Since we started displaying the above picture at antique machinery shows , we have heard more stories about making hay with the Jeep than any other farm use. A common story teller is someone (man and woman), who like the little boy in the passenger seat, rode along with a dad or uncle. There are also stories of young farm boys driving Jeeps to help with the hay making process. Finally we have learned that Farm Jeeps were central to custom baling operations as late as the end of the 1960s. We will post some of those stories here.
A picture is worth….
Our own hay making experience had taught us to use the Jeep for raking and leave the baling to a heavy tractor. We had even heard horror stories of light-weight Jeeps being pushed through fences while trying to stop with a baler attached to the PTO. The general conscious has been that the Jeep was too light and under powered to be an effective tool.
So it was a great surprise that after we placed a poster-sized version of the above picture on our Jeep at shows that it was a great “hook” for getting visitors to stop and talk. Remembering that we are at farm shows, it was not unusual that the first questions were about the baler and not about the Jeep.
We had found the picture on the Web and have no information about it. So after the first show at which we displayed the picture, we went on a quest to identify the baler. Barry visits a few tractor forums when he isn’t searching for Jeep parts. He sent a note to the AgTalk machinery forum and almost immediately received an answer; the baler is a New Holland Model 76. It is unusual in that it is a left-hand pick-up.
It is possible that the picture we show and the picture in the ad may have been made about the same time. In any case, the baler with an auxiliary engine made an excellent haying tool.
In addition to having the baler identified, Barry received the following note –
” (B)rought a smile to my wife when i showed her the picture, her uncle pulled one just like that back in the 50’s, she said she would sit in the passenger seat and it would go “rump, rump rump” all day long, her dog in between them, what a scene. ..”
We have heard both men and women with a similar story. And in all cases they told the stories with fond memories.