Dumb questions from a newbie...

I'm two generations removed from knowing anything about tractors. I grew up in Indiana, and when I was small my grandpa was still trying to farm just a little bit. By that time, I think he was planting no more than 5 or 6 acres of tobacco. My mother would help, sitting in a little two seat planter that they'd use to put the 8" tobacco plants in the ground with.

This is about all I remember... I couldn't tell you what the make or model of the tractor was, or even what other implements he had to go with it. A disc or plow probably, something to spread fertilizer with maybe?

And yet, as I get older, I find myself drawn to doing this sort of thing. I know absolutely nothing about tractors (hell, I don't even know much about small engine repair). I keep thinking that if things go right in the next few years, I'll be able to buy some land around here (Lubbock, TX). It's cheap, it's fertile if a little dry. They raise cotton mostly, but you'll see the occasional corn field. Maybe soy a bit more often. I've even seen what I'm pretty sure was sorghum and wheat.

Now, I am a fool. But not the kind that thinks you can really make a living farming... not someone like me anyway. But I think about growing a few acres of corn or soy, and I wonder what all equipment you'd need to do that. Is there any sort dumbie's guide to farm equipment out there? I'm still years away from buying land or a tractor, so I have plenty of time to read.

How much should a guy expect to pay for a serviceable tractor? I've seen prices as low as $2000, though I expect those might need a bit of work. Are they completely junked out at those prices, only being sold for parts to those who restore tractors?

What kind of equipment would you need with the tractor, to actually do some work with? You'd need to disc/plow (both?). You'd need to plant seed with it. You'd need something to harvest it with, so you're not out there picking by hand. Can anyone give me details, clue me in?

Hell, even if I get the right equipment, how am I supposed to learn how to use it? Maybe 60 years ago, this stuff came with a user manual, but surely those are all long gone. And now days it looks like they only make and sell $500,000 combines that do 50 rows at a time... I can't exactly read the new manuals and hope that it'd be all that helpful.

Where should I even start to learn these things?

You're in the right place, right here.

With some careful shopping and a little knowledge, $2,000 will buy you quite a lot of tractor. Old, low-tech tractors without ANY modern conveniences, but good, solid horsepower. Thinks 40's and 50's era. AWFUL lot of corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat got planted and harvested with those tractors.

Finding suitable equipment will take more looking, but it does exist.

What you want to do is called "hobby farming". No expectation of breaking even, much less making any money. It's done for the love of it and the relaxation.

I do it on a very small scale. Lot of folks grow, bale and sell hay on this scale.

Original manuals can be found on Ebay, reproductions are also available.

As I said, this is a very good place to start. Read everything, start learning to screen out the bulls**t, ask a few questions. There'll be the usual percentage of folks that will give you a hard time, call you a wannabe and their answer to everything is "GET THE MANUAL", but they're a minority. Most folks here are glad to welcome a Noob to the fold and will be very helpful.

Unbelievable range of knowledge and experience right here.

I was under the impression that there never were cotton harvesters for small tractors. I've been reading up on that particular subject quite a bit, and they seemed to go straight from hand-picking to combines near as I can tell.

I've been thinking about growing cotton too. I've actually been growing it in the garden this year, just to see what the plant looked like. It's amazing that the fuzzy stuff gets turned into cloth. If it didn't mean spending half a week picking the stuff, I probably would raise an acre or two of that just for the hell of it.

The corn and soy I'm interested in because I was thinking about trying to raise some hogs as well, and wondering if I could make my own feed for them. If I got a manure spreader, the two things would sort of support each other.

Hadn't really thought about hay. Don't know if anyone grows much around here... little need for it locally. Quite a few cattle feedlots, but they're all fed grain of course.

lots of cotton picked with tractors before combines
Ron
cotton

another one
Ron
cotton

JD one
cotton

I farm about 8 acres, usually in wheat and soybeans. My newest piece of equipment was built in 1952. Outside of tractors I have less than $1500 invested. I do it all myself with this old equipment. Normally the only thing I don't do myself is spraying, which the local Co-op does. Just not worth messing around with a license for the tiny acreage, although I probably could buy a small sprayer pretty cheap. I own 3 plows, a disc, spring tooth harrow, cultipacker, grain drill, combine, mowing machine, hay rake, baler, corn planter, corn picker, & 3 wagons. None of this stuff was in very good shape when I got it but was able to make it usable without much investment, just time and work. Bear in mind that I've accumulated this machinery one piece at a time over 35 years. A lot of the stuff I bought out of a fence row for $20 has been turned into scrap over the last 5 years, so it'll be harder to do it now. My beans yield as good as my neigh bors new no till, but I have a lot more time & money invested in planting and harvesting. Thew idea is to enjoy doing it, and I do.

