Video Footage of horse driven farm work

[Drummond Fraser]

A few short clips offered for your viewing pleasure. The first two links are some incredible footage from the 1930s with variations on some equipment I’ve never seen before.

Incredible footage of bringing the wheat harvest in by horse in the 1930s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXgpAkzl7iQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qq0ou-4u5Y

Grain Binding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yvWk9YBMXI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7mbsv7oyr0&feature=related

Loading Hay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAsanR-uB-Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVz0OkJmMeI&feature=related

Reaper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwELkLeUYJ0&feature=related

Binding Corn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdk5p4a9A1A&NR=1

Clearing snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qstiNfCjH2U&feature=related

[jen judkins]

Wow, Drummond, thank you. I thouroughly enjoyed those videos. Being very visual in the way I learn and focus, these videos really help me see down the road aways. Where on earth did you get the 1930’s video? Wonderful. Welcome to the forum. Jennifer.

[Drummond Fraser]

You’re very welcome. I just stumbled across them while doing a search on youtube, and thought I’d found something special with the 1930’s footage. I would love to see the entire film, and will likely make a request to the person who posted them. I think it would be great to gather an archive of old footage of the working horses in the early 20th century.

It never ceases to amaze me the efficiency and effectiveness of the old direct action machinery, and what was possible with horses alone.

Thank you for the welcome.

Drummond

[Carl Russell]

Drum….mond,……I……ca…n’t…….thank……you….enou…..gh,…..but….I……..’m…..gonna……have to go…..to……town…….to…get…..on…….a high speed…….con….ection.

Carl

[Drummond Fraser]

I can feel your frustration. Sorry. I can’t think of what I could do to make the clips more accessible. I hope you enjoy them when you get the chance.

[Drummond Fraser]

Just to give Carl added reason to head into town, here is another very unusual (to me anyway) piece of equipment for loading loose hay or straw by horse. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPdqd925Dc0&feature=related

PS Does anyone have any idea what this loader is called, or where one might find one?

[jen judkins]

My Gawd! That looks incredibly dangerous…especially for the poor chap driving the hay cart! Who knew that farming was such an extreme sport! Great video, once again, thanks. Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Have you seen this one, Drummond? Wow…is all I can say. Love the little babies just following along loose..I guess that’s the way to train a good draft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9myuIP-8qA

Sorry, Carl…I hope you get into town soon:p Jennifer.

[Drummond Fraser]

What a demo that must have been! Thanks.

Drummond

[Drummond Fraser]

Jennifer,

I think you will get a kick out of these, courtesy of The Iowa State University archives:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aauVlNjg2Kk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhvbnR2AA3w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_BBALStCnY&feature=related

I found the commentary as interesting as the footage (more so at times).

Drummond

[jen judkins]

Yeah, very cool!

For myself….I want one of these…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuNAL5rGMo8

You think I can manage with a single horse? Jennifer.

[Drummond Fraser]

I’m no expert and would defer to Carl and others with more experience on this. I think you would have to be careful about the draft. You certainly would have to be conservative with the load you put in it. However, the SFJ Winter 2008 edition features an article on a one horse farm (“Such a One Horse Outfit”, Robert Wright LeRoy, Michigan) that includes pictures of spreading with a single, so others have done this.

You also have some other options. There are small spreaders built for garden tractors and ATVs that should be easy for your Belgian with a forecart (see this clip for an example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajLUHYftPAU). One such spreader was featured in SFJ Spring 1999 (Country Manufacturing #600 spreader) in an article on the King Economy tractor. Another option may be to go with a three horse hitch using your other, lighter horses teamed with the Belgian, on a standard sized ground drive spreader. Lots of folks have used Quarter Horses for light draft work.

BTW, I’ve seen a number of back issues of SFJ featuring farming with single heavy drafts and creative equipment adaptations that allowed all the farm work to be done with one horse. You may want to look there for some references and even look up the farmers featured. I remember the author of one article saying that in much of Europe the tradition had been for small (30-40 acre) farms using a single heavy horse, so the knowledge is out there.

Final note: take everything I say with a grain of salt; I’m a well read greenhorn, with good mentors, gradually building up my own experience. Best of luck. Your experiences could be very valuable to others considering the same.

[416Jonny]

Drummond, thank you for posting the videos from ISU, I’ve been watching them over and over.

I really like those videos. As a little kid, dad would take my brothers and I out to the family farm during the summer to help with haying. It was some kinda fun being in the hay wagon and trying to dodge the flying hay bales when you’ve go two older (and much bigger) brothers always pushing you in the way of on coming bales. Then of course there was sugaring to be done at the end of winter. I’d get thursty and just drink the sap.

I grew up hearing stories almost exactly like how they talk in those videos. Before my Uncle Joe started cleaning up the barn yard to make way for some huge concrete structure of one sort or another, there was always horse drawn equipment I would play on. I remember one riding cultivator that sat dead in the middle of a patch of burdocks that is now a horizontal bunker silo.

Our family raised Percheron’s for quite a while. Grandpa hated horses. Couldn’t stand ’em. But he always wanted to be a carpenter. Our family had tractors about as early as anybody did at that time in Vermont.

Hearing them talk on those videos just reminds me alot of all the stories I’ve been told. Also reminds me of how hard I’ve had to work to be able to maybe look at farming myself. Being a 24 year old fellow, it’s been really hard to even think about getting into farming anywhere. My family has been in the same spot since 1803, so to them it was just what you did. Farming doesn’t bring the money, glamour or ladies that say, just about any modern job does. Hearing about what everyone on this forum is doing certainly helps keep me thinking positive about the future.

Once again, thanks for posting those videos!

Jonny B.

[Drummond Fraser]

Jonny,

You are most welcome. There are certainly a lot of people on this site that could give you the benefit of their personal experience concerning establishing the lifestyle you are looking for. Some have spent many years working a regular job while gradually building their farm over time. There are a few who seem to have done well through direct marketting and doing something to add value to their farm produce (bread, cheese, etc), and there certainly are a growing number of young Gen Ys starting up interesting farm businesses. Either way, it is likely a long term effort to get fully established. I’ll leave with a quote though: “Find something you really enjoy as a job, and extend your weekend by five days”.

Cheers,

Drummond

[Neil Dimmock]

Its a 1932 acme stook loader and I have 4, it doesnt work worth a dang on hay but nothing loads bundles like it,

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