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Forgotten Tool: Do you know when this tractor was built?

Tom J. Bechman, Editor, Indiana Prairie Farmer

January 30, 2023

1 Min Read
Farmall F-12 tractor
END OF AN ERA: International Harvester had a specific goal in mind when it produced the F-12 tractor with a two-row mounted cultivator: to replace a farmer’s last team of horses. Tom J. Bechman

International Harvester designed an advertising campaign before the first Farmall F-12 rolled off the assembly line. It would replace a farmer’s last team of horses.

History documents that by 1945, after World War II, tractor farming took firm control. Whether the Farmall F-12, John Deere models A and B, and others played a major role in replacing the horse is still up for debate.

The F-12 featured 12 hp at the drawbar. Salespeople and marketers at International Harvester billed it as replacing the last pair of horses because it could work inside a growing crop, unlike earlier tractors better suited to plowing and disking. The F-12 even came with a mounted two-row cultivator.

The F-12 was produced for five years. Name one of those five years and include your mailing address, and you will be eligible for the gift card drawing from all correct entries. Email to [email protected] or mail to 599 N., 100 W., Franklin, IN 46131.

Snow scoop

The John Deere scoop with the bolt-on bucket attachment pictured here online and in the January issue of Indiana Prairie Farmer was designed for pushing snow. Marshall Galloway, Attica, Ind., used one to scoop corncobs while working at the elephant and hippo compound at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois. When used on the parking lot for snow, it didn’t work so well, he recalls. Snow packed tight in the center and wouldn’t dump out.

Congratulations to Leo Stewart, Prophetstown, Ill., winner of the gift card. He grew up using International Harvester’s version of a snow scoop.

Read more about:

Tractors

About the Author(s)

Tom J. Bechman

Editor, Indiana Prairie Farmer, Farm Progress

Tom J. Bechman is editor of Indiana Prairie Farmer. He joined Farm Progress in 1981 as a field editor, first writing stories to help farmers adjust to a difficult harvest after a tough weather year. His goal today is the same — writing stories that help farmers adjust to a changing environment in a profitable manner.

Bechman knows about Indiana agriculture because he grew up on a small dairy farm and worked with young farmers as a vocational agriculture teacher and FFA advisor before joining Farm Progress. He works closely with Purdue University specialists, Indiana Farm Bureau and commodity groups to cover cutting-edge issues affecting farmers. He specializes in writing crop stories with a focus on obtaining the highest and most economical yields possible.

Tom and his wife, Carla, have four children: Allison, Ashley, Daniel and Kayla, plus eight grandchildren. They raise produce for the food pantry and house 4-H animals for the grandkids on their small acreage near Franklin, Ind.

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