When our families' Fordson Model F suffered a catastrophic piston and connecting rod failure while digging out a basement from under our farm house in Conneaut, Ohio, a decision was made to purchase a Farmall C from Conneaut Fuel and Grain on November 3, 1948 , six months before I was born.

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To make the down payment of 608 dollars, Lue Turner (father) and mother Augustine sold 33 market hogs. They made 17 monthly payments of $73.51 (see images of the original purchase agreements). The Farmall C was used in all seasons and served as the main tractor on the Monroe Township 120 acre farm.

 

In Winter it was used to bring in firewood to heat the farmhouse. A some point, a buzz saw from a front mounted Farmall H was modified to fit the rear of the C using a pto belt pulley to saw slabs to heat the house.  Additionally, it was used  to remove and spread livestock manure and, for a time, a belt driven hammer mill was used to grind grist for feeding livestock.

In Spring it was used to plow fields, planting oats, corn, and some buckwheat. It pulled tillage implements including a cultimulcher, disk harrow, spiked tool harrow, grain drill, and the corn planter. The grains were used to feed livestock, hog chickens, dairy heifers, milk cows, and two ponies.
 

In Summer the C would have a pull type sickle bar mower to mow Timothy and Clover hay and birds foot trefoil. A side delivery rake was pulled behind the C to create windrows for hay baler pick up. The baler the Farmall C pulled was a very heavy 50 T (twine) baler with over ram cub powered engine. The baler was so heavy it would bend down the C drawbar. If the baler wasn’t enough, we would bale hay and load hay onto the wagon with an extra long chute. The wagon, when full, was over 100 bales. The loaded wagons, with 100+ bales, were pushed into the bank barn for unloading.

 

The front steering  pedestal equipment, with a loony tide made from a truck driveshaft, was coupled to the wagon for punching using a pipe frame attached to the wagon frame. One time, the puncher tube slipped off the steering pedestal. The loaded wagon rolled back and smashed into the grill pushing the radiator into the fan of the Farmall C engine. That was a very costly accident that was never repeated, radiators were just as expensive then as they are today!

The summer tasks did not end there. The Farmall C would pull an IHC 42 R pto combine to harvest oats and grass seed, such as clover and trefoil. The straw was then baled. The 42 R was a bit much for the C combined. It was replaced by a IHC 52 R which was powered by a cub engine , so it was able to more effectively handle the load.

In the Fall the Farmall C would finish grain harvesting. Then it was time to bring in the Corn. Corn was harvested for silage using a corn binder and then hauled by the C from the fields to the e silage chopper blower to be blown into the snow fence created silo. After the corn field was opened up enough, hired corn pickers would then come. The Farmall C would haul the wagons to the corn crib for storage fed during the winter.