For what seemed like hours, we squirmed around to find more comfortable positions. This only made the hopper rock precariously on its pivots, making us cling tighter to whatever we could grab. Finally, we spied Everitt coming home with the team and cultivator. We yelled for help. Everitt looked at us and replied in his own inimitable way “What the #@!! are you doing up there?”
After giving us a brief lecture, he got a long pole and pushed us back to the barn. It was our final ride on the manure carrier. To this day, we three cousins often joke about the time we were stranded on that manure carrier.
I often wonder whatever happened to those contraptions. One thing that led to their demise was that local boards of health and milk processors banned manure piles near a dairy barn. Powered conveyors in the manure gutters gave the carrier system the final death knell. It was much easier to push a button and have the manure deposited directly into a waiting manure spreader.
I don't know of any antique farm machinery buffs who collect manure carriers, but there must be a few out there. If you ever see an old manure carrier, probably long abandoned, maybe you ought to rescue and restore it. Just don't try to ride on it! FC
– A. Clyde Eide lives in Lewis Center, Ohio.