Antique Horse drawn Potato Digger

There's always a learning curve when using a 'new to you' tool, whether the tool is brand new or a hundred years old. For the first try, I'd say two thumbs up. When saving old equipment from the junk yards, the point is not necessarily to be efficient, the point is to preserve these examples in the stages in agricultural technology so we can appreciate how hard life was for those that came before us. All things evolve and all the stages of evolution in machinery are equally important.

I have one that is almost identical. You need to hill the potatoes so they are in raised rows. Hilling keeps the weeds away from the row and gives a nice clean edge to the row. Also these diggers require a certain speed to bounce the dirt on the chains for separation. These work very well if you get things right.

I am 70 now and when I was just a boy I was able to watch my Grandfather use this same potato picker both with his big Belgian work horses and with his Farmall M but if I remember correctly he also used an old shortened hay cutter to cut the potato tops off at dirt level and all the kids would follow behind and pull them off the potato row. This same picker sits undisturbed in the equipment barn covered by a 50 year old Army tarp at my Grandfathers Farm. He farmed from age 7 to the age of 81 and lived to be 90 and was married at 15 to my Grandmother for just over 75 years.

Love to see old farm equipment still being used today ! I'm 59 an remember my dad owning a cub tractor on my grandmother's small farm ! But we didn't have a potato digging machine just a matic an our backs digging them up ! Good video thanks for sharing ! 👍👍

We did about an acre of "spuds" a year and dug them all with that very same digger. We would hill the rows and would be sure the moldboard was clean, otherwise the dirt/refuse, would tend to bunch up. We pulled it with a little Ford tractor and went slow. It worked perfectly to the point where the potatoes were laid on top of the "tops" directly behind the digger. Sure nice to see one in operation again, thanks for the post.

My Grandfather had one of these and pulled it with a C Farmall. After he sold out in 1965, I lost track of the digger although I'm sure one of my Uncle's (estates that is) has it. At our farm, our garden was in an odd shaped piece of land located in a tight spot. The potato patch was the oddest and tightest part of the odd and tight. We used a lister behind a B Farmall to turn the potatoes after using a lawn mower to clip the vines. Later we used a first generation John Deere garden tractor. Lotsa memories of lotsa good food. One last thing, the digger manages the potato vines better if you plant your potatoes on Saint Patrick's day. I don't know why but it works.

We had the exact same potato digger when we were kids growing up. When we bought it, I think the front wheels were already gone. We adapted it, so it would hook on to a drawbar from the old Ford 3 point hitch. This way the depth was controlled by the hydraulics on the tractor. Two things we learned. Before digging the potatoes, we would run over the rows with a lawn mower raised all the way up. This got rid of all the plants that would otherwise tangle up in the track. The second thing was to have a rider on the back to push all the weeds and dirt down in the track. This kept it from building up in the front and clogging up. It actually worked pretty well once we got the hang of it. We had enough potatoes to feed a big eating family of 7 - 5 kids. Potatoes would last year round with enough to plant for the following year.

I learned much more from your difficulties than I would have from video from a manufacturer doing it with perfect conditions.

Yes yes, I grew up with a similar digger. The person in the set of the digger is very essential for smooth operation. We had several acres of potatoes to dig every fall. Very important to keep the weeds out of the rows. We let the vines frost and dry. The machine was better than the alternative; a potato fork. We picked up the potatoes by had and put them in five gallon buckets.

My grandfather farmed in Bridgehampton, NY. He would chemically burn off the vine then dig (he died at 52 because of the chemicals!. The migrant workers would put the potatoes in a burlap bag then they would throw the bag to my gf on his flatbed Dodge to stack up. I was driving, or at least I thought I was, it was following the tractor furous. He would move me over to turn it around I was 10! Fond fond memories of a by gone era, glad I was there!

Very impressive! I've seen much larger tractors hooked to potato diggers. That little Farmall did a good job!

Man that’s to cool. The engineering that’s in that old tool. Thanks again

This reminds me of potato picking as a child in 1960s. We used a spinner to dig the potatoes out, but the problems were same! Great video!

Love the pulling power of these antique little tractors. Even having less hp than the average lawn mower!

Live and learn, but what a great set up. Love these tractors.. I think Farmall built the best small tractors from the late 40's thru the 60's even by today's standards. Hard to believe at less or around 15 HP that tractor pull how it does. Congrats on having that wonderful set up.

I grew up on potato-farm in northern Maine ... When I was very young , we still had the 2 row tractor -drawn potato -diggers drawn by our 2 mid 50's Farmall 400's into even the early 70's as we slowly acquired a potato combine or two .. { plus more powerful tractors to handle the horsepower / hydraulic needs for them } ... and began gearing up for the eventual change-over of this newer equipment . Ya , looks like you'd want to pull the weeds and potato -tops first seeing as how the conveyors are dependent on that axle rotating for their movement , to keep all that from bunching up and giving the dirt and whatever , time to sift through and not impede the potatoes ..... Normally , this would require an operator in that digger's - seat to raise/lower the blade ....and possibly control engagement of the digger conveyor -lags (?) { I'd have to see it up close and personal to figure it } At some point in their conversion , I believe the digger controls were lengthened and possibly otherwise modified to be reached by the tractor operator ....

Several summers I helped my grandfather combine and bail hay. A few times I helped bring in potatoes, our digger was two rows, no paint, but that is the same piece of equipment!

Sad how many classic farm machinery ends up in scrap yards. Enjoy watching this still being used!

Very interesting! Quite the clever contraption, and it's good to see old machinery like that being used, instead of rusting away behind a barn somewhere. The Farmall sounds good, too.

farming is always a learning experience no matter how old you are