Le Suer Pioneer Power
Members of the Le Sueur Pioneer Power 50th anniversary committee enlisted the help of club members in creating this memorable image celebrating the Le Sueur show’s golden anniversary this summer.
Pioneer Power Show Celebration Timelapse
Last year, just before our Le Sueur Pioneer Power show, we had a photo taken with the tractors lined up to make a “50th” image for our show’s 50th anniversary. It took 59 tractors and six gas engines to make the image and was quite the process. A bunch of staging people lined everyone up and it turned out nice. Our 50th anniversary committee has been putting things together for two years.
Dave Preuhs, Le Sueur, Minnesota
Tempting fate from 40 feet up
Two stories in Farm Collector about creeping around on top of an empty silo, helping put up the blower pipe, remind me of a silo story my father, Edgar Stout, told me of a similar experience he’d had.
He was helping a neighbor of his father’s. His diary notes that on September 13, 1928, “helped Andy (Farrier) fill silo, tramped.” On this silo, there was a wide masonry edge all around the top, and the doors stopped below the top. My son, Eric, said Dad told him that when they filled the silo, they took care of the silage settlement by putting two heights of woven wire around the top to extend the silo fill, probably with paper lining the wire.
The other helpers on top went down where there were handholds, leaving Dad to finish up. When Dad began his descent, there was nothing to hold onto, as the silage was so tight against the wire. Somehow, he got over the masonry edge until he dangled momentarily by his fingertips. Then he let go to free-fall until he could catch the top ladder step under the ledge overhang.
Fortunately, everything worked or I would not be here to write this, as the silo was approximately 40 feet high. But the next year, there was a handhold on the flat top of the ledge to use in climbing over.
Richard Stout, with assistance from granddaughter Ashley Stout, Washington, Iowa
Dairy centrifuge had a water motor
This centrifuge in the April 2023 issue of Farm Collector is not steam-powered as suggested by the owner. It is water-powered. What you see on top is a water motor.
Mike Baltozer, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Remembering life with a jumbo cow
In the old days, we milked cows, separated the milk and took the cream to town on Saturday. We sold the cream and took that money and bought groceries for the week.
I do not know where Dad got this particular cow, but it was a registered milking short horn. The cow was 1 foot longer than a normal cow and weighed 2,000 pounds. In the barn we had a trough to catch bodily functions. This cow, being so long, had to stand in the trough.
One winter in the 1940s or ’50s, we had a blizzard. The snow piled up 5 to 6 feet deep. The cows had to stay in the barn. We fed them hay and a little corn. The cows would lay down on their sides. One day, the cow next to the jumbo cow happened to step on one of the jumbo cow’s teats and cut about 1/4-inch off of the teat.
When the veterinarian came, he said nothing could be done and that section of the udder was gone. “There must be something I can do,” I said, so he gave me some salve to put on it. Every day, twice a day, I put salve on it and wrapped it with gauze and tape. That section of the udder dried up, but we milked the other three.
Later, when she had a calf, the damaged section produced milk but there was one problem. We had a Surge milking machine. It had an electric motor with a vacuum pump. When you turned the motor on, she would let her milk down. The teat that was injured had lost the bottom valve. You had to get the milking machine and everything set up before turning on the motor. Then you’d quickly put the machine on. Otherwise, the milk would spurt all over the ground.
She was a big, lovely cow. She had a nice brown coat with a white belly and a white dot on her head. Unfortunately, she also had horns. They came out and turned in toward the center of her head. One day in the barn, after milking, I let the cows out. That consisted of opening the stanchion. They then turned and exited out the door. That day, I did not give the jumbo cow enough room. She turned and one of her horns went into the slit on my coveralls. There I was, riding on her head. I thought I was done for. She then took me out the door, stopped and lowered her head so my feet touched the ground. I stepped sideway to unhook myself and she calmly walked away. Such was life with a jumbo cow.
Darrell Dey, Grand Island, Nebraska
Interested in history of the Belle City line
On Page 21 of the March 2023 issue of Farm Collector, the advertisement for the Belle City New Racine got my attention. We used to have a 28×48 Belle City thresher. I would really enjoy an in-depth complete history of the company, including the Fordson connection and other machines produced by Belle City. I only know of the threshers.
Learning something new in every issue!
Russell Schaefer,
Marshfield, Wisconsin
Editor’s note: That’s a great idea, Russell: We’ll see what we can do!
Can’t wait for the next issue!
I subscribe to several magazines related to antique farm tools and equipment. Farm Collector is by far the best. Already looking forward to the next one.
David Blackwood,
Greensboro, North Carolina
Editor’s note: Thanks for your kind words, David: We are doing our very best!
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Originally published as “Letters to the Editor” in the July 2023 issue of Farm Collector magazine.
