VINTAGE Plowing Contests circa 1950 (Part 1)

[Music] hey we're back with more of grandpa's old home movies uh here we've got a clerk ag6 a loading off trailer i really enjoy this part because those planks were pretty much worthless because of the size of the tracks and they didn't stand a chance as well as you can see uh cle track was bought by oliver that's where oliver got his crawler line from so i'm assuming we most likely sold this i believe that's an ag [Music] or it could be an ad just gas or diesel but the most of these videos are uh plowing competitions here they're loading up getting ready to head out and this is right out in front of the dealership [Music] that ag is loaded uh or a dozer uh crawler it's loaded up on trailer with a plow i believe this is a nearby farmer they're still farming in the area their semi with a couple different things a couple tractors couple plows on that getting ready to head out i have no idea who this guy is but this is in the road right out front i do recognize that there's trees are bigger now and everything uh you can see the 4-h flag flying there so this is a this is a 4-h sponsored event and it was as much a learning event as it was a competition kind of get the younger ones uh trained and the proper setup and techniques of using a plow and then the ones that we're gonna compete would later on uh get their section of land to compete with [Music] [Music] this time the old klee track a they i guess there's some planks there but the ground was the right angle and everything that it didn't destroy the planks i'm not sure where this is at someone's farm that donated ground to let people plow on for this 4-h event [Music] and i do believe this is an oliver 70. i'm gonna guess this is somewhere in the late 40s this particular contest event does not have any fleet line oliver's at it this plow here is a as an oliver tnt plow and they called it that because it was designed to break up the hard pan that plows would leave it you can just see the tnt label on it add a little subsoil or bottom behind each main bottom to help break up that hard pan they didn't go over terribly well because a two bottom plow would pull as hard as a three bottom because of those sub soiler shanks and when you drop from three to two bottoms you lost a third of your productivity in a day so back then that was a that was a big difference [Music] the old cars are neat in here um don't recognize any of those faces oh here's the crawler out plowing quite sure that's an oliver plow a little bit of everybody plowing that day they're all pretty much plowing on the same land here i think this was uh set up time and practice time i'm sure some of you will recognize the other brands of stuff and maybe you can put down in the comments what you're seeing i just know the oliver stuff now here's that 70 this young boy on that tractor uh depends on which one of them boys is but he was pulling that 270 but he's a retired farmer now if it's the one i'm thinking of [Music] always tweaking and adjusting [Music] i think that might have been one of our mechanics but right there the two ladies and the young boy i think that was my grandmother my aunt and my dad it'll come up here again in just a moment there's a there there they are that's i'm pretty sure that's my dad there in the hat i didn't know him when he was that young [Music] hear this plow or this tractor and plower set up they're kind of giving the ins and outs of it and they've got the tractor up on blocks to simulate the angle it would sit at in the field and explain why why they set it up the way they do [Music] oh there we go that's my aunt and my dad again i'm quite sure my grandmother sure looks like him anyways once again he's the plows up on blocks land wheels up and uh simulates where the plow would be setting without actually having to be in the ground so they can explain things better ladies and pants that was probably pretty rare back then because plowing competitions were a social event and a lot of times people would dress up pretty nice to go to them these guys here they're brave [Music] [Music] [Music] of course clips are short you know it wasn't like having your phone back then where you could record for an hour or with a gopro or something with a lot of memory it costs money to send that film in and get it developed so clips here clips there that's an oliver plow it's like a plowmaster i'm just amazed that it's in color for as old as it is some of the stuff needs a speed corrected some i'd done some with it when i first transferred this onto the computer done a lot of work now would probably be a lot quicker with a lot better faster computers that we have now oh yeah that's one thing my software did was kind of would occasionally throw a little chunk in again i just need to get these redone [Music] here's a exhibition pass i would call it just for everybody plowing all at once give you a parade of the different contestants [Music] here's the 70 there's the tnt plow again watch real close you might have to rewind but you look right in front of the tail wheel the plow and you can see the subsoiler kicking up soil right behind the main bottom [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i would say these are the judges they're actually going to get down to the actual competition part of the event that dark dark blue black sedan look just everybody seemed to have that back then kind of the whole henry ford any color you want as long as it's black but now we got the contest rolling i swear grandpa was riding on a horse when he shot this part kind of bouncy but each contestant got a set amount of land to plow then they had a block of time to plow it in so they could stop and go as they wished they were judged on different criteria like right now they're striking out their land and you want to keep it straight you want to keep your depth even you don't want any residue on top back then they didn't um so they'd go down they come back keep going around try to keep it nice and straight keep it even they got to judge judging each one making notes comparisons other things that they judged on was the evenness of the headlands like right there where they're dropping the plow in you want to keep that as straight as possible um the straight going across the field um well if you get crooked your furrows don't fill in good and it's more than just a matter of pride it's it's a matter of uh a field that's smoother to work and the next pass with a disc or whatever and your planner is going to work better if you get your feel plowed good in the first place the headlands make a big difference if they're really uneven when you're plowing your headlines you have to drive across those those bumps that unevenness and i've done that before cleaning up after a plow day i've had at my place that it it makes you bounce a lot so there are reasons for it and so you can stop make adjustments to your plow you can make adjustments on the go you can have stakes to site by to help keep yourself straight but if you use up all your time and you don't get your plot fully plowed you can lose points now now we're getting close to the dead furrow part which is where you're plowing out from each direction and there's an art to that because you want to get everything turned under but if you're not careful where the two sides come together you can plow a very deep trench and and no one wants that so they were judged on on that on how well they cleaned it up if it wasn't straight then you have to make extra passes to go finish it up and you end up with tire tracks across your field which the neighbors are going to laugh at stuff like that so [Music] they definitely had things they were watching for different points that they would add up that's how they would finally announce the winner is by the number of points that each contestant got for the job they did these are the dead furrows of different ones some look a little smoother than others and and that would definitely a little straighter that one's got a little crookedness to it and those are things that make the difference between the winner and the loser they're all doing nice jobs but there's little details that can make the difference [Music] here we have some more footage of lands getting struck out as they call it that first pass this looks a lot like our soil in our area sandy turns over nice plows up really good so i still think this is one of the local competitions here and a lot of the same tractors [Music] well here's one for all you john deere fans pop pup pup pup pup pup [Music] here's where grandpa decides to have some fun with the camera [Music] more dead furrows [Music] wow that's one of the ladies from earlier competing [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] oh this is from a wagon pulling a wagon a load of people around to watch the competition maybe that's where grandpa shot his shaky footage from seems to be a little more steady here just pretty much just about wraps up for this chunk here some local faces that maybe some of the older people in my uh neighborhood that watch these uh maybe you'll recognize some of the faces but hey appreciate everybody watching loading back up it's time to go home thanks again

Channel: That Oliver Guy - Chris Losey

Views: 4,291

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: ioTMYT05pz4

Length: 18min 12sec (1092 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 11 2021