first tractor

how old were you when you bought your first tractor, what kind was it and who many acres did you farm........I was 14 years old bought a jd 60 for 1,000 dollars, farmed 25 ac rented ground

I was 9. I bought an Allis Chalmers C from the elementary school janitor for $150,tractor and cultivator. Each of us kids had a cow of our own,a can number that our individual milk went in to and we each got a milk check.

rrlund, you had a good dad, that had to been a tremendous education for a kid!

I think he kicked himself for a while for ever getting me started in this danged business. lol

I started farming in 74. Jr in high school with 60 rented acres. Used dads equipment till I got up to 160 acres in 78 and raising 800 hd of hogs a year. In 1978 I bought a new 1086. First cab tractor on the farm. Then it went downhill in the 80's.

Never bought another tractor till the mid 90's. Still have that 1086 I bought new and when I bought it I never thought I would go so long without buying another tractor for 15 years.

Gary

I was in the seventh grade (12yr) and I bought a JD "G" that was locked up for $450. It had been overhauled and only ran a few hours after the owner got it back. Locked engine. HE was tired of it. They had installed one of the oil lines wrong and it got broken off the first time the crankshaft turned. My Great Grand Father and I took it apart. The crank shaft was just lightly scored. We polished it with fine emery paper an put in new bearing and it was running. Your should have seen me driving that Beast without any power steering. LOL

What I remember most was how the old timers talked about how "BIG" that tractor was. It was low powered, noisy, hard operating beast!!!!

My Uncle had a nice Ford 661 with power steering that was twice the tractor and easier to operate. So when I went into farming myself I looked at a Ford. Money was tight and we had started our family. So I looked and found a "cheaper" Ford. That was a 1966 Ford 6000 Commander.

So I ran those two tractors for several years. The Ford was just a little over 10 years old and Ford had already quit making parts for it. That soured me on Ford as a company. My Grand Father had JD and some IH. The biggest being an IH 1466. I spent a lot of hours on that tractor. So I ordered a NEW IH 1086. It was delivered in April of 1980. I hated that tractor!!!! Hard to see out the back and road like a log wagon. Gear shifter was crap from day one. I sold that tractor in August of the same year. It had less than 200 hours on it. My wife refused to drive it as she could not stand the ride. I bought a JD 4440 that was one year old with the money from the sale of the IH. After that I only farmed mainly with JD.

I totally quit using the JD "G" in the early 1980s. It set for several years and did not get ran much at all. I sold it for $750 in 1983. Ten years later it would have brought 3-4 times that as the collector craze took off.

I sold the Ford 6000 in 1985. I had paid $2500 for it and got $2500 out of it. Kind of wish I had kept it. It was a nice handling tractor. It would be a nice "show" tractor.

I bought a stuck 1951 B when I was 14, got it unstuck, ran it for for a few years and sold it as college money. That B had oversize M&W pistons, it would really lug.

I was 18 and bought a JD 730 electric start diesel for $2500.Didn't 'have' any ground yet. Helped a few neighbors, bought a few implements along the way and started with a bit of 'custom work'.

My first was a 930 case that I bought when I was a senior in hs in 1980. Used it on dad's farm that year and then on my 160 acres I bought that fall. Wish I still had it.

Don't know if this counts or not, I was about 14 and got a sears suburban 16 garden tractor. 48" mower deck, and a 48" snowplow. I had a good size vegetable garden, and after some time in a GE newsletter classified I found a davidly Bradley 3pt manual left bottom plow, later I found disks and 1 row cultivator. I also wanted a cab, so I bought a used solid front glass soft side bolens cab, dad helped me fab it to fit, I also bought chains for the rear tires. It was alot of fun, I still have it all.

24, John Deere 4320, 0 acres at the time. Knew I was going to get into farming and always wanted a 4320. A neighbor had one that had a wiring fire and sold it to me cheap.

the ol G was a hoss , my great uncles had a couple ,.Dad said they were man makers and man killers .. LOl,. my 1st tractor was a JD M, it ran sweet ,. we set tobacco with it ,my 1st wife drove with our 2 yr old daughter on her lap ,I set tobacco , with son 10 month old mikey in his punkin seat sitting in the plant tray , that little m could run so smooth and slow we could talk to one another easily. we were all happy as can be, and it WAS FUN ..set a acre in one day. 2nd tractr was a DC Case ,a Mean hoss , then I got a 3010 that thought it was from the 2 cyl era ,,ended up grinding the valves and seats and it rea,lly was good tractor then.

Did not get my first tractor till I had been out of the Navy so I was 25 plus but I do have the first tractor I ever played on which was my grand fathers tractor which is a 1935 JD B

Still a tractor. Doesnt matter how big(or small).