Bigger problem growning cotton is keeping the grass down, unless you have a way of applying chemical grass preventer. In the 50"s we chopped the grass with hoes and of course picked it by hand placeing it in cotton sacks. Its a lot of work. Especially in 95 degree weather. Good expierence though. Go for it.

Thanks Ron...

But I can't even tell what I'm looking at. On the John Deere, it kinda looks like a corn harvester of some type, but rather than pulled behind at an offset or anything, it looks like it's mounted in between the body of the tractor and the rear wheel. On the axle or something.

Is the second row on the other side, sitting between the tractor and the other rear wheel?

And the others? Where to even begin? Looks like it'd be a week job to even attach those to the tractor. If there really is a tractor underneath. ;-)

Paul,

What are the practical limits to how many acres you could do with a small tractor? If you plant 4 acres of wheat, how many hours does that turn into (roughly) over the course of a year? I keep thinking that I'd like to grow it for myself, and even if I had very modest yields, I don't imagine I'd need more than an acre.

I really do think I'd enjoy it as well, and I hope to get there some day.

They did make cotton pickers for tractors. This is a 314 picker mounted on an H Farmall. These were made in the early 60's. The model before this was a 114. after that they went to a self propelled picker. John Deere also made one.

Good tractor show this month in Lubbock at the museum site grounds.

http://www.agriculturehistory.org/about.php

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Farming+for+dummies&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10784661063079778119&ei=8P2oTL3VOMb_lgfBubmtDA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC8Q8wIwAw#
South Plains Antique Tractor Association

Don't want'a be a thrower of cold water, ........don't know anything about the boll weevil eradication program in TX, but there are places in the country where you could/may still can get in trouble just planting cotton in your garden; check with your extension agent, local CO-OP or chemical dealer.

Lots of difference between a cotton picker and a cotton stripper; the picker picks "cotton".....with the seed, of course; a stripper gets everything but the main stalk.

I saw a vintage ad either on here or some 8n forum of a cotton picker attachment for an 8n Ford. It may have been a Woods Brothers, they made all kinds of stuff for the 8n.

The time for beans or wheat is about the same. I never kept close track but probably about 16 hours to plow, fit, plant & harvest 4 acres would be close. Not counting any breakdowns, of course.

We destroyed a $25,000 corn head in about 30 seconds yesterday. If that give you any idea of costs.

Gene

Not a dumb question.

I am a step ahead of you only in the sense that I grew up in Iowa and farmed corn and soybeans as a kid. I operated big equipment, 100hp+,on behalf of the real farmers. Pretty much just did as instructed without knowing exactly why.

Fast forward 30 years and I have steadily increased the size of my garden to about 2 acres.

This is the system I went with: 1953 Farmall super C with the fast hitch. I have accumulated a fast hitch: moldboard plow, disc, rear cultivator. I have the mounted cultivators,planters and fertilizer side dressers for it. I built a 10' drag using 2 sections out of a 4 section trailer drag. I have about $4000 cash investment and hundreds of hours messing with it and learning about machinery that was made before I was born.

My GrandFather raised 10 kids on 80 acres. In the beginning with horses and then a 8N Ford. He never did get anything bigger. Grew mostly corn and fed that to the hogs and chickens. My Grandmother traded eggs for butter, bread, coffee, salt etc. All other groceries came off the farm.

You can do alot of farming with an inexpensive 20-30 horse tractor.

They grow Peanuts up in that area. You might look into that.

Good luck.

In reply to HH in AR: That photo of the IH cotton picker looks like it was taken at the Corning Arkansas Harvest Festival ??? My grandpa had one mounted on a Super Cl. Dad and I started picking cotton with a one row #1 John Deere mounted on a JD A. Used it for several years.

There's a book named "Two-Acre Eden" written by Gene Logsdon (Amazon has it) that I think you will enjoy. He touches on a lot of the things you are considering. Also, a good source is the "Farm and Machinery Handbooks" by John Deere back in the '40's and '50's, (eBay, GREEN Magazine) for not only do they describe the tractors, but also the implements and how to use them. We just left a 20 acre place in Arkansas, never made a nickel after expenses.

Ouch. I really feel sorry for you. I hope insurance covers some of that.

Am I looking at this right? I've found a few other pictures now that I know what model number to look for. Does this thing fit on the tractor so that the tractor rides backward to its normal operation?

John Deere made a cotton picker small enough that it was mounted on a 420 series tractor and it picked low cotton going under the axle housing.
They weren't too successful here in middle Ga. The cotton was mostly too tall for them.

On the I-H pickers like this they flipped the ring gear over so that it ran forward when it was in reverse position on the shift and the ground speed was correct for picking. John Deere could use the reverse gear as it was because they had first gear straight across from the reverse slot and it served as reverse for them with out a lot of work flipping the ring gear over like I-H had to.