Antique Farm Implements

Back in the days before farm tractors were readily accessible, farmers had to rely on other methods of tilling the soil and working their crops, and most of them used horses, donkeys, and/or mules to pull and power their farm machinery. Today's picture features two antique farm implements - a mowing machine and a hay rake.

I remember watching my grandfather use mules to pull plows, discs, mowing machines, hay rakes, and of course a trusty old wagon. It was a simpler time back then, a time when a farmer had to work just as hard as his beasts of burden in order to get the fields plowed and the crops planted, then later tilled and harvested. There was something of a partnership involved - it wasn't simply a person driving a tractor. It was a farmer and his work animals, each with an individual personality, working as a team to get the job done. It really was a very interesting process for a young child to watch!

The affordability of modern farm equipment has made these antique farm implements obsolete and the once ubiquitous mule a rarity. But many pieces of horse/mule drawn farm machinery are still around thanks to collectors. It is quite common in rural areas to see an old hay rake or horse drawn plow sitting in a flower bed or in the corner of a lawn. And every time I see such a display my mind wanders back to the days of my childhood when granddaddy would hitch up the mules and go plow a garden or tobacco patch.

Now those old farm implements are only used as decorations - and monuments to simpler times consisting of long days that were consumed by hard work...for man and beast alike!

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