A unreal life of a farmer , all these attractive clean people driving new cars and tractors, when in fact most were struggling to keep afloat just like today

Boy what nostalgia that brought back. I started working on my Uncle's Western Kansas wheat farm that same year 1956 when I was 14 years old. Ran a John Deere 55 combine. John Deere R tractor.

Boy oh boy those folks sure did earn their meals at the end of the day. So many people take for granted the farmers and all the hardships them and their families go through to put food on everybody’s table! Thank you farmers of the world!

@thunderbird1921

2 жыл бұрын

Couldn't have said it better myself. My Great-grandfather was an Iowa corn farmer, as matter of fact he was active the same time this Kansas fellow depicted was (and kept farming until a few years from his death in the 80s). He worked the fields himself along with other family members. It was a hard life, but in every way a fulfilling one from what I've heard. He was an honorable man.

Where I grew up just a few miles south of where this film was taken, some of the neighbors were suitcase farmers. They had big swaths of western Kansas wheat ground that they picked up for cheap while the dust bowl was in full swing. They would load up equipment three times a year and go west for a week or two at a time. The one who was hailed out of 12 bushel the previous year plowed it under, the next year's yield was 40 bushel and the combine was all the equipment needed that summer. He sold out thanking his good fortune thinking that he had made the wise decision. Two other suitcase neighbors were able to find a way to hang on to what was break even at best farming and later became part of a very important gas field. Didn't need to worry much about rain after that. All that aside there's broad swaths of the wheat belt that 14-28 bushel was/is surviving, even today. Fickle is the luck of the farmers.

This is my Uncle's farm in Gypsum, KS. Family was excited that EB was making a 16mm film of their wheat farm. The actual son was probably too young to participate in the film. The real son shows momentarily at 4:23. The daughter's name was also changed to "Margaret" in the film. His wife, my Aunt, is Jim's real wife. It was true, that during harvest, nothing else mattered. Getting the wheat in was job one. There are fond memories going to the farm from our Kansas City home to "pick up Dad", Harold, who helped during harvest season for many years. We rode the 185 miles, in our 51 chevy, ever watching for "Aunt Lenora's Water Tower" to signal the end of the trip.

@trevorn9381

3 жыл бұрын

My granddad was a preacher in Clay County, KS from the 1930s to the 1950s and he said he knew the pews would be empty during wheat harvest. He said that was the only reason Kansas farm families would miss church on Sunday.

@lovetofly32

3 жыл бұрын

Man thats cool! I live just north of there and farm wheat. Kipp is the next town north and we farm north of there near I-70. When I saw the k-4 highway sign I wondered if it was in my area or out west. Ive probably put fertilizer on those fields because I used to work for Crop service out by Assaria. I bet Ive met people related to this family. So cool.

@darrenbock4953

3 жыл бұрын

The open seen is the Carlton Kansas elevator from standing on K-4 highway .I travel from Salina to Carlton a lot are fram is south of Carlton. Just trying to figure out where the farm is in the video . you see the young man coming from the North down Kipp Rd. And stopping at stop sign for K-4 then making a left to go into Gypsum you can see the water tower from there. Been up and down those roads all my life and still cant figure out where the farms out.

@gregkoenig9200

3 жыл бұрын

What was your family's name I know the Gypsum area

@darrenbock4953

3 жыл бұрын

@@gregkoenig9200 My Grandpas name was Emil Carlson one mile south of Carlton

Much better times.

@sonofthegun5178

3 жыл бұрын

Exactly much much better times

@reiniervanderheijden1260

3 жыл бұрын

How was that better

@cdjhyoung

Жыл бұрын

Hardly. Most years a farmer would loose equity in his farm operation. Only every few years would crop prices be good at a time you had a decent crop. This is just a touch above subsistence farming. Running those machines was hard, dangerous work. If you weren't a good mechanic you were sunk. In 1958 the US had a recession that cost many farmers working like this their farms. My dad was one of them. In farming, no matter how smart you work or how hard, you are always working against the weather and the market, neither of which you can control.

We did wheat farming in the late 70’s and it hadn’t changed much much from this video.

Thoroughly enjoyed this video, thanks for sharing!

65 years later...things aren't quite the same, but wheat harvest is still a big deal. $400k-$500k + combines with 30-45 foot headers..... tractors & grain carts on tracks....semi trucks. Times have really changed!

@majidmuneermehar890

3 жыл бұрын

In Pakistan we still use 80 models of combines and tractors.... same procedure.......expect storing technology

@brucekoster9253

3 жыл бұрын

@@majidmuneermehar890 our little family farm is using '70's-early '80's machines yet. Only the big operators can justify new(er) equipment.

@davehughesfarm7983

3 жыл бұрын

@@brucekoster9253 Me too...Whole herd old 40 year old tractors.. You can say they are paid for..

Really cool to see this. I live in Great Bend Ks. , and I am the first generation to not farm. My dad was 20 when this film was made, and was farming with my grandpa. Both of my grandfathers were farmers. One out of Ellinwood, and one out of Stafford. I think I will send this to my mom to see what she has to say about it.

