1957 John Deere 4 Row Planter Ad

[@farmerbill6855]

I had one of those, served me well for about ten years. Gave it to a neighbor boy when I got my first four row 7000. A much better planter, it was nice to not have to deal with seed plates.

[@growthefarmup2606]

Oh yes, finding the plates!!! Ugh and sizing them correctly, (very important) I wonder how many farmers could actually set one up in 2022??? Great comment. Thanks.

[@farmerbill6855]

There's a couple of sweet corn guys around me (central Indiana) that are still using 494s. One even plants pumpkins with his.

[@ronaldschultz1189]

My first planter was a 694 with disc openers and a dickie John monitor in 1974. We used it until 1980 when we bought a 7000 no till.

[@growthefarmup2606]

@@ronaldschultz1189 I remember those old monitors. Boy has that changed... used to just be light on or off... and loud beep or not. Now we count seeds and seed drop and spacing, depth, everything. I run the simple dickey John monitors on my male planters. Prob is gonna be finding parts. There pretty simple tho. That's why I like em.

[@jaredklug3502]

Still using a 7000. Great planters

[@cdjhyoung]

This is the planter we used all my farming years. Dad bought it new in 1957, may be the only piece of new equipment he ever had. It really could have used stainless steel fertilizer boxes, I never saw one of these machines that the boxes hadn't rotted out by 1970. As for seed plates, out always came from the seed dealer. I can't say we ever had to deal with plastic seed plates.

[@karlsborgwi.jewell9919]

Dad got his 494 used at an auction around 1980.. I had to replace it in 2010 because the fert boxes had been patched and the patches had patches also lol… and the old plastic seed plates got brittle and would break mid field …frustrating when u don’t have a monitor . Dad was impressed with my new 7000 with a monitor

[@growthefarmup2606]

Patches on the patches.... I can relate! Lol. Good hearing stories about guys that actually ran this equipment! I put little 1/2 inch plates that stick out of top of seed "box" (patched! Lol) to make sure rows are going down evenly. What I like is u don't have to hook up a monitor! But yea, the price of seed today, monitors are the norm. Thanks for the story!

[@KOENations]

Great bit of history! Great work GTFU!

[@kadenemerson3569]

My grandpa ran one of these for 40 years. Now we use 6 row but he still has his 4 row

[@justinschmitz8034]

1950s 1960s to me is the golden age of Farming.

[@growthefarmup2606]

I actually have a 2 row male planter like this in my equipment line. John Deere planters have added alot of harnesses and computers... but where the seed meets the soil, it is remarkable how similar the design is to today's modern planters.

[@chwilliams5]

I used a 494 then a 694 on my hobby farm. Worked great for 30 or 36 inch rows. Many have been cut down to 2 row for food plots.

[@growthefarmup2606]

Yep I've actually planted with mine in last 5 years a couple times, I keep it around for my seed corn prodiction and planting male is all about timing. Totally stock. Still works, if I cpukd only find all the old seed plates, those really mattered ALOT, needed to be sized right before all this new "precision" tech came onto the market. Thanks

[@farmerbill6855]

*Bow= but, autocorrect doesn't think like me.

[@MidwestFarmToys]

The John Deere 71 flex planter from the later 60's was a way better unit, but very similar to these. The 71 is actually still produced under the Yedder name today

[@davidbratton6313]

My dad had one

[@tryme4990]

Still use granddads to plant sweet corn.

[@growthefarmup2606]

Awesome, same here, modern corn planters don't really plant the small sweet corn seeds properly, (even the old finger pickup units need adjusted down) the modern planters with all the 'precision equipment' can plant sweet corn better, but its tuff to plant sweet corn plots with 12-24 row planters. It takes longer to fill and set up the monitor, vs just set the old planter down and when the wheel is turning, it's planting! Great stuff

[@tryme4990]

@@growthefarmup2606 that planter has fed this community sweetcorn for 40 plus years. We plant 13 acres with it every year. We farm here in Central Ohio and have always had that sweetcorn field. IT was a way for us boys to make money and stay out of trouble. That old equipment kept us busy but I wouldn't change it for anything.

[@growthefarmup2606]

@Try Me and it will feed that community for another 40 years, they even made steel better back then!!! A little grease and a few adjustments and it should be good till 2050!

[@tryme4990]

@@growthefarmup2606 my 4 year old son and I are painting it and new rubber right now. We are painting the 420 tractor we use too. It will be around a long time no doubt.