One hundred years ago, horse-farming remained commonplace on American farms – and that meant constant, relentless labor, year ’round. In the April 2023 issue of Farm Collector, author and historian Don McKinley slipped back a century to consider the routines and rhythms of four seasons on the farm. The first of a series, that segment focused on spring in the life of a 1920s farmer. In this issue, Don takes us through the farmer’s work in summer.
I know of no farmer who, when planting a seed, doesn’t have the faith that it will come to life and grow. The life force found in each seed is miraculous. Everything I do is designed to help those seeds reach their full potential at maturity.
Since World War I, the government has urged us to produce more and more food, and we have. But now the demand for food has declined, prices have fallen and farm incomes have dropped. Many farmers cannot afford to continue. In 1922, the Iowa farm population dropped by 478,000.
I consider our farm an experimental station. I constantly look at production costs versus sales and am continually looking at the most efficient way to balance those costs and sales. I subscribe to Successful Farming and Prairie Farmer magazines to stay updated about innovations in agriculture.
Presently a crop rotation of corn, oats, wheat and grass provide food for the cows, which will give us milk, cream and butter. From western ranchers, I buy feeder cattle weighing 400-500 pounds, feed them my grain and sell them at 1,000-1,100 pounds. Sows that have pigs are fed the grains and sold. Chickens thrive on our grains and give us eggs to eat and sell, as well as meat to eat. Will the weather cooperate in helping the grains and grassland produce to their maximum potential? Can I feed all of my grain, sell the livestock and realize a comfortable profit? That is the gamble! My family has to live with that gamble.
Multi-tasking on the farm
The planted corn kernels have sprouted and emerged. A one-row cultivator is used to destroy all weeds possible by going down each of the many rows across the field. I try to use the cultivator as often as weather and other work allows. During the final cultivation, the horses must be muzzled to keep them from snipping the tops from the corn plants. Usually the corn is “laid by” by the 4th of July.
Between cultivations, the hay crop will be harvested. At early bloom, the alfalfa is cut with a 5-foot sickle mower, then sun- and wind-dried. My new side-delivery rake will be used to rake the hay into windrows. A flat hayrack with a hay loader attached will straddle the windrows. As the horses move forward, the hay is elevated by the loader and dropped onto the back of the wagon.
When full, the wagon is taken to the barn where a system of pulleys, rope and a hay grapple (hay fork) is used to transfer the loose hay from the wagon to the haymow where it is evenly distributed. One of the boys leads a horse that pulls the rope and provides the power for the barn’s hay-handling system. We often salt the newly stored hay with stock-salt to help prevent spontaneous combustion.
From observation and experience two things must be done during the haying process. When finished for the day, the hay loader must be tipped down, as a late-night thunderstorm with wind can turn it over backward. And never put uncured hay in the barn. I’ve seen barns burn to the ground because of spontaneous combustion.
Caring for livestock is a fulltime job
While hay is curing in the field, I’ll likely start harvesting the wheat crop. My four-horse team will pull the 6-foot grain binder to cut and bind the golden stalks of wheat into bundles. Those bundles will be shocked and left in the field until the threshing machine arrives. With the wheat field-cut and shocked, it will be time to harvest oats. They too will be cut with the binder and the bundles shocked.
I might add that my neighbor and I often trade work, especially when we hay and cut wheat and oats. In some operations I use my equipment on his farm and he helps me with manpower, and vice versa. On rare occasions, we hire men to assist with the harvesting. It isn’t hard to find workers to help for meals and $1-2 per day.
Once a week, feed is made ready for the livestock. Each species has their own formula of feed which is ground in the hammer mill and stored for daily chores. Block salt is made available for all.
Morning and evening chores find me feeding and watering all of the livestock as well as milking and running the whole milk through the cream separator. Chickens are shut in the chicken house each night and let out at daylight. Various varmints seem to love chickens.
Water is so important for the livestock, especially on hot summer days. I’ve occasionally provided “hog wallows” for the sows and pigs to lay in. They cannot sweat and love lying in mud wallows trying to keep cool. Horses are brought in from the pasture each morning, given grain and harnessed. They’ll be ready to be hitched when I finish my breakfast.