Harvest. The best time of the year ❤

Thank you Charlie. History is rudiments! Zdravím z Moravy!

Love it. Set off all my nostalgia feelers.......😊

I learned to drive combine on one of those Massey 90's when I was 10. Lunch in the field like that always tasted good. We later farmed with 3 John Deere 95"s You didn't phone the gas co. and ask for 200 gallons of gas, you got 500 gallons at a crack, maybe more. Later we went to a Massey 751 pulled by a Case 1370 tractor. Gas guy thought we'd quit farming.

Cool to see! My grandfather worked at the Co-op in Buhler, KS in the 30s/40s and delivered gas to farmers.

Do wish we had both "worlds". The medical and tech advances of today but with the small town "feel & focus" and God, Family, Country kind of heart of the past. Where the idea of government or big business wasn't like its today. Ma and Papa farms and little stores where the place to go.I'm far from perfect. But this time seems wholesome even with its problems.

Truly Revolutionary. A Masterpiece

Yeah, pretty funny to hear a two cylinder poppin' Johnny sound like a 4 cylinder Farmall!

@STOstuff

3 жыл бұрын

That's what I was thinking

GOOD VIDEO, THANK YOU!!!

I grew up in S.E. Colorado. I did this a LOT.

I ran a combine just like this one when I was a kid.

The video is about 10 years before I was born but not a whole lot changed before I became an adult. The machines got a little bigger but but we had a Massey Harris just like those when I was young and I even ran it a bit as a kid.

God bless

Can't hide that central plains wind!!

It’s all different now the one way plow he was pulling along with lack of rain caused a lot of the land to blow away

i was on the tractor at age 7 hearding the machines around. no power steering no cab no air conditioning very difficult challange as a young boy. am 74 years young now. i remember nieghbors going by and seeing me in the field turning around and going to house telling mom that kid aint going to see 10 you better get him off that tractor

Great

Piekne lata, tesknie za tamtym wiekiem. Bylo normalnie

@polishhomestead3485

3 жыл бұрын

Właśnie było normalnie, szkoda tylko, że nie u nas. Tylko czy dziś jest lepiej?

@jaaak

3 жыл бұрын

Kiedyś ludzie żyli z ludźmi , teraz ludzie żyją na Facebooku, obok siebie

Think about time going by: those young people are about 80 years old today, if still alive and the farmer maybe burried twenty years ago... Life's a hurry...

@davehughesfarm7983

3 жыл бұрын

I also always think about the age of people now from old archives...Most are a spirit in the sky now..

The sound track is off they show a 2 cylinder John Deere tractor, but the sound is from a six cylinder tractor.

@vtecpreludevtec

7 жыл бұрын

Greg Gergen poppin johnny

i like farming

@jean-louispasche9067

3 жыл бұрын

Merveilleuses scenes de la moisson.in grain de ble recolte pour qui?

Those elevators were big for the day. Wonder if they still survive much less the railroad line theyre on

Looks like the producer of this video wasn't a John Deere fan.

@chestersnapdragonmcphistic579

3 жыл бұрын

Don't you know that REAL tractors sound like a wet fart?

@cdjhyoung

Жыл бұрын

John Deere was not the market leader in 1956, IH Farmall was with about 56% of farm tractor sales. JD was a distant second. That all changed with IH's introduction of the 560 tractor - that had a weak rear end and John Deere's introduction of its New Generation tractors. BY 1962 (about) JD was first in sales and has never looked back.

Thru the 70s I would say school was unnecessary for these kids. They learned far more at 4h and on the farms

Wheat same price now as was then

@davehughesfarm7983

3 жыл бұрын

Yep...

LIVING IN EASTERN KANSAS THERE WAS NOT AS MUCH WHEAT. BUT A COUPLE OF TIMES I GOT INTO CENTRAL AND WESTERN KANSAS AT THE HEIGHT OF THE HARVEST!!! BUSY!! WORKING FOR SANTA FE RR THE HARVEST WAS A BUSY TIME FOR US!!

@davehughesfarm7983

3 жыл бұрын

Yes Sir...I go to Kansas all the time but not during autumn.. I am a farmer in Missouri..Well a couple years ago my crop was late so in late September or early October we drove across Kansas..And it was a sight cutting soybeans, drilling wheat, chopping silage, cutting 3rd alfalfa...Busy Beavers..

I didn’t want to say anything but was the last day of harvest the day they filmed the Wizard of Oz? Oh good, the storm passed.

This was my family farm. The Farmer is my Grandpa Jimmy. Tom is most certainly not my Dad. Dad is still angryTom stole his movie career. Margaret is not my Aunt either. If You freeze the video at exactly 4:22 that's my Dad....I'm much better looking

@allenrains3132

5 жыл бұрын

Where is kansas is this?

@bjjace1

5 жыл бұрын

allen rains Gypsum

@hf5909

3 жыл бұрын

Those were the days I spent many adays in the harvest field as a young boy in the U.K. with the Massey Harris 780 rattling away and waiting for rabbits to run out of the corn great memories. I must be about the same age as your Dad, where has all the time gone.

Tom is probably 85 now and avoiding wuhan flu in Clearwater Florida..

