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The Shade Tree Custom Farmers gathered recently on the Larry Collins farm to harvest a field of oats "just for the fun of it".
These farmers all grew up in the Rockwell City , Iowa , area. On this day, they brought equipment manufactured in the 1950s, including four tractors, four combines and a grain wagon, with a total net value of about $10,000.
They compared the cost of their equipment to a new combine.
"A basic combine would start in the $250,000-to--$300,000 neighborhood," Larry Collins said. "And that's a neighborhood we don't visit."
Others speculated that a new combine with all the new heads and all the bells and whistles could go over $400,000.
"I paid twenty-five dollars for my old 1956, thirty-series combine, then spent about $400 on belts and other repairs," Collins said. "It works just fine."
The group was formed several years ago when Mike Collins started joking about all the old equipment his brother Larry had sitting around.
"We just decided to fix up some of it," Larry said.
Some of their friends heard about it, and the Shade Tree Custom Farmers were born.
"We did this when we were kids and we didn't like it; it was work then. Now it's fun," Mike Collins said.
They have harvested oats on several farms in the Rockwell City area.
Kolby Wagner brought a 1962 model 93 International Harvester self-propelled combine.
Mike Collins drove a 1959 Model 560 International diesel and pulled a 1962 Model 82 International combine.
Robert Lenz pulled a 1952 John Deere Model 42 combine with a 1957 model Super 88 Oliver diesel tractor.
Cole Lenz drove a 1954 Super H Farmall tractor and pulled a grain wagon.
Some of the equipment was dented and rusty, but the old tractors looked as if they had just been driven off the dealer's showroom floor, thanks to another Collins brother who makes the sheet metal look like new.
"I just paint the tractors," Bill Collins said.
Marty RicKard Bio
Marty RicKard attended William Penn College , Iowa State University and University of Southern Mississippi , from which he holds a BS degree in journalism and photojournalism. He also has a Masters Degree in photography, in addition to the Craftsman, CPP, and A-ASP degrees. Marty spent two years as a technical writer for White Motor Company, and has worked for the Charles City Press, Mason City Globe-Gazette, and Davenport Times-Democrat. He was co-owner of the weekly New Sharon Star, where he was twice named Iowa Master Columnist for his article, which was syndicated in twenty Iowa newspapers. For more than a decade Marty's regular column appeared in the Professional Photographer magazine. He has been published in many other magazines and newspapers, including Writer's Digest, Writer Advice, Golf Digest, Resource Magazine, Picture, Range Finder, and Darkroom. In addition to his writing credits, Marty has won numerous photography awards, has lectured in 48 states, and has traveled internationally as lecturer, and judge. He was one of thirty from the U.S. to participate in the first cultural exchange with China in 1986. He currently is a regular columnist for Lens Magazine, and a full-time writer of fiction and poetry. He is the author of two poetry books and one volume of short stories. He is an entertaining speaker.
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