50 Years of Collecting Cockshutt Tractors

By Leslie C. Mcdaniel
Published on November 1, 1998
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Don Javers takes tractors from his collection to area shows. One year, with his son's assistance, he showed the entire collection at an event in Iowa.
Don Javers takes tractors from his collection to area shows. One year, with his son's assistance, he showed the entire collection at an event in Iowa. "I don't know how long it took us to get all the tractors there," he added.
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Don and his wife, Frieda, with the 540. Frieda does the detail work on his restorations.
Don and his wife, Frieda, with the 540. Frieda does the detail work on his restorations. "She's just handy that way," Don said.
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Don with a grandson, on a Model 35 tractor.
Don with a grandson, on a Model 35 tractor. "Oh, he's in the height of glory when we go for a ride on a tractor," Don said.

Don Javers will celebrate a golden anniversary this year, but it won’t be a wedding anniversary: 1998 marks the 50th year of his passion for Cockshutt tractors.

“In 1948 there was a demonstration of Cockshutts over at Sioux Falls,” he said. “My friends said I ought to go see them. I’d never heard of a Cockshutt until that day. So I went, and I was impressed with that tractor.”

The Cockshutt had an image problem in those days, he said.

“My brothers both thought I should be taken to the insane asylum when I bought that tractor,” he said. “But they both got one themselves within two years.”

Don – and other original buyers – were impressed by Cockshutt’s forward thinking.

“They were the first with live power take-off and live hydraulics,” he said.

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