ALL ABOUT TRACTORS BY PAUL WALLEM When traveling west of the Mississippi River, you see a gradual change in the type and use of tractors. Fewer cropland areas and more pasture appear. Flat country turns into rolling hills. Large poultry and hog operations disappear, and more cattle are on grass. Moving west, those changes reflect the need for different tractors. No longer are they needed to pull tillage tools, planters, push dairy feed, fertilize, or cultivate. Instead, they are needed to rake and bale hay, power irrigation pumps, grade lanes and roads, and do the dry land jobs that are so different from cropland. Working horses are now very rare east of the Mississippi. Cow horses are still required further west, where ravines and rough ground prevent wheeled vehicles. I had the privilege of spending four days each summer for 17 years on a close friend’s ranch in Northeast Wyoming. He made good use of three tractors on 33,000 acres, but cow horses were used far more, year-round. There were too many acres that were not accessible by wheeled vehicles. There was something very special about the quiet movement of the cattle herd as we moved them to different pastures. There was always the amazing instinct that directed a cow horse to block a runaway calf. No ATV and certainly no tractor could match that. Yesterday I talked to this close friend, now 95, and yet he still rakes hay. (On a tractor). He’s quite pleased with current cattle prices, and a spring with good rain. The dry years of 2023 and 2024 brought the need to buy hay. This year to date, they have baled 500 round bales, and will not buy any. Ranching and farming are surely different. Neither is easy; every year is different, but they are not just a business, but a way of life. More memories – response from a reader “I was driving the tractor on our IH baler at age 5 – originally a 45T baler, then a 55W baler. My dad custom baled, and a normal full load was 60 bales. He wired a 2x4 block on the clutch. We would take either one or two wagons, depending on where we were baling. I remember when U.S. 40 was three lanes, and when I was 7, I drove the baler down the roads. We used either an H or an M. Both balers had their motor. I think it was a Cub motor, but not positive.” Precision farming did not happen overnight That path began in the 1970s, over 50 years ago. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system owned and operated by the U.S. Space Force. Public use of GPS began in 1994. A significant step forward occurred in 2008 when Leica Geosystems debuted its CORS (Continuously Operating Reference System) Network software. It allows auto-steer systems. Users rely on signals from tower networks across the U.S. Many of the networks provide free RTK signal access through their state’s department of transportation. Also in 2008, John Deere introduced the ITEC Pro (Intelligent Total Equipment Control) system that automates the tractor driving function, giving less-skilled operators the precision needed to be more efficient and accurate. Other suppliers have introduced similar systems. Burma Shave sign for this week Brother Speeder, Let’s Rehearse………All Together, Good Morning Nurse Paul Wallem was raised on an Illinois dairy farm. He spent 13 years with corporate IH in domestic and foreign assignments. He resigned to own and operate two IH dealerships. He is the author of THE BREAKUP of IH & SUCCESSES & INDUSTRY FIRSTS of IH. See all his books on PaulWallem.com. Send comments to pwallem@aol.com. |
