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00:00Whatever happened to those farm machines from the 1960s that just up and disappeared?
00:04In one decade, dozens of machines that fed this country went from every dealer lot to barn relic.
00:10Murgers, lawsuits, and the rise of the combine put most of them out to pasture for good.
00:14So here's the real question.
00:16Can you still hear the one your granddad started before sunrise?
00:19Let's see how many of these you remember.
00:21Number one is the Alice Chalmers Roto-Baler.
00:23You'd hear the chains rattling before you saw the cloud of dust coming over the rise.
00:28It clanked, it whined, and every minute or so it would stop dead in its tracks to spit out a
00:33little round bale wrapped in twine, like it was laying an egg.
00:36The bale rolled out the back about 16 inches across, light enough that you could grab one with one hand
00:41and toss it into a pickup bed.
00:43Through the late 40s and well into the 60s, this was the round baler, the first one.
00:48Alice Chalmers built an estimated 78, 700 Roto-Balers in its production run before pulling the plug in 1964.
00:55Today you see round bales the size of a small car, wrapped in plastic, sitting in the field by the
01:01hundreds.
01:01The big modern balers don't stop, they don't tie, they don't sleep.
01:05So now think back.
01:06Did your family ever leave those little round bales sitting in the field for weeks, just because they shed water
01:11like a roof?
01:12Number two is the Farmall Cub.
01:13If you spent any time on a small farm in the 60s, you knew the sound of that one-cylinder
01:18bark in the morning.
01:19It was tiny, painted red, with the steering wheel up high and the seat low enough that your boots almost
01:23dragged on the ground.
01:25The hood barely reached your waist, the Cub had about 9 horsepower, and the gas tank sat right in front
01:29of the driver where you could watch the cap rattle.
01:32International Harvester manufactured the Farmall Cub between 1947 and 1981, with 9.3 horsepower and changeable implements.
01:40That run is one of the longest in tractor history.
01:43Farmers used it for cultivating beans, mowing the ditch banks, and pulling small wagons full of kids on a Sunday
01:48afternoon.
01:49Today, the closest thing is a zero-turn lawnmower with a logo on the side and a payment plan to
01:53match.
01:54The Cub was a workhorse for the family farm, which mostly doesn't exist anymore.
01:58Were you ever the kid who got to drive one before you could see over the steering wheel?
02:01Number three is the one-row mounted corn picker.
02:04Before the combine took over the field, this thing bolted right onto the side of your farmall and made you
02:09feel like you were riding inside the machines.
02:11Sprockets and snapping rolls spun inches from your knees.
02:14You could hear the corn cobs slapping into the wagon behind you, ear by ear, in a rhythm you could
02:19almost dance to.
02:20International Harvester built one-row models like the 14M and the McCormick C10 to fit onto small-row crop tractors
02:27like the Farmall C.
02:28They were dangerous.
02:29Men lost arms and fingers to those snapping rolls every fall.
02:32By the mid-60s, the two-row pull-behind models took over, and then the combine swallowed the whole job.
02:38Now, one machine cuts, husks, shells, and dumps in a single pass while the driver watches a screen and sips
02:45a thermos of coffee.
02:46Do you remember the sound of cobs hitting the wagon boards from a real mechanical picker?
02:50Number four is the Alice Chalmers Model G.
02:52This one looked like nothing else in the dealer lot.
02:54The engine sat in the back.
02:56The driver sat in the middle.
02:57The front looked empty, just a tube of steel running out to two tiny wheels.
03:01It was painted Persian orange, named after the California poppy, and it put it along on a four-cylinder continental
03:07engine.
03:07Almost 30-0 Model G tractors were built from 1948 through 1955 at the Gadsden, Alabama factory, and plenty of
03:15them kept working through the 60s.
03:16Truck gardeners loved it because you could see every plant under the belly of the tractor while you cultivate it.
03:21Today, small organic farmers are bringing the Model G back, sometimes with electric motors bolted in where the continental used
03:28to sit.
03:29Have you ever seen a tractor where the driver was actually closer to the ground than the engine?
03:33Number five is the dump rake.
