Z Crew - The Early Years Wheat Harvest 1988 - Massey Ferguson Combines 

I sure miss those days. life was so much better back then ...

Tracy , amazing footage of custom farming way , way back then ! You do an excellent job in putting all of this together , memories forever ! You have the talent to do all of this , maybe in the near future , A . G. School districts , history teachers, Administration would put a program together with the help of what you have done , of course you being the main speaker, what a thrill & knowledge future farmers would get out of this amazing program ! The very best to you as your journey continue 's to develop ! Thank you for all the hard work & effort , countless hours , you have done , stay safe , very proud of you in what You have accomplished !!

That was wonderful tour back to when we were young. I am older than dirt, Ha ,I remember the harvest crews from my youth in the 60s. Thanks for Sharing.

Thank You 😊 Thank You 😊 !!!! For Sharing !!! Very Very Interesting !!! Awesome 👏

1988 was the end of the good Ole days

Sharp looking color matched fleet..

I certainly enjoy the history

How I wish I could/would have taken more pictures and videos of our farm back then. I’m so very happy to watch and hear your past and your future. Please keep doing what you’re doing. ❤️❤️ luv it.

Massey ferguson has always been my favorite brand I have a 510 as of now but one day I'm gonna move up to a 700 or 800 series they are awesome

What a wonderful thing to have an cherish. Thanks for sharing! I wish I had a video of my father back in the 70s .....

I certainly enjoy the history of your family farming. I especially have enjoyed your VHS digital recordings. It’s nice to see the early lives of your children and you can see the love the two of you show to your kids. Just common folks making a living.

Absolutely wonderful! As we are similar in age I owned and ran the Massey machines . Was great to see your family in younger days as we all once were 😊. Please do more . Very nice for you to share.

Great video can't wait for more!! The good old days!!! Good I Massey's, we still run 2 of them 750 an a 860!!

Back in the early 40s & 50s; my Dad was part of the area Thrashing machine crew traveling from farm to farm besides the dairy farm operations…. In 1951 he purchased his 1st Allis pull behind combine & started the first combing crew within the family of 5 boys…. This operation became so popular; Dad had to purchase a New larger, self-propelled Cockshot combine…. Oh, those fence gates all had to b changed to 12’ entrances due to the 10’ apron up front… boy was that new machine popular in the local Labor Day parade.. That operation continued till the boys went on their own ways in the later 60s…. Yes, was a great experience…. Thanks for bringing the memories back to life.

Two gold star’s to Your Father for recording this video & You For Sharing This with Us!!!

Absolutely love this old video! Sure brought back lots of good memories! I live in a little town of Lisbon IL that had a Massey Harris dealer then turned into a Massey Ferguson dealership! Lots and lots of combines were sold here and a few still around until John Deere took over the combine market. I've run quite a few 410s and 510s and really liked them except changing over to corn ! Quick attach heads was great invention!! I'm retired now but still run my neighbors combine for the entire harvest. Yes it's a John Deere 😂. Thank you again for the great videos and hope you keep them coming! Enjoy your time off and God bless 👍

Yes, I always liked Massey Ferguson Combines especially the 410s, 510s and 550s. Never did run a 750 or larger but, I at the time had a good dealer support system in our area. We owned a 715 IHC IT WAS A GOOD COMBINE. My Mom was a worker everything on the farm from truck driver during harvest to mechanics helper. She once helped me cut a powerline guywire that got entangled in our old 410 REA replaced a pole on the edge of our field and they just left the old guy wire in the field, I was opening up that soybean field that fall and pulled that stinking wire in the header and it went up the feeder housing and wrapped around the cylinder. Took several hours to cut the cable out. She was with me every step of the way.

Wow! My name is Shandee Smith Harrell and I am the granddaughter of Mary and Eldon Berry. This video brings back so many great memories. The day the crew showed up at our family farm in Dacoma each year was so exciting. I was just a young junior high girl, but loved helping Barb with the daily chores. Or, maybe I just got in when way, but she always made me feel important. I have some great pictures with her skinning a rattle snake and memories of joining the whole crew in the very small cellar one stormy night! Such great memories of my childhood!

Thanks for bringing us into your family. My dad always loved those Massey combines. It's really amazing in 30- 40 years how things have changed.

Thanks for sharing!!!

That was great. I knew you could entertain us even though harvest was over. Loved walking down memory lane with the videos from years gone by. Can't wait for the next installments. You and Jim take care and God Bless.

I really enjoyed your videos! I grew up on the harvest trail with my parents Henry and Shirley. We also ran Masseys and have alot of photos but no videos. What a walk back in time for me...very emotional! We were a crew that went the opposite of red and went to JD 8820s in 89'. Similar to the 860s, but much more reliable. I left the harvest in 95' for the USMC. I helped move equipment down south when I returned from the service for a few years but never returned to the business. I haul fuel for a transport company now and hauled ethanol all summer in the summer of 2020 to different parts of Texas for use in the manufacturing of hand sanitizer and watched the wheat harvest that year. Not alot of equipment left that I was used to, but still the same scenery and smells...cattle. What a great experience to learn core values and how to work together as a team . Thanks for sharing all your films and good luck to you with your future harvests. Jason

Excellent!!. Brings back lots of memories for me too! Can't wait to get back on the fields. I 've had enough of this -40 stuff. Cheers from Manitoba.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! That footage is absolutely priceless. I was entering my senior year of high school in the fall of 88. Born and raised on a dairy farm (exclusively with Massey equipment). This is going to be a very nice winter watching your posts. I was one of the people who asked you to do this - and you knocked it out of the park. Can’t wait for the rest.

