A letter to the editor on Page 4 of the January 2016 issue of Farm Collector was titled, “Memories of Baling in 1942.” Oh boy! Does it ever bring back memories!
This is my recollection of hay baling and threshing peanuts at the same time, starting in 1957. My dad, Stanley Sealock, and a neighbor and good friend, Dewey Aylor, went in together and bought a Lilliston stationary peanut thresher and an International Harvester stationary hay baler. At that time, peanuts were a popular cash crop in our area of Pottawatomie and Seminole counties in central Oklahoma.
These machines were used to harvest our crops as well as do some custom work for a few neighbors. This harvest rig was purchased from a farmer who had already transitioned to the new peanut combine, which, as you know, saved hiring a large crew of workers, at least 10 good hands. Some were school boys, some not too good.
We pulled the thresher with my 1941 John Deere Model B. I bought this, my first tractor, when I was 14. We pulled the baler with my neighbor’s Farmall Model B. The thresher was fitted with a long conveyor to catch the peanut straw and leaves. It hung at a 45-degree angle from the rear of the machine. So, while running, the straw and leaves were dumped almost directly on the baler table. It was a very dirty job, but it got the peanut hay baled at the same time.
I love your magazine and just about anything rusty. Keep up the good work.
Dan Sealock, Prague, Oklahoma
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