Tractors

The Haystack Takes a New Look As Modern Machines Replace Muscles

By Staff
Published on September 1, 1973
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Haystacks and wagonloads of loose hay were common sights on farms of the past. Haying in those days meant long hot hours in the sun wielding pitchforks for big farm families. And the harvest was measured by the size of the haystack.
Haystacks and wagonloads of loose hay were common sights on farms of the past. Haying in those days meant long hot hours in the sun wielding pitchforks for big farm families. And the harvest was measured by the size of the haystack.
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Modern hay handling equipment like automatic bale wagons have turned a major, time consuming task on the farm into a one-man operation. With one of these machines, a farmer can bring hay in from the field without touching a bale.
Modern hay handling equipment like automatic bale wagons have turned a major, time consuming task on the farm into a one-man operation. With one of these machines, a farmer can bring hay in from the field without touching a bale.
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Courtesy of Alan Jamieson, Route 1, Port Dover, Ontario, Canada
Courtesy of Alan Jamieson, Route 1, Port Dover, Ontario, Canada
Alan Jamieson
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Don Selmer
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Courtesy of Don Selmer, 811 Gary Street, Madison, Wisc. 53716
Courtesy of Don Selmer, 811 Gary Street, Madison, Wisc. 53716
Don Selmer
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My Allis-Chalmers U Tractor. It has an Allis overhead engine, year 1935, serial No. U-25-7 and was shown at the 1972 Tri-State Gas Engine and Antique Tractor Association Show. Courtesy of Jim Taylor, Jr., Route 5, Box 118, Greenville, Ohio 45331 GA-
My Allis-Chalmers U Tractor. It has an Allis overhead engine, year 1935, serial No. U-25-7 and was shown at the 1972 Tri-State Gas Engine and Antique Tractor Association Show. Courtesy of Jim Taylor, Jr., Route 5, Box 118, Greenville, Ohio 45331 GA-
Jim Taylor
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Courtesy of Thomas M. Jensen, 559 Sheldon Rd., Palmyra, N. Y. 14522
Courtesy of Thomas M. Jensen, 559 Sheldon Rd., Palmyra, N. Y. 14522
Thomas M. Jensen
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Courtesy of Frank Sherring, Box 301, Carbon, Alberta GA-73
Courtesy of Frank Sherring, Box 301, Carbon, Alberta GA-73
Frank Sherring

There was a time when hay wagons and haystacks were common
sights on the New American countryside. Hot August days meant
haymaking from dawn to dusk and long cool drinks from canning
jars.

In those days horse power was supplied by real horses and a hay
wagon was a haystack on wheels. It used to take a crew of men and a
team of horses to build a haystack on the flat bed of a farm wagon.
One man rode the back of the stack, guided the horses and piled the
hay. Many a young farmer took a spill with a slipping haystack on a
hilly field before he got the knack of stack building.

Today it might be easier to find 2 needle in a haystack than
find a haystack itself. Technology has passed by haystacks and
pitchforks. Modern farmers tie hay into bales and carry it from the
fields neatly stacked aboard automated wagons.

Automatic bale wagons like those produced by the New Holland,
the farm machine division of Sperry Rand Corporation, have replaced
the old team and wagon in haying operations. With the use of one of
these machines a farmer can bring his crop yield in from the field
without touching a bale of hay. What is more important, machines
like these have turned a major, time consuming task on the farm
into a one-man operation. A single farmer can pluck bales from a
field, drive to an unloading area and unload all the bales one at a
time or as a complete stack.

Automatic bale wagons have replaced hay wagons, balers replaced
pitchforks and thermos bottles replaced canning jars. Old style
back-breaking haymaking is little more than a memory on the
American farm scene.

Courtesy of Jacob W. Wittmer, Employee Communications and
Community Relations Manager Sperry New Holland, New Holland,
Pennsylvania 17557

Alan and his No. 8 Birdsell Clover Mill new in 1919 and a D John
Deere, new in 1928. Picture was taken in 1931.

I purchased this engine at an auction in October. When I bought
it, it was stuck tight and I did not know the name of it. The first
week I got it home my dad and I started to soak all the parts, and
within that week we had the piston and all the parts free. Looking
in the back issues of G.E.M. I recognized an engine that was very
similar to mine. It was a 4 HP FOOS gas engine made by FOOS Gas
Engine Company, Springfield, Ohio. I hope to have it painted and
running to show at the Badger Steam & Gas Club Show.

This picture was taken at the Annual Reunion of PGEA meet at
Fairville, N.Y. in August 1972. At the helm of this beautifully
restored Oil Pull is Paul K. Smith with his wife Dorthy in the
drivers seat. They are past editors of the Pioneer Engine Bugle. I
believe the other passenger is Howard M. Wakeman. Howard and his
wife Harriet are present editors of our fine publication.

This is me standing beside my 1950 Crossley Brothers Diesel,
15-1/2 HP, Type B 90, 450 RPM, serial I02775. Made in Manchester,
England.

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