Antique tractors chug into Cole Camp

On Sunday afternoon, Cole Camp’s main street was lined with pickup trucks and flat-bed trailers loaded to capacity with unusual cargo: antique tractors.

After arriving at the Cole Camp Tractor Club show grounds, proud tractor owners carefully inched their big toys onto a very large scale to be weighed. One of these owners was Mac Harms.

Harms, a seven-year member of the Cole Camp Steam and Antique Tractor Club, brought his 1971 International 826 up the hill to see what it could do.

“My tractor’s just a baby compared to some of ’em here,” Harms said. “Some of these tractors haven’t been made since the 1930s.”

Harms, and his son, Marcus, both love tractors and discovered that tractor pulling is a good activity to participate in together.

Even Harms father, who has been diagnosed with cancer, still enjoys going to the pulls. Harms reserved a spot right up front for him so he could watch his grandson compete.

The thrill of competition isn’t the only reason tractor pullers come to these events. The club does many pulls throughout the summer to fund raise for their main event: A demonstration of antique farm equipment for Pettis County children.

“We really have a good time with the kids. Some of these kids who live in Sedalia have never even been out of the city and don’t have a clue,” Ed Goetz, tractor club member, said. “Last year, we had a really small tractor sitting out for the kids to look at, and their was a huge line of kids wrapped halfway around the grounds just waiting for the chance to sit on it.”

Harms thinks area children need to learn the hard work farmers have done to provide food for their communities.

“This is a really good way to teach kids about agriculture and to let them know that food doesn’t just come from the grocery store,” Harms said.

Sarah Thompson, a four-year club member and treasurer, works every year cooking for the event. Between 400 and 500 area children in the fourth and fifth grades come out for the two-day event.

“We show them how to make molasses and apple cider, show them how a wheat thrasher works and we bring cattle dogs out for the kids to watch,” Thompson said.

“A lot of kids just assume that what their grandparents had, they always had. The only reason they know they have it now is because their grandparents gave it to them,” Thompson said. “This helps them understand all the hard work that goes into farming.”

When the pull begins, each tractor is weighed to determine it’s division. The smallest tractors go first, and are hooked up to a truck and “sled.” At any time during the pull, the tractor cannot go over five miles per hour for more than a few seconds without being disqualified. As the tractor pulls the sled further and further, a weight on the back of the truck moves toward the cab. This increases the weight of the sled.

Even though this method is more advanced than the old method of adding cinder blocks to a sled attached directly to the tractor, it creates more potential for problems.

About an hour into the pull, part of the transmission went out of the truck pulling the sled. This didn’t seem to phase the anxious crowd.

“It’s a good thing all these guys are handy,” Goetz said. “We’ve already go someone running into town for a part. They’ll have it fixed in no time.”

The club’s next event will be a Missouri Tractor Puller’s Association pull for hot rod diesel pickups and tractors on July 25 at 7 p.m. at the show grounds in Cole Camp.