Horses and steam-powered traction engines were the drivers of crop production and agriculture for decades. It wasn’t until Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Co. built the first “tractor” in the U.S. in 1901 that this began to change.

Diesel engines wouldn’t be developed until the 1930s, and the adoption of tractors on the farm still was a little like the Wild West throughout the early part of the 20th century.

It might surprise farmers to know that in the late 1920s, horses still were quite popular on the farm and drove much of farm work because tractors still were considered expensive and quite unreliable.

Beginning of the end

The decline of real horsepower on farms began during World War I with increased mechanization. A report released in 1937 called “The Farm Horse,” based on the results of the 1930 USDA Census of Agriculture, states that over the previous decade, there was a decline of 6.3 million farm horses and mules in the U.S. But the report notes that there still were almost 19 million horses and mules working in the country in 1930.

That’s why an ad published in the May 4, 1929, issue of Nebraska Farmer is so interesting. The ad for Des Moines, Iowa-based Boyt Harness Co. touts the high quality and longevity of the Boyt-built harness.

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BEST HARNESS: This ad by Boyt Harness Co. ran in the May 4, 1929, issue of Nebraska Farmer, touting the company’s high-quality harness. (Farm Progress)

“There’s no saving in trying to get by on an ordinary harness when for the same price you can get a genuine Boyt-built harness that gives many extra years of hard, faithful work,” according to the ad.

For practical purposes, the harness consists of a network of leather straps, buckles, loops and lines fitted to the horse and attached to what needs to be pulled, whether that is a cart, plow, wagon, carriage or heavy equipment.

Boyt started out when a young Englishman, Walter Boyt, came to the U.S. in 1885, at first starting a saddlery in Des Moines with his brother John. Although they mostly produced driving harnesses for buggies, World War I changed everything.

Shift to military

The company began producing firearm accessories, which included a military holster for the new Colt 1911 .45 pistol, along with calvary saddle bags and a harness used for artillery and to transport horses during the war.

After the war, Walter sold the company to John and John’s three sons. They continued the company tradition of making long-lasting harnesses, saddles, tack and bridles for farming operations. When the U.S. joined World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Boyt started to produce millions of pieces of equipment for soldiers in the fight. According to the company’s history, combat Marines were issued at least a dozen pieces of Boyt equipment that included backpacks, web belts, cartridge pouches and M-1 slings.

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After the war, Boyt went back to producing saddles and harnesses, but things had changed. The tipping point in agriculture, when tractors began to outnumber horses on the farm, came around the end of World War II in 1945. So, the company shifted operations again, producing sporting goods and gun cases, hunting vests and cartridge bags as a focus of the business. In the 1990s, they began to acquire sporting brands such as Bob Allen Co. to boost outdoor equipment offerings.

Although the company was founded on horse tack and harnesses, like so many ag-related businesses over the past century, it has evolved into where the marketplace has taken it — in this case, into the sporting goods business. A company that started out producing the harnesses that kept American farmers in the fields now produces high-end gun cases, for instance, that keep sportsmen in the field where they want to be.

Learn more at boytharness.com.