Bet you havent seen this before-an operational Case hammer mill

[PeacemakerJack 10,743]

I wasn't sure where to post this but I felt this was the place. My family came over to this country from the Volga river district of Russia in the late 1800's.  They were originally from Germany and had been farmer's for generations.  They moved to the USA to become Americans and flee the growing persecution and unrest in Russia. They settled first in Kansas but the conditions weren't what they were looking for to dairy farm so they moved to Omro, WI in the very early 1900's. My family has farmed that land ever since. They dairy farms sold the cows in 1992 but the land is still cash cropped by my uncle's. Many of the farm videos that I have taken have been shot on that land! This video is no exception. As a child and teen I remember grinding feed for the cattle every Saturday morning. We would hook up the old Case LA tractor to the hammer mill.  Grandpa and his brother Elmer would shovel corn into the hopper, uncle Roger would change the bags, the them, and load them on to the truck. When I was there, I would shovel oats from the upper bin into the hopper. This video is hot off the presses as it was shot today. Neither Roger or I had used this machine since 1992.  It was a very nostalgic experience for us.  I loved being able to Share It with my beautiful children.  Notice Zach at the mid point of the video with the big grin and thumbs up...

Well said Zach

[ol550 830]

Oh yeah, shoveled plenty into a hammer mill. That was after finally getting the belt lined up. Don't think it was a Case though.

[Digger 66 3,488]

Those kids will remember doing that when they're 80 

[SylvanLakeWH 27,500]

Very cool!

[JC 1965 1,532]

When i was a kid, we lived on a dairy farm. We had a very large buzz saw  (  that's what we called it   ) that mounted on the front of a John Deere tractor. I hated using it because the belt would come off sometimes. Should have had a belt guard in place.   Very dangerous.    

[953 nut 57,869]

Flat belt work of any kind taught us the importance of alignment. Also, how important it is to load the device uniformly so the belt wouldn't jerk.

[Wishin4a416 2,191]

Nice. Thanks for posting. When I was young and worked on a farm, the moble feed grinder truck would come every Monday to grind feed. We would have the hay, oats, wheat and corn ready. That big ole diesel would grind that stuff up to almost powder and then blew it into the 3 feed bins. A very dusty process.

[dcrage 629]

I remember my Grandad having a hammer mill (no idea of what kind it was) and my Dad would have the mobile feed grinder come to our place 3 or 4 times a year. Showing our age here. 

[PeacemakerJack 10,743]

These are some awesome memories guys. I know that my kids really enjoyed the experience and will look forward to doing it again sometime soon.  Uncle Roger is planning to set it up in a more permanent position in his barn where it will be easier to run and use on a weekly basis like it was used back in the day. 

"A very Dusty process"---that is a true statement.  I remember coming up to the house after griding feed and grandma yelling out to us as we were about to enter the house, "you sweep each other off before coming into my house with all that dust!"  boy, those were the days. 

 

"Flat belt work taught us the importance of alignment"-- I was showing my oldest son how the belt would walk off the drive pulley if it was lined up and a couple of times while they were throwing corn into the machine and put too much in at once and it would definitely cause the belt to jerk. All tidbits of info that the previous generation learned and applied. Those types of things are being lost today. 

 

"We had a very large buzz saw"--my family has a couple of those that they still use for cutting wood. Dangerous doesn't begin to describe them.  They work very well but aren't in the least bit safety conscious. That was a time where the responsibility fell more on the operator than the designer or manufacturer.  I'm not going to declare what is right of wrong in that but I know that trying to engineer every bit of personal responsibility out of a machine does nothing but make an individual more haphazard while using it because they think that they don't have to be safe with it because it IS SAFE. Right!

[dcrage 629]

11 hours ago, PeacemakerJack said:

"We had a very large buzz saw"--my family has a couple of those that they still use for cutting wood. Dangerous doesn't begin to describe them.  They work very well but aren't in the least bit safety conscious. 

 

Grandad had one of these also -- I can remember helping him cut firewood with this back in the late '60s (back before OSHA I am guessing) -- Even at that young age (mid teens) I had the thought of "Geez that is one dangerous machine" -- An open 30" inch blade!!! -- Did those things ever kickback like table saws do -- That would really be frightening if they did that

[6wheeler 662]

Nice video. We had an old electric hammermill but I never really used it. We ground our feed with a Gehl grinder. Every other Saturday, grind one 6 ton batch for each of the two dairy herds. The only time I ever used a belt driven implement was an old Minneapolis Moline sileage blower. Same thing, make sure the belt was lined up. A Super 88 Oliver handled that chore. It would fill the 35' silos. When the 60' silos were  added? A much bigger blower was needed. My uncle restored that Moline blower 7 years ago and it looks pretty neat with the other MM tractors it is used with. It does blow sileage still. I thought it was kind of sad when they sold the cows. But, when we took the headers out of the barn and filled the gutters to put restored tractors in there? It worked. 

[PeacemakerJack 10,743]

Thanks for the great story!!! Do you have any pictures of the MM blower or the tractors stored in the remodeled barn? I personally would like to see pictures of that American Iron and part of your heritage!  

 

Im always sad to face the reality that just 30 years ago there were small family farms all across the Midwest and even the country, and now most of those are gone!  When my dad worked for Chief Equipment in Oshkosh in the 70's, small farms dotted the countryside.  Most had between 20-40 milking cows.  It was more than a career or a business, farming then was a way of life. I'm so thankful that I got an opportunity to be part of it at my grandparents farm for about 15 years before they sold the cows too.  Those people, were some of the strongest threads of the fabric of our country and have left a "hole" in their absence.  Thanks again for sharing!

[6wheeler 662]

I will have to try to get some. And then figure out how to post them. My uncles are still farming there, Just no cows anymore. Sadly, though. This could be the last year. They all getting up in age and are thinking of an auction and renting it all out. All the kids work in town. So, helping on the farm is more of a "If I get time" thing. Even my folks are thinking of hanging it up and renting their farm up north. It sure is kind of funny. I still go out there and help with the field work. And I help my parents too when I can. But, seeing someone else run the land seems strange. Just like when the cows left. But, I can see their point. All of the neighbors have always been friendly? But, when they catch wind that 900 acres may be coming up for rent? They get really friendly...