Heritage Iron Issue #107

Feature Tractor: Massey Ferguson 4900  - Feature Tractor Owner: Marty Ritchie 

Read about:

Triple I Farm Show - A Kansas Legacy.The saying “all good things must come to an end” is often tossed around, but in the case of the Triple I Farm Show, it truly rings bittersweet. For more than 70 years, the show brought innovation, industry, and thousands of spectators to Western Kansas—showcasing the region’s resilience and progress. 

It's a Long Way to the Top - if you don't have a good blower! Where does it go?  Summer comes in with a rush of work.  There’s spraying, side dressing, haying, grain to haul and then back to spraying.  The cycle repeats, the county fair comes, and next thing you know, it’s shorter days and a cool feel to the air in the evening.  The corn is dented and the milk line is moving down – corn silage is coming. Crop Fox Blower - the easy way to unload hay and silage.

Massey Muscle - The 4900. Massey's Largest Company-Built Tractor. “Bigger is better” seemed to be the theme in the late 1970s in the 4-wheel drive lineup.  Every company was building a high-horsepower 4WD so the competition was heavy.  While this would be Massey’s biggest tractor of that decade and one of the largest in the industry, it was all coming to an end.   

Swift Implement - Massey Dealer Who Left a Mark on MF & Steiger. It has long been assumed that the infamous picture of the red/white/blue truck loaded with red/white/blue Steigers was the first load of painted bicentennial Steigers.  While it was the first “load”, it wasn’t the first one painted.  After traveling to the home of Swift Implement, we now know more of the story.   

IH's "Other" Fast Hitch - People instantly associate the term “Fast-Hitch” with International Harvester’s 2-point fast-hitch that the company developed and marketed in the early- to mid- 1950s, on the letter series tractors.  It was produced all the way into the mid- 1970s, on the 66 series.  

Acremaster to Big Bud - They Farm Big in Australia! Laurie Phillips, the designer and constructor of the Acremaster tractor, once told me that Australian farming is like farming nowhere else in the world; the farms are so big that they cover enormous acreages, often 50,000 acres plus and are commonly referred to as dryland Broadacre Farms. It is here that farmers require machines that are tough, simple to operate, simple to maintain and above all, reliable to work the land 24 hours a day.