Whitetailvalleyfarmer
New member
Just a little introduction - I grew up in Eastern Iowa. Dad was a hobby farmer and did things the old fashioned way. We milked by hand, raised feeder pigs on skim milk and ground oats and butchered at home. We grew a huge garden, raised chickens, ducks and even some rabbits. Lots of hours in the hay mow and on the handle of a manure fork. We didn't have a tractor (We had a tiller and four boys and four hoes) I learned to drive the neighbor's Farmall "H" and "M" and drove the baler on the Oliver 90 or on a rare occasion the "big" Minneapolis Moline M670. After high school I left the rural life. When I moved back to a small town in the mid 1980's everything had changed. No more hay mows, no more walking beans I realized that I couldn't figure out the new tractors with all the modern conveniences. I decided I wouldn't try to drive tractors since they had put the "rabbits and turtles" on the throttle controls. If you had to have pictures it was beyond me.
Three years ago I realized a lifelong dream and bought eighty acres of permanent pasture and prairie hay ground in southwest Iowa. There are several ponds and some outbuildings along with a house. Since the place is right near several county preserves and a state park there is a lot of wild life in the area, especially whitetailed deer. So we named the place Whitetail Valley Farm. I looked around for a while to get a tractor to use on the place. The new ones were too complicated and too expensive. I wanted something about 50hp bigger than a lawn tractor and small enough to get around a small place. I looked for a Ford 5000 but none that were in any kind of shape turned up. I came across a nice little Massey Ferguson 165. It needed a little care but had an MF loader with it and the Perkins Diesel ran great, was easy on fuel and didn't burn a drop of oil. Best of all the 1966 tractor was simple, no rabbits and turtles. So that is how we came back to a life I had missed for many years. Now I am back working on a big garden, plus a prairie restoration project and some timber renewal as well. I planted an orchard. I am restoring a 1941 Chevy 1 1/2 ton truck and maybe I will restore and repaint the Massey after the truck is done. Always a new project. Looking forward to information sharing and lots of learning on the Forums.
Whitetail Valley Farmer
Three years ago I realized a lifelong dream and bought eighty acres of permanent pasture and prairie hay ground in southwest Iowa. There are several ponds and some outbuildings along with a house. Since the place is right near several county preserves and a state park there is a lot of wild life in the area, especially whitetailed deer. So we named the place Whitetail Valley Farm. I looked around for a while to get a tractor to use on the place. The new ones were too complicated and too expensive. I wanted something about 50hp bigger than a lawn tractor and small enough to get around a small place. I looked for a Ford 5000 but none that were in any kind of shape turned up. I came across a nice little Massey Ferguson 165. It needed a little care but had an MF loader with it and the Perkins Diesel ran great, was easy on fuel and didn't burn a drop of oil. Best of all the 1966 tractor was simple, no rabbits and turtles. So that is how we came back to a life I had missed for many years. Now I am back working on a big garden, plus a prairie restoration project and some timber renewal as well. I planted an orchard. I am restoring a 1941 Chevy 1 1/2 ton truck and maybe I will restore and repaint the Massey after the truck is done. Always a new project. Looking forward to information sharing and lots of learning on the Forums.
Whitetail Valley Farmer
