Ingenious Implements: Horse-Operated Farm Machinery Going Strong

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Two young ladies set pepper plants during this demonstration of a transplanter made by Nolt’s Produce Supplies, Leola, Pa. The transplanter is pulled by a team of Belgians on a standard forecart made by E-Z Trail Mfg., Fredericksburg, Ohio. Sam Moore

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The show is rotated among six major Amish communities: east of Lancaster, Pa.; Holmes County, Ohio; near Clare, Mich.; Arcola, Ill.; Daviess County in southern Indiana; and LaGrange County in northern Indiana. Since these are the major draft horse-using areas (tractors are not commonly used for field work by the Amish because of their religious beliefs), it follows that most spectators would be Amish. While that’s true, many, many non-Amish attend the events, including some from overseas.

By 1950, because of the proliferation of tractors on American farms, the demand for horse implements had virtually dried up, causing farm implement manufacturers to stop making the stuff. This left the remaining horse farmers to get along with existing machines that became increasingly worn out with the passing years, as well as obsolete due to changing farming practices.

There were, however, individuals in these horse-farming communities who grew up on Amish farms, recognized the need for new machinery and set out to provide it. Although they received only the traditional eight years of formal schooling and no engineering training, men such as Jake Blank of I&J Mfg. and Henry King of White Horse Machine, both located near Gap, Pa., and Wayne Wengerd of Pioneer Equipment in Dalton, Ohio, (along with many others) thought about, tinkered with and perfected innovative machinery to make the lives of horse farmers easier.

White Horse Machine has developed a way to provide hydraulic lift capabilities by using chain drive from a wheel of the White Horse forecart to operate a hydraulic pump. The hydraulic pressure thus generated is stored in an accumulator tank where it can be used to control remote cylinders on drawn implements and provide power steering for the forecart. A pressure gauge and the necessary hand valves, hoses and quick connect outlets are provided as well.

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