Russ' Vintage Iron

Last month in the column, we discussed which tractors farmers utilize on their augers. For my own family's eastern Nebraska farming operation, it has always been my grandpa's last tractor, a 1957 John Deere 620. We had several farmers respond with their own favorite auger tractors they use...

While dependable tractors are important throughout the year, one particularly vital harvest job is running an auger. Charged with moving grain in a timely fashion, auger tractors are an important link in harvest activities. What is your favorite all-time auger tractor?

The 2026 Washington County (Nebraska) Fair was the final show for three buildings on the fairgrounds. Two were original, 107-year-old structures and are being replaced by one larger building set to be ready for the 2027 fair. However, memories of the old buildings will live on through several...

Last month in Russ' Vintage Iron, we wrote about the "go devil" implement. It's a vintage cultivator with some interesting features. Several readers sent emails detailing their knowledge of the implement.

Cultivating corn is a bit of a lost art on the farm. No-till practices have made cultivation nearly obsolete on many row-crop farms. One cultivating implement decades ago was called a "go devil." Some farmers might have referred to this as a "go dig," and...

A book about Harry S. Truman contained some interesting information about wartime rationing during World War II. Rationing led to "black markets" for the various items being rationed, including farm equipment. An interesting family story centers around a tractor and the farm equipment black...

When most people think of the former retailer Montgomery Ward and Co., their famous catalogs are probably what comes to mind. Those of us of a certain age will remember drooling over the various items (okay, mainly just toys) in the thick book during our childhoods right before Christmas...

A recent post on a message board dedicated to old farm machinery lamented the "death" of the vintage farm machinery hobby. Some of the older machinery is not worth as much as it was years ago but many of the "newer" machines (from the 1960s to the 1980s) are holding steady or even...

In this month's edition of Russ' Vintage Iron, the author tells the story of a glass receiving jar from his grandparents' dairy farm. The jar is the last item left of their long-gone milking parlor from their dairy farm just outside of Omaha.

When I asked anyone who purchased a tractor(s) on the Jon Kinzenbaw online tractor auction in early November to contact me in last month's Russ' Vintage Iron column, I really did not think anyone would respond. But to my surprise, two people sent me emails. One email was just one line, but the...

In this month's edition of Russ' Vintage Iron, first up is a photo submission from a reader of their family's tractor. And then we discuss some of the results of the Kinzenbaw collector tractor online auction held earlier this month.

An online vintage farm machinery auction is set for Tuesday, Nov. 4 featuring many different types of antique machinery. Kinze founder Jon and Marcia Kinzenbaw are selling part of their extension collection. The machinery features some lots from all the well-known manufacturers as well as some...

In this month's edition of Russ' Vintage Iron, we take a closer look at the International Farmall 140 tractor. This was a small tractor mainly used on vegetable, tobacco and small grain farms. A recent photo submission led to interesting findings about the small, red tractor.

A recent family trip through Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska yielded many interesting vintage iron sightings, including a 1960s International tractor and an unknown chopper harvesting alfalfa. This brought back memories of my dad green chopping...

DTN's Russ Quinn recently came across an interesting column on the internet titled "17 Classic Tractors We Want in Our Shed." That got him thinking: What vintage iron would he want if money and shed space were no objects?

After DTN's Russ Quinn wrote about tractor innovator Harry Ferguson, Quinn received an email from a Northern Ireland man who is campaigning for a museum be built in his country to honor Ferguson as the man who changed agriculture 100 years ago.

Harry Ferguson was an innovative icon of the tractor manufacturing business in the first part of the 1900s. His three-point system changed how these machines were used, allowing the tractor and implement (mainly a plow at that time) to work as one unit in a time when this was not the case.

This month on Russ' Vintage Iron, we look back at some vintage manure spreaders. New Idea, International, Hampton and Kelly Ryan are some of the names of the past which helped farmers turn animal waste into valuable fertilizer for their crops.

After my column last month about strange named, little-known tractor manufacturers, I did receive an interesting email about a tractor from a famous 1960s TV sitcom. Was Hoyt Clagwell a real tractor manufacturer? Read on for the fascinating answer.

There are many U.S. tractor manufacturers that no longer make these machines. I thought it would be interesting to look at some of these names, which were probably not very well known nearly 100 years ago. I created a Top 10 list of strange-named, little-known former tractor manufacturers.