Working together, much can be accomplished
The day I’ve been waiting for all year is about to become a reality. Neighbors and their families will gather at our farm. The big steam engine pulling a threshing machine will chug down our lane and be set up to thresh our fields of shocked wheat and oats. Wooden bins that will hold the grains have been cleaned and made ready. Jobs have been assigned to the men: pitchers in the field, bundle wagon operators, grain wagon handlers and scoopers, straw stack builder and water boys.
There will be fresh water in the tank for the teams of horses, hitching racks, tables and chairs under the shade trees for the noon meal, and a wash stand by the well with pans, soap and hand towels. Yards have been mowed using a push reel mower, the house cleaned and kitchen scrubbed for the women to prepare meals and afternoon snacks.
It’s here! The steam engine, pullies, and belts of the threshing machine noisily come to life. Young horses pulling the bundle wagons have to be “encouraged” to come in close to the scary thresher and stand still. Threshing is serious business and with all the people efficiently doing their respective jobs, a lot of work can be accomplished.
People need each other
During threshing, there is always something going on involving man or beast! For instance: snakes are uncovered under a shock … there is a team runaway because of a bumble bee nest … the inside horse pulling a bundle wagon gets its tail wrapped around and jerked off in the threshing machine’s whirling belt and drive wheel … a bundle wagon operator loses half his load on the way in from the field because he didn’t tie his bundles together properly (bundle butts always to the outside!) … and when someone throws a bundle in crosswise it catches in the cylinder and concaves, then flips the drive belt off, leaving the threshing machine and steam engine operators extremely unhappy (but it provides a break for all others).
In late afternoon, a decision must be reached. Do we continue threshing into the evening and finish our farm so the machinery and men can be moved to the next farm early in the morning? Or, do we quit in time for all to get home and do their chores before it’s completely dark?
People need each other. Threshing is a time to socialize, listen to stories and find out who chews tobacco or swears frequently. It’s a time for young people to listen, learn, be assigned responsibilities, find out what hard work is like, learn about different personalities, and contribute their time and talents for the good of the group. I love threshing time!
“Our life revolves around church”
Rainy summer days find us ringing and castrating pigs, pulling weeds in the garden, cleaning fencerows with the scythe, walking corn fields to pull button weeds and cockle burrs, and possibly building temporary shade for the hogs and cattle.
My whole family spends a lot of time in the garden hoeing, hand-weeding and caring for the many vegetables and fruits that we consume at our dining table. Lots of canning (cold-packing) takes place during the summer; otherwise, we’d get hungry in the winter months.
Our social life revolves around church. We attend Sunday services, ice cream socials and, occasionally, community dinners held there. Since nothing else is open or operating on Sunday, we sometimes visit with neighbors or relatives in the afternoons. But, at times I need to simply withdraw from everything, to be by myself. My mind and body have to recuperate if I’m to carry on during the coming weeks.
Sunday evening, while doing chores, I find a sow is missing. She is about to give birth. I head down along the creek to find her. She has built a huge nest of weeds and grass and given birth to seven healthy piglets who are each nursing at their resting, gently grunting mother. Getting the mother and babies back to the hog house needs to be done before nightfall because coyotes are hungry. A mother sow is very possessive of her young family and often defends them at all costs. Not much will stop a sow as she protects her babies. I will need to approach her very carefully and cleverly as her instinct is to kill me.
Farming is my life!
Four Seasons on the Farm started in Spring and continues in the October 2023 issue of Farm Collector. FC
Retired school principal Don McKinley grew up on a farm in southwest Iowa. In writing this series, he gratefully acknowledges the assistance of his daughter Connie Palmer. Don has created a museum of 1930s-vintage farm collectibles at his home in Quincy, Illinois. Contact him at 1336 Boy Scout Rd., Quincy, IL 62305; email: deerroad@adams.net. Visit his Facebook page at 1930s Ag Museum.
Originally published as “Four Seasons on the Farm” in the July 2023 issue of Farm Collector magazine.
