Yea
EZL, both my Grandfathers were farmers. Maternal side was Elmer Olson, I inherited has mechanical skills. He always said he was a Jack of All Trades. Paternal Grandfather Carl Peterson, dairy farmed to the end and I was put in his service every summer from the age of Ten until he died. When his Good Wife gave up her egg money business Carl took over the chicken coop. It had a cement floor and made it a work shop. Needless to say, he have me a free had at what ever was on the farmstead. It went both ways, When Carl was down with pneumonia. I milked and cared for 8 Guernsey's and Jerseys'. Grandma washed the milkers. Because she was particular. Cousin Arvid gave me my first motorcycle ride at age 4. It is a clear now as it was then.
Tom
Yeah Tom, thos were the "good-ole-days" I was raised on a farm and we raised 430 head of cattle and a couple hundred hogs.
My Dad built a automated conveyor to feed those big brutes. He had farmers all over this are visit to see his operation. He was
from the old land Germany and mechanical skills were nothing to him he taught me a lot being around him. Biggest mistake we
got into was trucking and he build his own equipment for working on the Cummins engines. He hauled cattle before he went with
the diesel engines and had an old GMC gas hog which caused him more problems until he realized he needed something more
dependable like the diesel engines in his trucks. He went with the ole International 2000 with the 220 Cummins and it was alright
until he and I decided to haul grain with the trucks. That engine was a pooch compared to the Detroit 318s. He and I decided to
change that 220 Cummins to a 262 with a turbo the difference was night-and-day with power! That old 2000 would out pull even
the tractors running the 250 Cummins and a 318 Detroit could touch it pulling. The livestock industry took a dive and we ended
up farming and trucking grain. I bought a 350 Cummins in a International 4300 and drove it for several years. He always wondered
why I wanted a 350 until he realized the mileage was better than the 290s and 250 Cummins. Just before he passed away he had
a 350 Cummins which was turned up on the pump. I got out of trucking because every "Tom-Dick-and-Harry" started getting into
the hauling and messed up the prices. I had a friend of mine and Dad weasel his way into hauling for the elevator and messed us
up getting the hauling. My Dad had converted the old pole barn over to a machine shop with a nice concrete floor and a used oil
heater he built to heat the building. The oil came from the diesel engines on the trucks from oil changes. My Dad had a corn sheller
operation and I was hauling grain to the elevator at 14 with and old International tandem axle truck for him. I never got stopped by
and policemen since we weren't around them and there wasn't that many on patrol. The farmers were more tightly organsized
and a policeman messing with them would cause big problems in the community. One cowboy state trooper thought he could
harass the farmers hauling into the elevator during harvest season on axle over weights and he got shutdown by the elevator
manager and was told he was trespassing, causing delays with the grain unloading. I hope the idiot lost his job!
When I got out of the service I worked in a machine shop that is still in business and then went to Modine Manufacturing building
commercial air conditioning/heating systems. That company shutdown and relocated and I doubt if they are doing the same work.
I've got a background in electronics and worked in it for well over 30 years but that market has nose-dived and it is now a
plug-and-play market where a fella doesn't need to have the practical background/tech school experience to repair equipment.
Not many farmers in the area have any milking operations. Most of the farmers in this are are farming at least 1,000+ acres
and they wouldn't have a clue how to do it the old way since they have gone to mechanized expensive equipment. They are
lazy and haven't a clue about how to plant corn/beans using the old tractors with no cabs with the dust flying. I've been there
and done it! They now run through the fields with GPS steering, electronic sensors that monitor the combines in air conditioned
cabs. That's the same for the planting on the tractors. I would say, that most all of the farmers today wouldn't have a clue on
how to work on the older combines/tractors since the new equipment has been computerized---->what a mistake! I have always
wondered how the County is going to do in a serious war where there's no cellphone service, GPS is nonexistent because of
a EMP hit the country? I am pretty sure you know what I mean.
