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Senior Member
 
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I really don't remember my first tractor ride, I was probably 9 months! I do however remember being about 5 years old when I started driving the garden tractor after Dad got down mowing.
When I was 10 I picked up my first moving violation...driving a bulldozer across a paved road. I saw the sheriff sitting there but I didn't figure he would cite a 10 year old farm boy...I was wrong! (LOL)
I know I was that age because a teacher told my Mom I was a good kid but "lived in a fantasy world". When my Mom said I was the most honest kid she knew...almost to a fault, the teacher said "but he talks about driving tractors and a bulldozer". Mom informed her that I actually did. We were cutting wood at the time with a John Deere 1010 bulldozer and I would drive the dozer hauling out the twitches of wood!
But perhaps my fondest memory was giving my daughter her first tractor ride. I waited until she was 2 and went for the big boy...the Silage Chopper since it has two seats. It was a pretty special moment that we got pictures of.
Today at age 3, she likes to ride on my small Kubota and laughs at all get out when I start it and the smoke comes out of the stack. She just loves that.
So what about others on here, got any fond memories of first tractor rides...either yourself or your children. As for me, I hope I live long enough to see my Grandchildren get a first tractor ride, though they will probably be nuclear powered by then!
Eat lamb...because 50,000 coyotes CAN'T be wrong!
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Starting Member
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Last Login: 11/16/2009 7:11:34 PM
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| I don't remember my first tractor ride, but I vividly remember my first tractor driving experience. I was probably about 10, and my uncles were cutting a hole in the bank of my Grandpa's pond to drain it. They were using a big metal scoop or bucket, attached to an old John Deere Model B by two chains. My two uncles would position the scoop on the inside of the dam, and then one would drive the tractor forward, scooping out a swath of dirt. However, it was hard for just one person to hold the scoop steady, so they grabbed me, and made me drive the tractor back and forth while they operated the scoop. The Model B had a close front axle, and the tractor was positioned on the side of a steep hill. I was scared to death that the tractor was going to tip over. I was so relieved when my uncles were finished with me. That experience is a big reason why today I own a wide, low, Ford 8N tractor.
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New Member
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I bet I was on a tractor by 1yr old...
A story I remember... My dad/uncle had a 32' B JD on a Model T rear end, running an antique JD elevator (with a cable lift). see that leaves one end of the rear end rotating in the dirt, I tried to grab it... DUH!
I was a PTO statistic when I was 3. I even remember it, I'm fine, only a broken arm. I wasn't riding a tractor, but was playing near one. My dad & uncle were filling a picket w/ corn. I can still remember the exact spot in the yard.
My uncle wanted to pop me w/ an ear of corn to get away. Dad told him not to, he might hurt me... DUH!
Oh well, that was 47 yrs ago... I remember changing the spark plugs on the A, when I was 5yr old. Cant mix up the wires on those JD's hahah... The plugs on the G were too high even w/ the breaker bar for me to hang from ...
I was custom bailing w/ my dad, by the time I was 10, that's when I could push in the clutch w/ my hands & feet, and could pull it w/ all I could!
We had a wonderful 60' JD with a wide front (a square one, not a round one)
and a "Super 77" New Holland Bailer. That bailer had a 4cyl Wisconsin Air cooled engine. I knew the "song" of that engine & knew exactly when to pull the clutch! Shear pins in that bailer were not easy to do, I learned that fast. Dad would get the bright yellow spinner to put on the steering wheel so I could CRANK IT!
By the end of a day the "rocking" of that big plunger would start to put me to sleep. Even w/ the bailer engine and the 60 singing along. 3rd gear 1/2 throttle... enough left for a boost if there was a wet spot. In a bad one I could slip clutch (that's a skill) into 4th on the move & get out of the mud!
Dad was on the wagon, we would do a 30k bales a summer on that thing. He'd stack 70+ to a wagon! Dad greased it every day, twice. He used that machine ~25 yrs. That's a couple.
And of course there was the "wonderful" windy January day w/ the spreader, oops turned with the wind... [refrain from using profanity]! ... literally
Many many more memories and stories... hmmm ought to write them down hu?
JLH
Oldhaus Fibers & Rabbits
ARBA Registered Rabbitry
Giant, French,and Satin Angoras
American Fuzzy Lops
Flemish Giants
Mini Lops
in Amana, IA
www.oldhaus.net
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Senior Member
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Last Login: Today @ 8:55:34 AM
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I think my worst injury on a tractor was actually cutting wood. We did a lot of four foot wood then (and some now) so we cut the trees into 4 four lengths and then cross piled them on a trailer. With a small tractor in this way you could get 3/4 to 1 cord of wood on since the weight was on wheels.
Anyway, riding in and out of the woods, us kids would sit on the trailer with our feet dangling down as they were not short enough to reach the ground. One day though as we headed into the woods I got my toes caught on a stump. That pulled my legs backwards until I yelled loud enough for my dad to stop. I did not get run over but it pulled the muscles in my thighs really bad.
Sometime around that time, my Dad was throwing pulp when he used the pulp hook (similar to the hook used Captain Hook on Peter Pan) on a stick of pulp my hand was resting on. He drove it down through the web of my thumb and forefinger. It never hit a bone, but that is a sore spot for sure!
Eat lamb...because 50,000 coyotes CAN'T be wrong!
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