I was raised on a small dairy farm,but did not have my own farm until I was 36.Dad then 'inherited' his 300u(and equipment) that I grew up on to me as he was retired from farming.A few years later,since my farm was tobacco,hay and cattle,I bought a 140ih with a setter and cultivaters,to grow our own tobacco.After a while I bought a 574ih,which I only kept 1 yr until I found a 485 case/ih with a loader.After determining the 485 could run the disc mower and round baler well enough, I sold the 574.Later after about 10 tobacco crops I sold the 140 and now just do hay and cattle.The 485 does most all the 'hard jobs',and the 300 takes it a little easier.The 300 has 7530+ hrs,I got it from Dad at 5703 hrs.I drove it a lot as a kid,so it is a safe bet I have drove it more than anyone else. A heck of a lot of my childhood memories on the farm are related to the 300.When I first bought this farm,my Dad loved to come out and help.I mostly wanted him to drive the wagons while we loaded,but he always would help unload too.Dad is gone now,but the 300 always keeps him in my mind.Mark

I got a job when I was a senior in high school, so I didn't do any of my own farming until I was 25. I bought a nice used AC 170 diesel- except it had a cracked block! I used it that way(carrying water on it) for a few years, then traded it. If I had known then what I learned since, I would have found a block for it and kept it.

Got you all beat. I was 62 when I bought my first tractor. Grew up on the farm, but went to the city to seek fame & fortune after high school. Never found them, still poor & unknown.
Retired at 62 & moved to 1/2 acre lakeside home. Neighbors all warned that we could be snowed in for several days at a time, so bought a 51 Allis WD with loader to clear my driveway. Used it to clear driveways & lift,push, & pull stuff for neighbors.
Poor timing, but put house on market in 07 just before the housing bust, sold everything that would be too much for long distance move. Decided to stay, now have a 52 Allis CA.
Willie

I must have been about 10, I didn't buy it, my dad did, and it wasn't really a tractor but to me it was...

A Huffy riding mower! LOL Had a 4 HP Briggs engine. What a piece of junk, but I put it to work mowing yards. Built me a trailer to carry the push mower, gas, ice chest... I was in business!

Somebody posted a picture of a Huffy mower just like it, sure brought back some memories!

The first I bought was a super 77 this past summer but I was given a stuck 77 last year and bought a 88 a few weeks ago but have always had an 8n and 530 to play with I'm 16 now and a Jr in hs I'm trying to find some land t rent this next season and I I'll use the 88 to farm

When I was 11, I bought a 1927 J.D model D. Block had froze and was junk. I was lucky enough to find a brand new block from a dealer who was thinking about going out of business and got it for $100.00. Out of the 5 JDs I had, that's the only one I still have.

Forgot to add, that was 49 years ago

I was 52 when I got a 43 Ford 2N with FEL for cleaning driveway in winter.
Tired of snowblowing for 4 hours when we got more than 6 in. of snow. Living in the snowbelt area of NY that happens just about ANY time it snows.
Also picked up a well used up rotory mower so SWMBO would stop using a tired lawnmower to mow 12 acres of pasture.

My first tractor was a Super M my dad and I rebuilt when I was a senior in high school which he gave me. Didn't farm anything. First tractor I bought to farm with was a 1996 New Holland 8670 which I bought when I was 22 years old farming 150+- acres with it. I'm 27 now.. Been a good tractor for me. Got it paid for last year...a very good feeling. It gets used for farming my dad's and grandpa's land as well. My 'older' tractors and equipment don't get used much for the farm.

First tractor was a JD H, we had just bought 12 acres and I had no intention of farming it myself so it was enough for some mowing and garden work. Couldn't find anyone to farm the place so I bought some junk equipment out of the fencerows and started. Then got a JD A to run a hay baler and went from there. Still have some of the fencerow equipment, but finding a replacement for it would be tough. Too many junk dealers and Amish around here for that. Restored the H and showed it at EXPO XI in 2001.

I was 16, bought a 52 JD B for $650. Dad loaned me a No. 9 JD sickle mower. Neighbor had 1200 acres in setaside, gave me the job of mowing it. plus about 5 to 7 thousand bales of hay. I think I got 1.50 a acre. I thought I could mow 20 acres a day. But the ground was rough and full of junk. I hate sickle bar mowers to this day. But I made good money for a kid. Dad gave me all the money!

I was 18 and bought a TO30 Massey to fix up and sell I also bought a 300 Case to fix and sell. My 1st to farm with was an 830 Case when I was 23. I was renting 480 acres of pasture and soon after bought a 4020 PS or POS as I soon called it. :lol:

I was a freshman in high school in FFA. Bought a 1942 70 , Oliver and rented a farm about three miles away. By the end of my junior year, I figured farming wasn't for me. Government told me how much wheat I could grow, was one thing. Anyway, I bought a truck and chain saw, cut and hauled pulp bolts that year. That was the starting of my trucking.

My first was an Allis Chalmers WD bought when I was in 10th grade. I paid $500 for it. I started farming the year I got out of school (1989) by renting 30 acres by then I had a 2510 and dad gave me a nice 4010 to start farming. Tom

Bought a 400 Farmall LP gas. Farmed 14 acres of cotton. I was 20 years old. 35 years ago. I no longer have the tractor nor raise cotton.