Spring time seeding in Saskatchewan using John Deere equipment

I compiled a number of old VHS video clips which were shot in the spring of 1990 and depict an average day in the field where I am using my John Deere 4455 tractor to pull various pieces of John Deere implements. The tractor had just recently been purchased new from my local John Deere dealer and was meant to replace my trusty John Deere 4240 which had served me well for 9 seasons. Of course, this tractor like its predecessor, has worked long and hard in the field as well as around my farmyard, and after I retired from farming 10 years ago it was retained for any chores (big or small) that may come my way on my small farm acreage. I see no reason at this point in time to exchange it for another unit.

[@peanutsmith1462]

I’m from south east Alabama I remember in the fall of 1990 we got three John Deere 4455 2w drive first thing we did was fixed them up with three John Deere 4 bottom switch plows man we thought we were living the high life from the old Ford tw-25 thanks for sharing

[@SouthSaskFarmer1]

Just subbed. Love these videos looking back on them old girls when they where brand new! Funny thing is that 4455 is worth more now then what you probably paid for it brand new!

[@DeereDon]

I would have to agree if I keep my 4455 a few more years in the condition it is still in (you may see it as it is today in another video if you search around on my webpage) that I should get more or less what I paid for. Time will tell, I guess. Thanks for your comments.

[@tiger5551]

Some of The best tractors Deere made

[@roberttaylor6918]

Super videos Lovely tractor . Glad I followed Nic to you room.

[@jeremyperala839]

Great narration. I enjoy these uploads. Wish you well, sir.

[@DeereDon]

Thank you, much appreciated.

[@adtube4186]

these are the best kind of videos. Thanks for making it.

[@DeereDon]

I appreciate your comments. I do intend to make more of them as I found numerous old VHS tapes that were put away long ago and long forgotten. If they start to become stale and boring, please let me know.

[@kenjackson6042]

Very nice

[@DeereDon]

Thanks for taking the time to watch my video

[@dejavu6475]

Still can't beat press drills in certain instances. Thankyou for posting this.

[@scruffy6151]

Nothing like watching old video's showing new equipment of the time. I hope you get more subscribers.

[@danmurphy4249]

In the early 90’s I was working on a crew plowing in underground power line in the Biggar area. I came from Blaine Lake, 50 miles north of Saskatoon. I was amazed at how those people could pull cultivators so much bigger than we could. You seem to be the same

[@DeereDon]

I always try to maintain the proper size of machinery versus horsepower, in my opinion I think because of our lighter soils we can get away with slightly larger tillage. Thanks for your comments.

[@ericwill1239]

Great video! Thank you for sharing!

[@oilersridersbluejays]

First things I learned to seed on. Dad ended up getting our first air seeder in 1996 so I only had a year to learn on press drills. I don’t miss the slow filling, but I have to say that they are much simpler to run and maintain than an air seeder, and did a greater job. Nothing looked nicer than a freshly seeded field with nice narrow rows of crop coming out of the blackened field.

[@DeereDon]

I never had any maintenance problems with my drills in all the years that they were in use on my farm and I never complained about the slower filling, but it was the emptying and the cleaning that took so much time when time was at a premium. Plus the fact you needed a bag of canola just for one drill just to start seeding, with a 3 drill outfit that gets kind of expensive. With my air drill I could seed until maybe half a bag was left in the tank and that was pulling 36 feet. But then again, it was the press drills and their good work that helped pay for my new air drill so I certainly should be grateful!

[@dejavu6475]

"KZbin is a perfect game and has no exploits"

[@thetractorguyoldtractor3524]

Enjoy the vintage farming videos! I operate a small grain farm in south central Manitoba. At my place the seeding unit is a 1977 JD 4630 CIH 28 foot wide 7200 hoe drill for cereals ... or a 20 foot wide IHC 6200 double disc press drill for canola(using it's grass seed boxes to meter-out canola seed with tubes directing the seed into the main tubes to drill the seed in one inch deep.)

[@DeereDon]

Hello, I have maybe been down in your "neck of the woods". I bought my JD 2360 swather from a colony at Kilarney, my air JD 1900 air cart came from Melita, and our house was built in Winkler. We drove down there to watch it been built in their "factory". I must say, all of those trips showed us some very interesting country.

[@thetractorguyoldtractor3524]

Most likely the trip to Winkler Manitoba , you drove padt my small farm just north of Carman a few miles!

[@Military-Museum-LP]

Those were good times. Thanks for sharing and YES I enjoy seeing your videos.

[@tyerock7851]

What a beast back in its day thanks for sharing!

[@DylanJoyceFarms]

I love the videos. Keep up the good work. I love watching the older videos of these tractors working when they were basically new. I farm in West TN USA. I run 2 JD 4640s and a 4650

[@DeereDon]

Hello Dylan. Nice to hear from so far away, and thanks for your interesting comments. I am working on another JD 6620 combine video at the moment, not sure when it will be "finalized", after that will be another JD4455 video, that might take some time, but unfortunately, I am fast running out of old VHS videos from that time period, and after they are all done I am afraid that will bring to an end any and all You Tube videos. I trust that does not disappoint too many viewers!!

