The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg

It's Jay and Joe's Motor Monday. O.K. grew up learning to drive a Model A John Deere Tractor. Today's show is about that post horse & buggy era, when the drive for your dollars to buy horse power became so heated up, some called it a war.  

What is The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg?

Greetings and Welcome to The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg

New episodes tend to air over the local KMMR radio station @ 5 minutes past 4PM each M-F. And have been doing so, nearly every week since Sept 2018.

I'm D.J. Rasmussen, O.K.s friend since junior high, possibly your neighbor & this websites maintainer, whom strives to get each episode's show notes written, the transcript proofed and the audio posted to the internet within a few hours of that days KMMR air time. NOTE: recently been publishing most new releases by 4:30PM.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the time we can spend together.

OK Solberg:

I want to again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, get you a cup of coffee. New week, glass iced tea or bottled water. Let's see what's happening.

OK Solberg:

Thea gave me the Spring Wheat price $6.84 a bushel, 550lb steer calf, top end, $5 a pound for fall delivery, and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings, top end, $3.20 a pound. But guys, there's more much more.

OK Solberg:

Hey, Charlie. You ready to go? Yep. Got a full tank of gas and a half a pack of cigarettes. Let's get going. It's Jay and Joe's Motor Monday, and today, we'll be heading a little different direction. You know what? Today, we're going out to the field, but don't panic. It's still horsepower.

OK Solberg:

Have you ever seen a tractor? Tractors made this farming country around here in Phillips County. After the horse and plow day was gone, the tractor is what did it. Now understand this. My grandfather, Albert Solberg, homesteaded up north of Dodson, and he farmed with horses.

OK Solberg:

When my dad and his brothers were old enough, they helped with the tractor work. So with a full tank of gas and a half a pack of cigarettes, let's get going. You know, guys, I don't even smoke. But I heard that phrase just yesterday, and it sounded too good to not use. Alright.

OK Solberg:

There was a time when a farmer measured his horsepower by the number of horses standing in his barn. Horses ate every day. They ate, worked only so many hours, and required the farmer to grow part of his land just to feed them. Then came the tractor. And between 1920 and 1950, the tractor business became a remarkable American industrial battle.

OK Solberg:

In 1920, American manufacturers built roughly 200,000 tractors. But guys, there were nearly 200 companies trying to sell them. Most wouldn't survive, but one of the biggest names was Ford. The Fordson Model F was simple, relatively inexpensive, and built using Henry Ford's mass production. Then in 1922, Ford made a move that shook the industry.

OK Solberg:

The price of a Fordson tractor dropped to about $395. What? Yes. Farmers took notice. Fordson's poured into the countryside, and by the time US production ended in 1928, roughly 700,000 had been built.

OK Solberg:

But competitors weren't standing still. International Harvester introduced the Farmall in 1924. It wasn't just a tractor for pulling a plow, Its design allowed farmers to cultivate between rows of crops. Now, guys, that was a major change. The tractor was no longer simply replacing the horse.

OK Solberg:

It was becoming an all purpose farm machine. John Deere was in the fight too. Deere had entered the tractor business with the Waterloo Boy and then the Model D. In 1934, Deer introduced the Model A. And, guys, put your finger down right there.

OK Solberg:

A Model A John Deere is what I learned to drive. The Model A, which would become one of its biggest successes with roughly 300,000 produced. Alice Chalmers had its own answer, the WC, introduced in 1933, more than 178,000 were eventually built.

OK Solberg:

And International Harvesters Farmall H introduced in 1939 became one of the great sellers of the period with roughly 390,000 produced. But the tractor wars weren't fought with horsepower only.

OK Solberg:

They were fought with price, reliability, dealer networks, attachments, and technology. Steel wheels, well, they gave way to rubber tires. Hydraulic systems made implements easier to control.

OK Solberg:

The power takeoff, the old PTO, allowed a tractor to power machinery such as mowers and balers, and diesel engines promised greater efficiency and power. And then came World War II.

OK Solberg:

Millions of Americans left farms for military service and defense work. Farm labor became scarce. The tractor suddenly became more than a convenience. Why? It became a way for fewer farmers to produce more food.

OK Solberg:

By 1950, the transformation was unmistakable. A farmer no longer needed a barn full of horses to provide the power for his farm. One tractor could plow, it could cultivate, pull equipment, power machinery, and work for hours that no team of horses could ever match.

OK Solberg:

And that's what makes the tractor wars so interesting. Ford, international harvester John Deere, and Alice Chalmers were fighting each other for the farmer's money, but in the process, they changed farming itself.

OK Solberg:

The tractor didn't just replace the horse, it changed how much one farmer could accomplish. And that may have been the most important victory of all. Isn't that great? Interesting history. It's fun to look back and remember.

OK Solberg:

Now here's a Bible verse from the 1st book of the bible. Genesis 8:22 While the earth remains seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22 Yes, sir.

OK Solberg:

Seedtime and harvest. Where's my tractor? So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.