Russ' Vintage Iron

OMAHA (DTN) -- Farmers love their tractors, and the color of these tractors matter to many people. This is certainly not breaking news, but it is a common thread I have verified writing this column for 20 years.

While it may sound silly to non-farm folks, farmers really do form an important bond to these machines. Some might be grandpa's or dad's tractor, while another may be the first tractor you bought. Or maybe it's just a good tractor you bought once at a local equipment auction.

You can't get rid of these tractors -- ever.

This is certainly the case with the Dreessen family of Kennard, Nebraska. Three generations grow corn and soybeans in the rolling hills of eastern Nebraska. Grandfather Wayne (80), son Tim (51), and grandson Taylor (26) -- and maybe a fourth generation will join them someday with great-grandson Toby Wayne (1.5).

The Dreessen family recently had an open house for Wayne's 80th birthday and they displayed their impressive collection of International tractors. Fifty-one tractors were lined up on their farm place, ranging from a 1937 Farmall F-20 to a 2013 Case-IH 340.

What a sight! It took a few weeks to get the machines cleaned up and lined up, according to Tim Dreessen.

"The last time we did this was 2012," Tim Dreessen said. "And back then, we only had 31 tractors."

Their collection began with just one tractor -- a 1953 Farmall Super M, which Wayne's father, Julius, purchased brand new at a long-gone implement dealer in Millard, Nebraska, which is part of Omaha today. The family farmed for many decades in the rural area west of Omaha near the famed Boys Town campus.

As Omaha grew west, housing developments replaced farms and in 1984 the family relocated to an area north of Omaha and north of the town of Bennington near the Douglas and Washington county line. They operated a dairy at the time and the entire operation, cows and all, moved north.

As Tim joined the operation after graduating from high school in 1991, more red tractors were added. The dairy cows were sold in the mid-1990s and another Dreessen generation was added with Taylor in the late 1990s. More red tractors were also added.

And so on and so on.

Wayne said they rarely traded anything in when they purchased another IH/Case-IH tractor. They traded a Magnum for another Magnum one time, but only because that tractor has some front-end issues, he said.

Some of the tractors they bought they had no connection to -- but many they did. Some belonged to neighbors and/or friends, and some were uncles' tractors. Wayne had several uncles who farmed just west of Omaha as well.

My family and the Dreessen family have been good friends for multiple generations. My dad and late uncle are/were good friends of Wayne, and my late mom was friends with Wayne's wife, Shelia. My cousins and I grew up with Tim, and his sister, Shari, and their cousins on both sides of their families.

To say our roots run deep together is probably an understatement.

My other connection to the family is in high school, I helped Wayne's two uncles (Welland and Hank Bock) and his cousin (Harlan Dreessen) bale hay. In addition, I also helped Welland walk beans.

I have written about this in the past, probably several times. Welland was also a neighbor to my grandparents for many years, living on the farm just to the east of my grandparents' farm east of Elkhorn, Nebraska.

My grandpa, J.B. "Jack" Quinn, passed away when I was just 6 years old so obviously, I did get to know him well. But talking to Welland (as we worked of course) I learned more about him from a different perspective.

We would walk beans in the evenings and Welland would drive his IH 656 tractor out to the field and I would ride on the fender. Then when it was about dark, we would drive back to the place. Occasionally his wife, Olive, would have some ice cream for us, and we would eat it before I went home.

One of the tractors in the family collection is Welland's 656. Tim bought it at Welland's farm equipment auction 20 years ago and he repainted the tractor. Welland passed away in April of 2008.

I hadn't seen that tractor since the day of his auction. I just had to sit on that left fender like I had on those warm summer evenings roughly 35 years ago.

This is why farmers are attached to their tractors. Sometimes there are a lot of good memories that accompany these machines. And it was not even my tractor.

They also have Welland's other tractor, a Super M. In addition, they have Uncle Hank Bock's 656 and M. He would bring hayracks out to the field with the M when I helped them bale hay. The family also has Uncle Ernie Dreessen's 560 and Uncle Clarence Dreessen's 656.

All these uncles farmed east of Elkhorn/west of Omaha when I was a kid. This same area today is now home to housing developments, restaurants and shopping centers but I can still see their farms when we drive by.

After high school, grandson Taylor went to diesel mechanic school. He works at Titan Machinery in Fremont, a local Case-IH dealership (of course) and farms with his grandpa and dad. He too caught the red tractor collecting bug, purchasing a couple tractors of his own.

Great-grandson Toby is probably predestined to follow in the footsteps of the previous generations of the Dreessen men. As I interviewed the family in front of Wayne's dad's tractor, the only word he said which was clear enough for me to understand was "tractor."

And this makes perfect sense.

Happy birthday, Wayne!

The Dreessen family discusses their infatuation with red tractors with DTN. (https://www.dtnpf.com/…)

An Omaha television station, WOWT-TV Channel 6, also had a story about the family and their collection (https://www.wowt.com/…).

Russ Quinn can be reached at Russ.Quinn@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @RussQuinnDTN

(c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.