In 1966 (the year I was born) Dad decided to give up farming for good. Three years later we moved into town and although we kept the farm ground, I, for the most part grew up as a city kid. The farm has been our family almost one hundred years and was originally farmed by my great-grandfather with a team of horses. The first tractor used on our farm was 1941 John-Deere H. My dad convinced is father (somewhat reluctantly I think) to cosign for the John Deere so he could take over the farm, seeing as how great granddad was getting up into his late seventies. For the first several years, even though great grandpa was supposed to be "retired", he would hitch up the team and if he got to the field first he would be the one to start the plowing although dad was now supposed to be the one farming the ground with his new tractor.
In 1990, After twenty-five plus years working for the state, dad retired and started the "good life." Of course this lifestyle involves going to all those places you would like to go but don't really have the time. This is how, after being off the farm for most of my life, my dad became the owner of a tractor again. I remember him coming to my house one day and telling me about how he had been to a tractor show at the local fairgrounds and saw a lot of great old tractors but, was disappointed because there weren't any Ferguson tractors like the ones he had used when he still farmed. I suppose in a way it may be partially my fault that he was even thinking about tractors because I had just bought a house in the country with about a two acre yard. A neighbor told us about an old Farmall B that had a belly mower and this time I convinced MY father to loan me the money so I could buy it to mow grass. It didn't run when we got it but I figured I could fix it up, and besides the price was right and old "pop" was going to loan me the cash. Well, it sat for all that winter and still wasn't running when mowing time came around.
I guess, looking back on it, I shouldn't have been surprised when he came back from one of those "places you would like to go but don't have the time" and told me he had bought a Ferguson 30. Now, I thought this was great because Dad still lives in town(*) which meant he was going to have to keep this new purchase at my house so, I asked the next logical question that came to my mind. "Did you get any thing with it.....like a mower? Three days later dad called and said he found a " 20" in the local paper that had several tools with it including a mower and it was less for all of it than he had paid for the "30". Even though I didn't know what a "20" was I went along with it because I was pretty sure I had heard him say MOWER. We went to look at it and I realized it was another Ferguson tractor and it looked and ran pretty rough. I was ready to hop back in the car and go when I heard dad say "we'll take it". I have to admit I thought it was a terrible idea at the time but, as it turned out it was to be the beginning of a tractor hobby that has brought our family a lot of fun. We now have one of each type of Ferguson manufactured in the United States as well as many impliments made by Ferguson to go with them. And Oh Yea.... You guessed it that Farmall B, that in a way helped to start it all, still doesn’t run!
(*) This isn't exactly true anymore. Dad now lives just a mile
down the road from me which works out even better because
I havn't mowed my own grass in two years! By the time I get
around to thinking about hooking up a tractor to mow, its been
done three days ago. Having a tractor enthusiast living close by
who is just looking for a reason to play with his toys is not so
bad.