03:35Some folks called it a sulky rake.
03:37It was a row of curved steel teeth, maybe 10 feet wide, hanging behind one or two horses, or behind
03:43a small tractor by the 60s.
03:44You'd ride on a metal seat shaped like a saddle.
03:47Watch the teeth fill up with cut hay.
03:49Then yank a foot lever to dump the whole load in a pile.
03:52Walter A. Wood introduced the spring-toothed dump rake, also called the sulky rake, to meet the growing needs of
03:58farmers working with hay mowers.
04:00It stuck around for over a century.
04:02By the mid-60s, the side delivery rake had pretty much pushed the dump rake out of the working barn.
04:07Today, hay is raked by big spinning wheels that twirl behind a tractor and never miss a stem.
04:12Did your grandpa still have a dump rake leaning against the back of the barn, even after he stopped using
04:17it, just because he couldn't bear to throw it away?
04:20Number six is the sickle bar mower.
04:22You could hear it half a mile off, that fast dry chatter of steel teeth slicing back and forth.
04:27Ka-chink! Ka-chink! Ka-chink!
04:29While the bar swung out to the side of the tractor, the blade was a long row of triangle-shaped
04:33knives that slid against fixed steel fingers, cutting the grass clean at the base.
04:38International Harvester sold a long line of McCormick Deering mowers, including the No. 6, the No. 7 and the No.
04:459 by the thousands before disc mowers took over in the 80s.
04:48In the 60s, every hayfield in the country was cut with one.
04:52Today, most hayfields get cut with a disc mower conditioner that does the cutting, the crimping, and the laying down
04:58in one single pass.
04:59The sickle bar still exists for steep ditch banks and orchards, but as the main hay machine, it's gone.
05:04Do you remember helping your dad hammer a new section into the sickle bar on the workshop bench, with the
05:09smell of grease and hot steel in the air?
05:11Number seven is the Massey Harris Pony.
05:13It was small, painted red, and built up in Canada starting in 1947.
05:17The pony had about 11 horsepower and was made for the family with 20 acres and a couple of cows.
05:22The Massey Harris Pony was sold to truck gardeners and small farmers, but it also found use on large operations
05:28as a chore tractor.
05:29The seat was hard, the steering was direct, and the gear lever fell right under your hand.
05:34In the 60s, you'd see one parked next to the barn, used for hauling feed buckets, pulling a small disc,
05:40or letting your cousin take it out to the lower field.
05:42By the 70s, the pony was gone from showrooms.
05:45Massey Ferguson moved on to the 35 and the 135.
05:49Today, the chore tractor has been replaced by a side-by-side UTV with a cup holder and Bluetooth speakers.
05:55Did you ever sit on a pony seat that had been worn shiny by your grandmother's apron?
05:59Number eight is the Silo Filler.
06:01This one didn't move.
06:02It sat by the foot of the silo with a big tractor running a flat belt off to the side,
06:07while men forked corn stalks into the throat of the machine.
06:09The cutters chopped the stalks into bits, and a blower sent the chopped silage up a long metal pipe to
06:15the top of the silo, where it fell in with a soft hiss.
06:18In the early days of mechanized agriculture, stalks were cut and collected by hand and fed into a stationary machine
06:24called a Silo Filler that chopped the stalks and blew them up a narrow tube to the top of a
06:29tower silo.
06:30By the 60s, the self-propelled forage harvester was eating the Silo Filler's lunch.
06:35The big chopper rolled out to the field, cut the corn, chopped it, and blew it into a wagon all
06:40at once.
06:41Today, no one fills silos by hand.
06:43The tall blue harvesters still stand in some yards, but most farms use bunker silos or plastic ag bags now.
06:50Did you ever shovel chopped corn into one of those old fillers with a wooden-handled fork while the dust
06:55settled on your hat?
06:56Number 9 is the Oliver 1000, 800.
06:59Oliver tractors were green and yellow with a long slim hood, and a name that meant something in the Midwest.
07:04In 1960, the White Motor Corporation entered the agriculture market with the purchase of the Oliver Farm Equipment Company, and
07:10the Oliver name slowly faded through the 60s and into the 70s.
