Farmer (1954)

[Music] when the farmer comes to town we this wagon broken down pull the farmers the man beat them all if you'll only look can see I'm sure that you'll agree that the farmer is the man feeds more isn't she a beauty she was born just last night I guess I'll call her spotty sure wish dad would give her to me hey Jenny guess dad wants me to stop playing with Spidey he's in a hurry to do the milking because we've got a harvest oats today I'm supposed to wash the cows udders before dad puts on the milk er and after each cow was diced ripped the last drop of milk by hand to make sure the udders are empty every morning real early we milk the cows and feed them they eat silage with bran here in the barn and later they eat grass out in the pasture this one's called prized and she is a prize she gives more milk than any other cow in the barn but I like bossy best because she Spotty's mother gee I sure do wish dad would give me spotty over there's my sister Betty she's up early to feeding the chickens and my brother Lenz driving the pigs into the feeding pan feeding pigs is our second morning chore on our farm pigs are just as important as cows some years we make most of our money from pigs we raise a hundred or more at a time we have 16 pounds each one gives us two of pigs every year that's about 200 pigs and that makes a nice load of pork for the market dance worried today I guess it's because of the weather we've got to get the oats harvested before it rains mother has breakfast ready just in time she knows we're in a hurry it's still early and still fresh and cool dad has hitched our new tractor to the combine to harvest fields and I'm pulling the red wagon with our old tractor Len always wants to come along too he's too young to help but while he plays around he'll learn about harvesting goodbye Betty we're off Betty's getting set for a busy day - on the farm you've got to do things at the right time the string beans are ready for canning we always try to freeze and canned vegetables and fruits while they're at their best our corn is about a mile from the farmhouse around here farmers grow hybrid corn it's a special corn that grows from seeds we buy at the store with hybrid corn seeds and good fertilizer my dad gets twice as much corn from this field as he used to he likes to stop at the corn field every day or two to see how the crop is coming along look who's coming it's mr. Reese the county agent he knows every farm in the county and all the farmers - he helps us to do our job better knows which seed is best to plan what fertilizer our soil needs and does a lot of other things to help us farmers he says we've got nice corn needs a little more rain but dad's afraid of rain just now he'd like to get the oats in first hey what's Len up to dad's driving the combine up the hill [Music] I'll wait here until he needs me lenz good company he'd like to learn to drive the tractor while dad cuts the starting round I'm telling Len about the new baby can gee if Dad would give her to me I know I could win the prize at the 4-h show you know 4-h is the name of a club where wheat farm boys and girls learn to be good farmers spotty could be my project for this year but that's enough of this talk dad's ready with the first full hopper of oats and I'm ready to my jobs to drive my tractor close to the combines let the funnel can spill the oats right into the wagon bed Len has a job to do - he's going over to ask Uncle Ben if we can borrow his combine to help get the oats soon on the other side of the hill Uncle Ben's bailing straw Len gives him dad's message Uncle Ben says okay and goes I'm bailing he's got to finish his job first Len loves to watch the big baling machine work it gathers the straw from the ground pulls it up and presses it into bales one just like the other so we can stack them easily in the shed meanwhile I'm bringing in my first full load of votes [Applause] from the wagon benthic oat spill into the truck and that conveyor carries the oats up to the storage bin in the barn I've got to keep the oats flowing from the wagon into the truck sure is getting hot I'd like to go inside and cool off guess mom hurt becoming four here she is with a cool drink of water she's heard a weather report over the radio she says and there's a storm coming up from the south so far the skies still clear look at the oats they're ripe and heavy if the wind and rain hits them they'll be knocked flat then we couldn't cut them and they go to waste pants combine is slowing Donner wonder why but look the real slippin it won't work that would happen just when we're in a hurry a farmer has to be a mechanic these days with all the machines on the farm dad's mighty handy with tools and he needs to be right now let me try a dad I can reach it my hands smaller just one more turn looks right now off we go once more maybe the wedding room get some mighty hungry but we've got to get one more low before we can go for dinner mom's ready for us she knows we'll be on time she sure has lots to do raises her own vegetables trees of their own chickens and meat see it this frozen meat came from one of our own stairs but we can't raise everything we need once a week we go shopping to mr. Myers general store and for things he doesn't have we take a trip to the city once in a while it takes a lot to clothe and feed a farm family especially to feed them at noontime noon times dinnertime on the farm that's when all the family gets together period will total between a half and an inch of precipitation Illinois and Indiana temperatures will average two to six degrees above normal the maximum will be 86 north and 91 south the minimum 62 north and 66 south no sharp temperature change is indicated scattered showers throughout the precipitation averaging near one inch over the North portion and a half an inch in the south Uncle Ben's driven his combine over the hill to our field with both dad nothing been working together we're harvesting twice as fast as we did this morning the sun's short beating down high we're sweating all over but we can't slow down see all that combine works [Music] the sharp sickles cut the oats just above the ground and the real throws them onto the conveyor belt the belt pulls them into the threshing box where the grain is separated from the straw and chant through this funnel the clean ripe rain pours into the hopper the straw is blown out and left in wind row down the field for the baler to pick up later round after round the combines changed the field from waving grain to clothes cut stubble hopper after hopper empties into my wagon and while I hurry home dad and Uncle Ben go on harvesting but more and more clouds are coming up from the south look how dark the sky is over our house right now I know mother's getting worried she knows that storms can come up pretty fast at harvest time I can see you're driving the cows home from the pasture there's dad cutting the last triangle if only the combine would work faster that storms coming mighty close and they're still Oaks left to be cut [Applause] those clouds look mighty threatening we better get going dad's driving home as fast as his tractor will run we've got just one more mile to go [Applause] there's the fire door we go with the last motorboat [Music] [Music] well yippee spies mine I'm sure that you'll agree that the fireman [Music]