[@DylanJoyceFarms]

@@DeereDon I enjoy watching the 6620 video. I had an 82 model 6620 that I ran for four years when I started farming. It was a good combine but I soon started pushing more acres through it than I could reliably count on it to harvest I now have a 91 model 9400 combine. It is a vast improvement.over.the old 6620.

[@Chevy4x4dawg]

A great video!!!!! That is a very sharp 4455!! Have only seen pictures and videos of these without a rockshaft and 3 point. I have seen 4640- ,4840s without 3 points. Just didn't know it was an option this late. Of course I am in the row crop area of Texas.

[@DeereDon]

Hello Chevy: Here in this part of the world it is a safe bet that 99% of "field" tractors do not come equipped with 3PH. Never did and probably never will. There are no row crops anywhere in this province that I can think of, so the need for 3PH does not exist. Having said that, I would guess that a fair amount of smaller tractors use 3PH but more for specialized work. I am considering putting together another video of my 4455 hard at work, it might be available for viewing in about a month. It goes a long way in showing what this tractor did on my farm each year. Thanks for your comments.

[@Chevy4x4dawg]

@@DeereDon Thanks for the reply. Very interesting, back when we use to deep plow with plows they were 3 point or semi mount with 2 point. Also v rippers. Then all the row crop tool bars, sprayers and such. Now it's all huge equipment and lots of air seeders and sp spray rigs. Sure glad you kept your 4455!!!

[@nellsonstout7001]

Beautiful illustration of differences in soil type. 26 feet would probably be it in the heavy Indiana clay around me

[@charlest2999]

I'm glad south Sask farmer sent me over here. These videos are great. I still use today a 4440, 4450 and 7720. How many hrs are on your 4455. I bet it's a slick tractor to this day.

[@DeereDon]

Hello Charles: My 4455 is just a few hours shy of 7500 hours. If you want to see what it looks like today you can click on here kzbin.info/www/bejne/jp6sk5yQjpmnrq8 It sits in my shed, it still looks the same as in this You Tube video, not much has changed. You can roam around on my website and see what else is sitting in the sheds.

[@samtalley791]

This is a great film! Love the voice over! I really like the straight truck. I hope to see more videos like this from you. Do you ever wish you hadn’t retired?

[@DeereDon]

Thank you for your interesting comments. As for retirement, yes, the first couple of years were difficult, but farming as I knew it no longer exists. Not to say it is wrong, just totally different and I am afraid an old timer like me would get lost very, very quickly.

[@ohioplowboyhawk6738]

That was awesome thanks

[@DeereDon]

I certainly appreciate your comments, I will assume you are somewhere in the State of Ohio?

[@martineriksson9896]

It is really great to see the old Deeres when they were new and shiny 😊 I wonder how many passes you did with the cultivator to make seed bed?

[@DeereDon]

Hello Martin: I would only make one pass with the cultivator before the drills, as it did an excellent job the first time over and left an excellent level seed-bed. It also managed to kill most (if not all) above ground vegetation. As for liquid Avadex, yes, many farmers did apply that product in the spring-time in this district, only problem was that it interfered with an already hectic time period where a farmer was busy doing another million jobs. Plus, another disadvantage was that it too had to be incorporated by harrowing, sometimes that really dried out the seedbed and then there could be problems with soil drifting.

[@martineriksson9896]

@@DeereDon the soil looks so black, did you any fall tillage? Avadex was mainly used for wild oats so it was never a big part of the spring seeded acreages in my part of the world 😊

[@DeereDon]

@@martineriksson9896 Hello Martin: We are located in what is referred to as "the thin black soil zone" of Saskatchewan. Yes, all this land was summer-fallow from the year before, which means it was probably worked about 5 times during the course of the summer, from late May to maybe mid September. At one time wild oats was a very major concern when it came to weed competition, not quite so much today. With zero tillage (continuous cropping) other nasty weeds have become more of a problem. Just curious, you do not need to answer, whereabouts is your part of the world?

[@NorthEastSaskFarmer]

How come you didn’t buy a used 4wd rather than a new 4455? A used 8430 for example, would have been better in the wet conditions

[@DeereDon]

At the time when this 4455 came into our yard I had been using a 4240 to do all my farming, which the year before consisted of approximately 400 acres of crop, give or take. Yes, it would have been nice to own a 8430, but using it to pull a 30' cultivator, 20' feet of press drill, 25' of chisel plow, a 60' foot field sprayer, etc. would be a bit of over-kill. And I really did not have the finances at that time to go out and upgrade all the machinery. I had to live with the fact that the 4455 was only 2WD (meaning I had to be very careful around the pot-holes) and eventually once I got more land (and more money) I changed to my 8450 and at the same time was able to keep back the 4455 as well for "chore" duties.

[@NorthEastSaskFarmer]

@@DeereDon I know my father was doing everything with a Ford 9700, then Ford tw30 and later a Ford tw35. He was always buying new and then in the early 90s he finally bought a used 4wd, it was a Ford fw30 (a blue steiger cougar). I guess it just wasn’t as easy in those days to find equipment as it is now since the internet didn’t exist. As in my mind all I could think of is how many smaller and older 4wd had already existed by the late 80s, surely some would have been priced similarly to a brand new Ford tw35