07:14The 1800 had a six-cylinder engine, a power booster drive that gave you an extra gear in a tight
07:20spot, and a hydraulic system smooth enough to make rookies look good.
07:23You'd see one pulling a four-bottom plough through black dirt, leaving a furrow you could measure with a yardstick.
07:29By 1976, the Oliver name was dropped completely.
07:32Today, the green and yellow logo lives on tractor caps, barn signs, and not much else.
07:37Did your dad swear by Oliver, or was your family a deer house?
07:40Number 10 is the Cockshut.
07:42If you grew up north of the border in Canada, this was a household name.
07:45Cockshut tractors were dressed in red and cream, with bold lettering across the hood, and they were built for cold
07:50mornings and rocky fields.
07:51In 1962, White acquired the Cockshut Farm Equipment Company of Canada, and the Cockshut name was quietly retired soon after.
07:58The 540, the 550, the 1800, the 1850, all those models that Canadian dairy farmers swore by, slowly disappeared from
08:07dealer lots.
08:08Today, if you find a Cockshut running in a parade, you're looking at a piece of farm history that vanished
08:13inside a corporate merger.
08:14Most American farmers never even knew the name.
08:16Did anyone in your family own one, or did you have to drive across the line to see one in
08:21person?
08:22Number 11 is the Minneapolis Moline.
08:24Painted prairie gold with a yellow body and red wheels, the MM tractors were unforgettable.
08:28The Model U, the UB, the M5, the G1000, they were everywhere in the upper Midwest in the 50s and
08:3460s.
08:35White increased its agricultural interests in 1963 with the acquisition of Minneapolis Moline,
08:41and within 10 years, the prairie gold was being painted over in silver and grey.
08:45The cab tractors that MM pioneered, including the all-glass Comfort Ractor from the late 30s, had been way ahead
08:51of their time.
08:52By 1974, the brand was retired.
08:54Today, when a yellow Moline rolls through a tractor show, heads turn.
08:58The kids stare like they're looking at a flying saucer.
09:00Was Moline yellow the colour of your childhood, or did your family run a different team?
09:04Number 12 is the Alice Chalmers All-Crop Harvester.
09:07This was a small pull-behind combine, painted Persian orange, and it could thresh anything from wheat to soybeans to
09:13clover seed.
09:14It looked like a metal box on wheels with a sickle bar in front and a grain tank on top.
09:18You'd hook it behind your WC or your WD, fire up the PTO, and watch the chaff blow out the
09:23back.
09:23On forums, old farmers describe running an Alice Chalmers All-Crop combine, along with a pull-type corn picker, on
09:30small family operations.
09:32By the late 60s, the small pull-type combine was on its way out.
09:35Self-propelled combines like the Gleaner and the John Deere 95 took over the wheat fields.
09:40Today, combine costs more than a house and runs on GPS guidance.
09:44The All-Crop was the combine of the man who had 80 acres and a dream.
09:48Did your family go in with the neighbours on one of these to share the cost of the harvest?
09:51Number 13 is the Ford 8N.
09:53It was grey and red, sat low to the ground, and had a three-point hitch on the back that
09:57Harry Ferguson had basically invented.
09:59The little four-cylinder engine sounded like a sewing machine, and the steering wheel was so big it almost touched
10:04your chest.
10:05The 8N replaced the 9N and the 2N, and Ford built it from 1947 through 1952.
10:10By the 60s, every used tractor lot in the country had a few of them lined up under a hand
10:16-painted sign.
10:17They were cheap, they were tough, and they could pull a plough, mow a lawn, or run a sawmill with
10:21a belt off the pulley.
10:22Today, you can still find them running, but Ford doesn't make tractors anymore.
10:26The blue New Holland on the lot is built by an Italian-owned company called CNH.
10:30Did your family own an 8NN, and is it still hiding in a barn somewhere under an old tarp?
10:35Number 14 is the ground-driven manure spreader.
10:37No PTO, no hydraulics, no nothing.
10:40Just a wagon with chains on the floor that moved a load of manure backward into a set of spinning
10:44beaters at the rear.
