By PAUL WALLEM

 This column is about memories, and what some of you have told me regarding your first tractor recollection. What surprised me was how often age 4 was mentioned.

Max Armstrong, Indiana – (Max was an Indiana farm boy. You heard him broadcast alongside Orion Samuelson from WGN Chicago for many years. He now hosts “This Week in Agribusiness” on RFD TV.)  Here are his memories:

“The field is still in production where Dad turned the reins over to me on that 1953 Super H, 60 years ago. The two areas of our farm were very different in character. The Wabash River bottoms was an area flat, wide open and remote. It was the other part of our farm, however where he turned me loose, the part where you could fall out of a field if you weren’t careful. The steep hills and irregular shapes of those fields demanded the drivers’ full attention. In this patch there was a fencerow to my left and woods straight ahead. I would need to turn that tractor and disc by using the RIGHT brake, he explained. I can still see him, hopping off the drawbar and motioning me to go ahead. Oh, that feel of pulling back the 

throttle. I was in charge. I was 10 feet tall. I had been around that tractor my whole life and now I was the one on the seat. “Throttle down before you get to the woods,” I can still hear him saying.

I can also recall Dad telling Mom in the kitchen that I had driven all alone, and also recall her scowl. There would be no support from her on this. No positive affirmation that this was a good thing. But that was fine. I didn’t need Mom’s approval. Dad had tested me and I hadn’t let him down.”

Author’s Note:  After Max sent this I called him about his age at the time. He was 8.

John Simatovich, Indiana – “My first tractor to drive was an Oliver 88 diesel. I was around 5 years old and my Dad said that it was time to drive because he was tired of worrying about me riding. Truth be told I couldn’t wait. I felt like that was the biggest tractor in the world. Years later I had to have my own 88 diesel and finally found one, although it isn’t the exact one.  (I am still looking). But every time I smell that diesel and dirt I can’t help but think of Dad, and all those memories come back like it was yesterday. I am sure most guys get the same feeling.”

Jay Gaynor, Pennsylvania – Jay was 6, living on his parents’ tobacco farm. His Dad had him steer between the rows as his parents hand-hoed the plants. Now, as he manages five ag dealerships, he remembers that important job he had in the tobacco field.

Al McContosh, Saskatchewan – His story goes back a long way. His first memory is that of a McCormick 15-30, built before 1929. He sat on the fender of this old, gray tractor a very long time ago. He remembers it well.

Mike Reints, Illinois – Mike saw his home farm from a high point at age 7. His Dad put Mike in the loader bucket of their Farmall H and raised him as high as it would go. He remembers that whole different view of their farm. Now, all these many years later, look at the attached photo of his three grandson as they come to see his tractor. Now their memories begin.

Paul Threewitts, Ohio – Paul wins this  column’s award for being the “youngest farmhand.” At age 5, his Dad had him steer the tractor as his parents loaded the trailer with tomatoes. At rows’ end his Dad turned it around and started back on a new row, then Paul took over again. At age 5!

And it wasn’t always boys, as a lot of farm girls were also getting on their family tractors. Some were also driving at an early age.

Pearle Burlingame, Ohio – Here’s an example. Her Dad was a dairyman, and she was curious. At age 4, he put her on the tractor seat and she proudly steered it through the gate all the way into the barn lot. That experience has always stayed with her. She is still on a dairy farm with her husband.

Ken Statz, Wisconsin – Ken remembers his Dad’s F-20 from a young age, but what he really remembers more is their Farmall B. It was hooked on a manure spreader, and at 8 he got the tractor started and backed the spreader and tractor through the barn wall.

These are but a few of the thousands of memories you readers have. If you e-mail me yours from a young age, I’ll do another column like this in the future.

Paul Wallem was raised on a dairy farm. He spent 13 years after college with corporate IH on domestic and foreign assignments. He resigned to own and operate two IH dealerships. He is the author of THE BREAKUP of IH and SUCCESSESS AND INDUSTRY FIRSTS OF IH. Read his story on PaulWallem.com.