Fun at the Greater Peoria Farm Show!
Today we visited our first farm show of the winter season. The Greater Peoria Farm Show is the first of several! Today was the last day for this show that celebrated their 43rd year. I went with my husband Keith and our friend Denny Seiz. We visited the show, each of us going our own ways and checking out our interests. Farm shows are great places to see the latest and greatest in farming. I always seek out antique tractor and toy booths, and this year I found a few grand stops!
What’s new?
We love windmills. We have a David Bradley one on our farm. This interest had me stopping to talk with Mark Petersen of Breezy Mills Windmills. He shared that they offer both ornamental and working windmills. “We have Western Style windmills from 8′ to 40′,” he shared. “We also offer units with pond aeriation.”
On their website they share,” We offer Complete Windmills, Econo Windmills, Aeration, and coming soon, Electrical Windmills. We also offer a head kit to those windmills that are missing a tail or fan piece!”
Ameren Illinois was at the show and the two gentlemen I spoke with were touting incentives for energy reduction. Agriculture incentives are available to Illinois farmers. I received a brochure that listed incentives for livestock, greenhouses and grain dryers. However, they said lighting and HVAC operation in shops are also items that may work if efforts are taken to make them more energy efficient. Call 1-866-800-0747 for more information.
Do you have land suitable for hunting, but don’t want to take on the responsibility of finding hunters etc? If so, Ed Griffin said that Base Camp Leasing connects landowners to hunters. “If the landowner wants to lease land for hunting, we will take it off his plate and handle it.”
In Illinois, the contact is Rod Shepherd from Auburn, Illinois who was out hunting the day of the show!
Agricultural Information
Besides learning about new farming information, I am always on the lookout for ways to improve the fertility of the land. Rachel Curry of the University of Illinois Extension office out of Galesburg shared ways to reduce nutrient loss. “The information is based on research in Illinois and other states similar to Illinois,” Rachel said.
Using cover crops and a other techniques she had a display showing how soil with a cover crop held its soil better than uncovered soil. More information is available in Nutrient loss reduction information through the Extension. Do you use cover crops? If so, what kind and how?
Farm Display!
The Stark County FFA was at the show conducting a survey project to write a paper. At their booth though Evan Knoblach, and his cousin Isaac Cresto, both 15 and freshmen at Stark County High School, had a cool farm display they created. This year Evan ventured to Dyersville for the National Farm Toy Show. While he said he has created displays at home, this was the first time he had made one for display. “It is based on a side farm that we have. It has shed and some of the equipment are based off our farm,” he added.
Evan and Isaac painted some of the equipment on hand, and Isaac built the shed. The display includes corn harvest, grain storage, and items in the shed. “We used corn meal for the corn,” Isaac said, and the rock (3 kinds) they purchased from Hobby Lobby.
Antique Tractor fun
A John Deere 140 was on display at the show along with literature about the little garden tractor. Dan Wiest brought a cool 1962 industrial Farmall Cub.
He is part of the Central Illinois Farm Heritage Tractor Club. The River Valley Antique Association was also at the show sharing information about their antique tractor show august 15 & 17th!
While all the tractors on hand were delightful, my favorite was the little Haney Bull Terrier Tractor made by the Haney Corporation in Philadelphia, PA.
Haney Tractor Details
I wasn’t surprised to learn that this tractor was owned by lawn and garden collector Kevin Fay. It has a bit of family history to it. “That tractor was purchased out of Northern Indiana and restored by my wife’s grandfather (Paul Taylor) in the early to mid 1990’s,” Kevin shared. “After his passing in 1999, Paul’s wife sold the tractor. After ten years of looking for it, I found it in the fall of 2021. It was at Carl Hauger’s near the Quad cities, but he had sold it to a man in Maryland the day before I found out that he had it.”
The tractor was a bit elusive! “After going back and forth with the guy in Maryland, my son Hayden and I made a road trip out to Maryland in November of 2022 to buy it and bring it back to Illinois.”
Kevin said the tractor hasn’t been to many shows. I was excited to see a tractor I had never seen before. He added a bit of company history, “I believe Haney was out of Philadelphia, but they shared a lot of parts with the Garvar, Atomic Babe, Shepherd and Western tractors that were made out of Doylestown, Pennsylvania.”
A bit of information is available on the Doylestown Machine Co. Facebook page. In their about information they share, “This group is for the Doylestown atomic babe tractor built on Ferry Road in Danboro Pennsylvania. These were believed to be built in 1950 to 1954.”
Kevin and Hayden also had a cute Garden-All Big J 1960 garden tractor as well. There was also a lovely Farmall B!
Giving Back
Dennis Schlagel of the Fellowship of Christian Farmer’s International shared information about the lovely miniature 4020. It was built by Dennis Miske of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Based on a little Cub Cadet, adding a kit that had fenders and a hood they made a wide front 4020. It will be auctioned in May in Indianapolis at a Mecum Auctions car auction. Proceeds are going to the Fellowship of Christain Farmers International.
This is just the first of the farm shows, January 19-21, 2025 is The Quad City Farm Show at Rock Island, Illinois at the QCCA Expo Center. On January 22-23, 2025, is the 2025 Midwest Ag Expo is at Gordyville, USA in Gifford, Illinois. The grandaddy farm show is February 12-15, 2025, the National Farm Machinery Show. Held in Louisville, Kentucky, these shows offer changes to learn about technological advancements in farming. They give us a chance to see a few new items and perhaps an antique tractor or to along the way!