Then the next year is a total disaster... they end up piling thousands of hours of work for meager returns. When their kids had a shot at higher technical education, there would be no turning back. If you think having 100% of your income tied to a corporate job is stressful, imagine them with 100% of their life assets at the MERCY OF THE WEATHER ! You think they were all smiles waking up at 4:00am 7/7 even when sick ? I guess that it makes up for good tales down memory lane , but the only thing I really do envy them for in this video , is not to be data intoxicated like we currently are.

Half a bushel an acre seeding rate was half their problem lol

@brucekoster9253

3 жыл бұрын

That's what my grandad and my dad planted.....I guess I thought everyone did back then. Grandad even had a 44 Massey...but they used Oliver combines.

@cdjhyoung

Жыл бұрын

It all has to do with available moisture and soil fertility. This is marginal ground. That half bushel is probably all the plants and acre could handle.

Having machinery just meant more work as you could grow more , otherwise farmer's wouldn't need to work anymore, yes its less physical but not mentally or time taken

I think every video filmed between 1940 and 1980 had the same man narrating

@joegotz1971

3 жыл бұрын

You are right. It’s the same guy I watched as a kid on Modern Farmer.

@brucekoster9253

3 жыл бұрын

He did a damn good job too!

@joegotz1971

3 жыл бұрын

The same guy did a promo film for the 1957 Allis Chalmers harvester which is now on youtube

@joegotz1971

3 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/hGeJqKeyeMyoYLQ.html

In Britain we get 2 or 3 times more wheat per acre then America & a better quality grain, due to the wetter ground. but don't think we are better off. The British government under pay farmers & fuel cost more.

@fowletm1992

3 жыл бұрын

More quantity but usually lower quality The wetter it is the less protein and offern less weight particularly if it gets rained on after it starts dying off The reason Australian grain is so sort after globally and we get a higher price per tonne But we can't produce nearly as much per ha

@fowletm1992

3 жыл бұрын

@fred McMurray Yea no they do get that 200 is the higher end but 150 is easy For some parts of Europe new Zealand and Australia I'm sure there are parts of America that can do it as well but they're prob using it for corn The record is held by new Zealand at 258bu/ac The more common yield for us in Australia is 55bu/ac The average yeild for the whole of the UK is 110bu/ac so of course there are areas do much higher The average for usa is 50bu Canada is 53bu But Canada and the us would be using the higher production ground for other crops like corn

@fowletm1992

3 жыл бұрын

@fred McMurray Im farming in Australia I farm 20k ac mixed sheep wheat canola barley and oats 70% of.our operation is sheep Im south Western coastal so classified as high rain fall area 23in a year But very poor quality soil, near pure white sand We do 53bu average on wheat over 1500ac but frankly mis management of our crops reduces yeild (we focus on the sheep because they're worth more) The average for our area is 60bu Canola we do 33bu over 3300ac Barley 88bu over 1000 ac Oats 124bu over 50 ac (plus hay cutting) Look up lincolnshire england And the Canterbury plains new Zealand Theyre widely recognised as the highest producing wheat reagins in the world Where they dont even set out to break records it sometimes just happens Nothing like the corn records i the US where they set out from the start of planting to break records So yea not everyone in the country is producing anywhere near 150 /200 bu but there are certainly people doing it year in year out Even next door to me theres a corperate that does the hyper yeild trails and achieves that, but as you said the hyper yeild trials never make money theyre just trails Ps Im not sure how my maths worked out but for the metric people Oats 5t ha Barley 5t ha Canola 2t ha Wheat 3t ha

@fowletm1992

3 жыл бұрын

@fred McMurray Super fine The local town lays claim to the whitest beaches in the world and its the same as what we farm (im 2km off the coast) No till isn't a choice its a must Any tillage risks massive wind erosion (can loose a foot of soil in a day) We dig up yellow clay with a carry grader and spread it over the feilds at 800'000 pounds to the ac To try and improve the soil, we also delv which is ripping to a depth of 10ft with a wide shank ripper that.brings clay up and incorporates it Slow and expensive work We have some black river loam and thats our high production ground But only have about 1k ac of that What we do have going for us is we never get below freezing and our weather is quite predictable, we still get bad years but never in my life have we had a total wipe out Were not making millions but its easier to borrow money for projects and expansion when you know your at very least going to make a little We also have high heat units so the vegetation can make effective use of all available moisture

@johngoose1497

3 жыл бұрын

@@fowletm1992 Compared to the US in the video, a very high percentage of British wheat is top quality bread making wheat, & the US have a very low percentage of bread making wheat theirs is mostly animal feed. Which is why Britain exports most of its wheat to the US so they can have a good bread making wheat.

Hail? Put on lifters haha

Now we know those times were utopia

@cdjhyoung

Жыл бұрын

Never farmed, did you? There is no Utopia shown here. Just hard work and barely surviving.

That is not how a John Deere 70 sounds

/

Ha! Just another subdued, made for TV war story.

@davehughesfarm7983

3 жыл бұрын

Nostalgic melancholy..

What they needed is some GMO weat!!!