10:45The whole thing was powered by the wheels rolling over the ground.
10:48You'd pull it with a team of horses or a small tractor, and the faster you went, the faster the
10:53beaters threw the load.
10:54The first successful automated manure spreader was designed by Joseph Kemp in 1875,
10:59and manure spreaders began as ground-driven units which could be pulled by a horse or team of horses.
11:04The ground-driven design lasted well into the 60s on smaller farms.
11:08Today, big PTO-driven spreaders fling manure 40 feet wide with computer-controlled application rates.
11:15The ground-driven spreader is mostly a yard ornament now, planted with flowers and a sign that says,
11:19Did you ever shovel the bed of one of those wagons by hand on a winter morning when the manure
11:24was frozen to the floor like cement?
11:26Number 15 is the side delivery rake.
11:29Not the modern wheel rake, but the old reel bar style.
11:32You had a row of metal teeth on bars that spun like a paddle wheel, sweeping the cut hay sideways
11:36into a neat windrow.
11:38The bars clacked, the teeth combed, and the windrow rolled out behind you like a long brown rope.
11:42The side delivery type continues to develop and soon becomes the most widely used type of hay rake for decades.
11:48In the 60s, this was the standard rake on most farms.
11:51Today, almost every farm uses a wheel rake or a rotary rake which are lighter, faster, and easier to fix
11:57when something snaps.
11:58The reel bar rake is now found mostly at tractor shows and county fairs.
12:02Did your dad let you ride the rake while he pulled it across the field,
12:05with the warm smell of cut hay rising up around you like a blanket?
12:08Number 16 is the hay loader.
12:10Picture a long angled metal frame about 10 feet tall, hooked behind your wagon.
12:14As the team pulled forward, the loader's teeth picked up the windrow off the ground
12:18and carried it up the ramp on a moving chain, dumping it into the wagon.
12:22Your job, up on top of the load, was to grab a fork and stack the hay, even while it
12:27kept coming at you.
12:28The hay loader was the workhorse of loose hay farming.
12:30By the 60s, the small square baler had pushed it out of the field.
12:34New Holland started production of a towed square baler in 1940,
12:37and IH followed with their own in 1945.
12:40And by the mid-60s, baled hay had won the day.
12:43Today, there isn't a working farm anywhere in America that uses an inclined hay loader.
12:48The whole machine is gone.
12:49Did you ever ride on top of a loose hay wagon with your shirt soaked through,
12:53just trying to keep up with the loader behind the team?
12:55Number 17 is the McCormick Deering corn binder.
12:57This one looked like a small reaper, with a cutter bar at the front
13:00and a canvas conveyor that lifted the corn stalks into a knotter.
13:04The knotter wrapped a piece of twine around the bundle, tied it off and kicked it out the side,
13:08where men following on foot would gather the bundles into shocks.
13:11The shocks stood in the field like teepees while the corn dried.
13:14McCormick and Deering both marketed corn binders based on their small grain binder machines,
13:19which cut and bound corn into shocks so that after the corn completely dried,
13:23the ears could be removed from the stalks and either stored or shelled.
13:26By the 60s, the corn binder was mostly retired, replaced first by the picker and then by the combine.
13:32Today, you'd be hard-pressed to find one outside of a museum or an Amish farm in Pennsylvania.
13:36Did you ever see a field full of corn shocks lit up by an October sunset,
13:40with the smoke from a brush fire rising over the next hill?
13:43So there you have it.
13:4417 pieces of iron that fed this country, paid the mortgages and raised the kids
13:49before they slipped out of the barn one by one.
13:51Some were killed by safety lawsuits.
13:53Some were killed by corporate mergers up in Cleveland and Chicago.
13:57Some were killed by the combine, the cheap import or the bank.
13:59But all of them are part of the story your granddad told you,
14:02whether you were listening or not.
14:04If you remember any of these machines,
14:05drop a comment and tell me which one your family owned
14:08and which one you'd give anything to hear running just one more time.
14:11Hit the like button if this brought back a memory
14:14and subscribe so you don't miss the next ride back down those dirt roads.
14:17I'll see you in the next one.
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