Northeast Iowa

Clayton County

Kale Avenue

Tractor Boy Pictures

Today I publish a series of sixteen pictures that I have received from the major picture contributor to this Blog - Iowa Tractor Boys.  Thank You Norma!!!!

This series of pictures was taken during the period of 19 September 2012 through 26 December 2012.

The mobile sign welcoming visitors to
Volga City

4 October 2012

Wood Center Road
18 October 2012

23 October 2012
A Nephew with his Winter
Food Supply

The Nephews each
wearing their "Seed Corn"
Promotion Jackets

The Nephews and they are all Siblings
The two on the ends also work for
John Deere

The two in the middle are engaged in endeavors
that involve the Mississippi River

8 December 2012

This view and the following three show
the extent of the
20 December 2012 Snow Storm
12.8 inches

The box structure shown here is
actually the furnace for the nearby
two story farm home

The Snow has stopped and
on 21 December 2012 the
snow relocation task commences

It takes a Bob Cat to complete the task for the
close in work.

26 December 2012
An Iowa Tractor Boy and his
nephews engage in an
appropriate indoor
endeavor

The Take Down of a Silo

Many years ago My Sister and her family operated a large Dairy Operation near Luana, Iowa.  In recent years she has turned her farm operation into a Grain Operation.  The primary crop grown is corn.  Therefore there was no longer a need for the storage of silage to feed to the cows.  On August 28, 2012 she had a firm take down the Silo which stood about 100 feet in the air.  The silo was a landmark, but it was no longer needed.  My Sister reported that the take down crew commenced work at 9:00 A.M. on August 28, 2012.  The silo was down on the ground one hour later.  Of course the clean up and removal of the steel hoops and concrete took a bit longer.  Here is a series of pictures that she forwarded to me.

A difficult task completed in an hour.

2012 Corn Harvest

Kale Avenue

Clayton County, Iowa

This Blog Post will feature a series of random views of the Corn Harvest.  Some of the pictures were taken from inside the Cab of the Harvester.  You can quickly see that this Farm Operation features John Deere Implements.  The principal operator is also an employee of the John Deere Dubuque Tractor Works.

He also happens to be my Nephew.  I received these pictures from my Sister-In-Law.

 This pictures features a future farmer in training. 

 Please note that this Corn Header has been outfitted with special equipment to assist in the harvest of the corn which was almost laid down during a storm in late July 2012.

Corn Drying Equipment

Clayton County Iowa

 Here you see the son of an Iowa Farmer showing off a new grain dryer.  The control station is housed in the shed next to the grain bin.

 Here is the Iowa Tractor Boy in the Control Shed/Monitoring Station as he observes the status of the corn drying operation.

This is a close up of the display which the Iowa Tractor Boy is viewing in the previous picture.  I have memories of picking ear corn when I was a much Younger Iowa Farm Boy.  We had a husking peg on our hand and stripped away the shuck and threw the ear corn into a wagon.  Most of the time the wagon was pulled by a team of horses.  Farming has certainly changed in the last sixty years.

John Deere

Open House

175th Anniversary

at the

Harvester Plant

Moline, Illinois

 My nephew works at this Plant and he had his Mother document the events of the day as John Deere Celebrated 175 years of progress in the Agriculture Implement Manufacture. 

 A Display of a one row Corn Picker. 

 I have fond memories of this style grain combine when I was a Young Farm Boy of 14 years of age.

 This view and several others which follow show the current "Combine," which is now known as a Harvester.

 This Harvester has an eighteen corn row header.  Certainly a much larger capacity than the 1950s models I watched as a young Farm Boy.

 A Harvester Motor

 The header

 This is the section that My Nephew works on.

No Open House is complete without Food.  I was told that about 10,000 people visited this Open House.