15 Replies to “You Might Be In Saskatchewan”

  1. As young teens, my brother and I learned to drive on a similar vintage farmall tractor. Our family had 13 cleared ‘flat’ acres to hay, so my brother and I learned to drive, cut hay, maneuver the tractor, and attachments – horse (tractor) drawn hay rake (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_rake) and hay wagon, forwards and backwards.
    We never got paid, although later snowmobiles and motorbikes were nice compensation.

  2. Hard working farm folk built the west, “Canada” wouldn’t exist without the spirit and work ethic of our original settlers and the farm and ranch families that followed. Although we’re city slickers now, I fondly recall (and seriously miss) our old family farm. We made it past a century farm until my father sold…man do I miss being out there.

  4. Oh my God…. does that ever bring me back!!!! Farmall H guy here.
    That’s a beauty!!!
    I was 13 and driving ‘er on the road, baby!!!! Livin’ large!!!! Good times.
    For those who don’t know that spinny twirly thing behind it is called the “Darwin Shaft”.
    “Stay away from it”…was my dad’s only command. My son had a buddy who got caught up in a PTO and who I still see in town from time to time, it amazes me how it is that he’s still walking around. Messed up bad.
    My neighbour who lives down the road a ways has a Farmall C just sitting there on four flats doing absolutely nothing other than being a bird sanctuary. I offered to buy it from him just to restore it but he isn’t budging. It’s his and he can do what he wants but it breaks my heart just the same.

    Thanks for the memories!! So awesome.

      1. Nor I.

        However I did find her upbringing to be highly sexist as … the girl of the family … was assigned sewing duty. Sorry I amuse myself.

        My brief experience as a farmhand as an 18yo know-it-all brimming with self confidence … cut me down to size in a way that informed more of my life than I knew at the time. 3-1/2 months on an 8,000 acre hay ranch in Klamath Falls kicked my arrogant ass. I almost killed myself twice by tipping over two pieces of IH equipment; a more modern version of Kate’s tractor that I ran over a bale of hay and tipped over … and a gigantic 5-ton IH flatbed … must have been a 25ft long flatbed … that I dumped in a ditch. And then I was almost killed by multiple rattlesnakes in the fields and alongside the cool irrigation main pipes.

        I thought I was a badazzed, suburban, football player … only to learn what a sheltered, pampered, squish I’d become … at least compared to the REAL world of a working farm.

  6. I used to own one of these. Mine was a Super C which had a hydraulic lift and a mid mount cultivator. I added a three point hitch connected to the same valve mechanism. Very handy tractor.

  8. My dad had a W4 and W6, if recall correctly. The ones that I grew up with were IH 856, And all the IH 66 series right up into the four wheel drives.
    Rolled the 856, ok take the cab off then, ran it accidently on gas oops, ok drain it and keep going. Now have two 856, an 806 and a 1256IH. Bought three of them as inoperable at auction sales and with little effort got them running and use them for various light work on the farm. Deere 4020 and on up was great too, American might at its finest !

  10. There was a local guy who rebuilt these old IHC/McCormick utility tractors, then shipped them overseas. At any given time he’d have a half-dozen or more sitting on the grass outside his shop, freshly painted, new rubber, looking every bit as good as they did the day they rolled off the assembly line.

    Unfortunately he passed just before Covid, his acreage sold & the tractors disappeared.

    I cut my teeth on a Minneapolis Moline U & a GB on propane, no cabs. The neighbour had an older IHC, a 650 I believe? Started on gas, switch to diesel. Ran that some for him. We “upgraded” to a Massey Ferguson 95, ran that for a number of years (open, dusty, noisy cab), then sold it & bought a JD 5010 w/ a cab & swamp cooler. True luxury.

  11. Thanks for linking the old post, it was a nice read!

    Now there is no need to worry about the underage/youth workers, they provided a solution for that, its called Immigrants and TFW, now that the kids are safe and the youth unemployment rate is 20% in Alberta, they couldn’t get a job if they wanted to!!

    Forgot to add: We had a cub also!

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