Ag Proud

Shattered windows and burnt cookies

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 15:51:45 -0400

In life, it seems like there is always something. Maybe you’re in the middle of a drought year and it decides to rain only after you cut your hay. Maybe you left the gate open and now your cows are in the neighbor’s yard.

Old mowers

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 19:55:11 -0500

Snow was falling, and I had planned a day of repairs in the shop. I wandered back to the ditch with the old machinery to look for a piece of metal for a welding project.

Fresh eyes

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 21:20:24 -0400

My little sister, Sadey, was my go-to. Not sure what to wear? Overthinking a situation? Frustrated over something? Stumped with writer’s block? Stuck in my own stubborn way? Sadey was always there. But, did she just listen? Oh no, she brought what I often needed, what I like to call, “fresh eyes” to each of my scenarios.

The punny farm

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 17:56:58 -0500

For the first blog of the year, I thought I should include a few jokes – you know, for kits and gaggles. It’s been a tough year, and I think we could all use a few “calfs” (I warned you – watch those puns). I’ve been hearing a lot of jokes about sheep I thought I could share. I started telling them to my dog to test them out, but she’s “herd” them all. I tried telling them to the cows next, but they were just “laughing stock.”

Reinventing yourself

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 19:25:16 -0400

My wife, Andrea, and I have been married for 35 years now; we’ve been blessed to have a nice home and family. Like many couples, we have had our ups and downs, but fortunately, the ups covered up the few downs nicely. Like many of you, 2020 has been an unusual year, to say the least; however, our most challenging year by far was 1998. That was the year we both reinvented ourselves.

An unpractical guide to raising chickens

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 18:46:56 -0500

Last spring, I purchased 25 mixed-breed chicks from a hatchery that shipped via USPS. Feeling like I should be economical with my purchase, I bought the cheapest option. A “scratch and dent” straight-run group. I call them scratch and dent because they were the leftovers from other orders. I wanted a variety of breeds, and this got me that selection at an excellent price.

Farmer’s 12 Days of Christmas

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 18:49:55 -0500

’Tis the season for a trip to Tractor Supply for a few of my favorite farmers. I made my list (and checked it twice!), and then my little brother amended it to make sure I was getting what he really wanted. It was such a fun list to make we decided to parody it Jeff Foxworthy style. A 2019 Farmer’s 12 Days of Christmas was born.

Old Iron: A follow-up and a farewell

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 14:00:01 -0500

It’s hard to believe I’ve been writing this column for Progressive Forage for three years. When I heard the magazine was looking for someone to write about vintage tractors and old hay machines, I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

Old Iron: When a vintage mower makes the cut

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 14:56:20 -0400

I haven’t had time to do very much farming this summer, but I have spent a lot of time on a zero-turn mower trimming and maintaining the farm. Here at the house, I decided to take a different approach to taking care of the yard this year instead of the twenty-plus-year-old Craftsman 50-inch-cut riding mower.

Old Iron: Our collection and the revival of a treasured H

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 17:14:25 -0400

I suppose all collections have to start somewhere. The photo accompanying this article was taken around 2003 and is a pretty good representation of the start of ours – the Farmall M and the Oliver 77.

Old Iron: The family farm and the tractors we used

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 16:10:39 -0400

As this issue of the magazine reaches you, Memorial Day will be just around the corner. I recently came across a photo of the family farm I took Memorial Day weekend back in 2006.

Old Iron: Baling hay the vintage way

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 18:10:59 -0500

Methods and machines used to bale hay have certainly changed through the years, and I’m sure that almost every major farm equipment company has produced a small square hay baler at some point.

Old Iron: Oliver: For men who grow

Thu, 27 Dec 2018 19:04:06 -0500

It’s no secret Oliver is my favorite brand of farm tractor. I have talked about this before and the many reasons I feel this way. It’s a shame people were the undoing of this great company and not the exceptional product being sent to the field farmers had come to expect over the years.

Old Iron: The good, the bad and the ugly of the hobby

Tue, 30 Oct 2018 19:28:29 -0400

Collecting vintage machinery can be a tricky, expensive and time-consuming business or hobby. Sometimes we hear from folks about old machines that have been in a barn for years or just sitting abandoned on a farm somewhere.

