the farm where they were going to live in April before they married in July. “There was a fellow that lived nearby that had a John Deere A. I kept trying to buy it,” Stacy said. “Finally, he had a weak moment and I bought it for $200. He had to move because he got bought out, they were building a pipeline where he lived.”

As Stacy tried to put the tractor in “the old brown shed,” he discovered the old hand clutch was set tight. He tried to stop it and it went through the shed to the foundation. Lindy found out about the purchase, along with everyone else, when the best man/cousin announced that they needed to raise money for a new wall for the shed during the dollar dance. The best man was asking for $5 a dance during the reception. The hobby was off to an auspicious start.

Sentimental favorites

One of Stacy’s landlords gave him two tractors that mean the world to him. He inherited the John Deere 70, and John Deere power block A from his former landlord. These are Stacy’s hands down sentimental favorites. “Every time we smell a cherry tobacco pipe, we think of him.”

Stacy’s father’s John Deere 4020 diesel means a lot to him as well. The John Deere GM that belonged to his grandfather is also a special tractor.   “My grandpa owned a 1946 John Deere GM. He is from up by Dewitt.”

Through a hand of fate, a friend ended up with his grandfather’s tractor and they were able to work out a trade with Stacy getting the tractor back on the farm.

Fun at the Half Century

This year the Carter family had a blast in Rantoul at the Half Century of Progress. “I took my MM pull type combine,” Stacy said.

This year, they decided to see if Stacy’s parents wanted to come to the show. His dad had indicated in the past that if Stacy had to work with the old equipment, that he would not have wanted to collect it.  However, once they got to the show and saw the old iron at work, they were hooked. In fact, Lindy said that the goal was to have the senior Carters back home by dark. “That didn’t happen,” she said. “Once they got here and were going around on the golf cart, they loved it. I wish they would have come before now.”

As for his collecting, Stacy said, “I just like to capture a little bit of history. Some of the local history along with different brands.”