Old Iron: Rolling on with a special tractor transporter and a Hawk-Bilt baler

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 15:55:42 -0400

As I sit here in the barn thinking of what I should write about and reflecting on our annual show, which just concluded, I’m trying to think of a very unique piece of equipment to discuss.

The power of laziness

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:35:10 -0400

One thing that no farmer ever wants to be called is lazy, and for the most part, we work our way well past that label in the eyes of the general public. I once had a friend who was contacted by a network news organization conducting a poll on work habits and work hours. About halfway through explaining his day, the interviewer proclaimed, “No one works like that!” and my friend hung up the phone on him.

Old Iron: Horse-drawn equipment

Wed, 30 May 2018 22:41:30 -0400

Have you ever stopped to think about how different farming would be, especially the harvest of grains and grasses, if it hadn’t been for the intelligence and perseverance of a young man from Virginia?

Six pieces of farm wisdom to go by

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 19:43:03 -0400

The recent unpleasantness and uncertainty in the dairy industry has caused me to reflect a good bit in the past few weeks. My family was fortunate to know the pleasure of dairy farming in a more hospitable time. Markets were stable and prices allowed for personal growth and enjoyment; it really was “the good old days.”

Old Iron: Oliver muscle tractors of the ’70s

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 18:57:36 -0400

The 1970s turned out to be the end of an era in farm machinery manufacturing with White Motor Company taking over the Oliver Corporation, Minneapolis-Moline and Cockshutt, forming White Farm Equipment.

Old Iron: Behold, a Minn-Mo in prairie gold

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 19:19:55 -0500

Minneapolis-Moline gave us several other mechanical innovations still in use today. I have often thought about what the agricultural equipment industry would look like today if Minn-Mo, Allis-Chalmers and especially Oliver were still in business.

On the Edge of Common Sense: Cold feet

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 19:00:44 -0500

Yer lookin’ at a feller with no tennis shoes, a ’76 GMC pickup, an outhouse and a learning permit for a cellphone. But, lest you lump me into that group of stodgy ol’ dinosaurs who cling to the days of Garth Brooks, pygmy Angus and real spare tires, let me assure you I have stepped boldly into the modern world of manly footwear.

Lost and found

Tue, 05 Dec 2017 21:15:06 -0500

We had a carefully orchestrated plan for the first week of October. We had to be in Panguitch, Utah, for the National Senior Pro Rodeo Finals by Tuesday night, but we couldn’t leave until we finished pregnancy testing the cows on Monday.

Old Iron: A popular corn picker

Tue, 28 Nov 2017 23:29:01 -0500

I have always enjoyed the look of mounted implements on old tractors. I am especially drawn to the look of a mounted corn picker. All the curves and lines of the sheet metal and the contrast of the white elevator against the rest of the IH red just looks great to me.

Why Americans need Thanksgiving in 2017

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 22:19:21 -0400

Thanksgiving: It’s the only day deemed appropriate for bringing out larger plates, loosening your belt and gorging yourself like a 900-pound steer that recently discovered corn.

Old Iron: My two favorite Farmalls and OGATA

Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:17:35 -0400

The third week of July was especially busy and extremely hot in southwest Virginia for the members of the Old Glade Antique Tractor Association (OGATA) as we were preparing for our 10th annual summer show.

Machines with attitude – wipe that smirk off your engine

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 21:53:28 -0400

Some scientists predict that within 20 years robots will have the ability to think for themselves. I know people who are freaked out by this idea, assuming the robots’ first thought will be that they could do a lot better job of running this planet than we are.

Young rancher tips proverbial hat to timeless harvesting tool

Wed, 02 Aug 2017 17:15:56 -0400

It’s happened with trucker caps, Pokemon and The Beatles – what was old is suddenly new again.

Old Iron: 1957 John Deere 720 standard diesel

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 19:22:49 -0400

The history of John Deere is one that has been told many times, and it is one of the earliest farm equipment manufacturers still in business today.

Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future

Thu, 06 Jul 2017 22:00:57 -0400

We never know what the markets or weather will be, but we know they will change from what they are today. Life on the farm is similarly subject to changes, but we like to think we’re in a bit more control with it than our influence over the markets or weather.

Ranch wardrobe dysfunction

Wed, 07 Jun 2017 22:53:53 -0400

When I quit my town job to stay home and work on the ranch, one of the things I looked forward to was not having to get dressed up. Then I remembered wardrobe planning out here on the ranch is way more complicated.