My family came from Kearney, just west of Grand Island. Their fame was in horses for funeral wagons. We spent the last 12 years in the family house in Tucson AZ living in Great Aunt Alice’s house after my Dad and Mom passed. My forebears are resting in Kearney and I spent many summers with Grand Dad and Grandmother. God Bless Nebraska.

Your pictures of how it was with the old now equipment was to what is now ,the changes from then to now !!My" Wheatie time" was 1965-1970 I don't have one regret for the experience ! I sure hope this year 22 is better than last season for You Guys,21 looked like a pure pain for you folks ! God Bless and have a great 2022 Run !

Wow I was 5 years old then I’m from south east Alabama. Imagine if gas was still $.95 a gallon I’m looking forward to the other videos. Thank you for sharing.

What a treasure to see these videos of your family and the earlier years! Can’t imagine the emotions it must bring up for you. Reminded me that my uncle was always shooting video on his camcorder back in the early 1980s (northern Iowa). Gonna have to find out what happened to those tapes. Thanks for sharing and can’t wait to see more!!!

Thanks for posting. Almost exactly what I was doing in the 80's. Extra pickup in bed of truck, rough old bunckhouse, double header trailers. We used A-frame combine trailers, shop built. Masseys always.

Glad to see some of the stories from the 70-80s I made the trips many times with my dad and uncles . while I was in school in early 70s I was out during summers. we stopped early 90s many great memories and great friends

My, oh my. Great to have these old memories on film. Jimbo still is not camera broke.

Great video. Great to hear the story of how Jim and you met.

Cool footage!

And a HAPPY NEW YEAR to ya'll! I haven't watched it yet but I'm SURE I'll enjoy it!

is it so cool to see that old footage, the quality is pretty good actually!:)

WOW! thanks for the Trip down Memory lane. BY 1988 I was thirty-eight and was then Back in College at UNO looking for a serious career Change. FOUND what I was looking for and by 1989 after a lot of soul searching I decided MAYBE it was time to just enjoy life a bit and I retired permanently. LOve these Memories of you and JOIm and your exciting trip along the Path way of Life.

Hay great to see some old videos of your family and harvest in 1988 awesome

So glad to see you entertained our ideas Tracy. These are the kind of harvest videos I've searched and searched for, with no luck. Looks like Jim has never been real big on being in front of the camera.

Love seeing the Massey combines. I started harvesting in 1988 with a Massey 760 near Norton Kansas. Lots of good memories.

Oh how everything has changed so much in what seems to me such a short time.

Love this footage ! I grew up on the east coast ( Maryland ) and used to work with my dad on the dump truck and heavy equipment we used in his home building business. Brought back some great memories of those days. Thanks for sharing this.

750 masseys and donahue trailers! Man things were simpler back then.

Can't how combines and trucks have changed

I 1rst learned to operate a combine on a 750 Massey. I have alot of friends that took their combines from Southern Sk. to Texas to harvest wheat and work their way back north.

It's fun watching that old footage. Seeing those old Ford Crew Cabs, and the older Massey combines. They were much simpler times, when We could work on the trucks and combines without a lap top computer. Hope to see more videos later. Thank you.

fantastic. Thanks.

Amazing memories. Thank you

I love this!!! So glad you are doing this and we have the opportunity to watch from the "beginning" and how you have progressed over the years with changes in machinery, technology and even how you guys look!!! I was born in 1961 so I'm about the same age as you and I got married in 1987. I have lived almost all of my life in Oklahoma and have to say I've never heard of Dacoma, Oklahoma, that's a new one for me. But I looked it up on Maps and found it to be north of where I grew up. I am going to enjoy "catching up" with all these newfound videos. My brother actually watches you too and told me about them as they weren't showing up on my phone. Thank you for taking us along for the ride over the years.

This old video reminds me of a movie from the early 80s called Amber Waves. It's about a Kansas wheat farmer staring Dennis Weaver and Kurt Russell. Loved that movie.

Beautiful story! God bless you and your family!

Great family history. Thank you for sharing.

I enjoyed seeing how the journey started Tracy. I hope 2022 is a great year for you and Jim

Very enjoyable 👍🏻. We still run a pair gray cab 750s🙂.

That! Is! Awesome! Thank you for sharing your history!

priceless memories.......thanks for sharing

Those video are priceless. Your kids and grandkids can watch their ancestors working back in the dark ages. When the trucks broke down the men were able to fix them without going to a garage. That is not possible today with all the computers in vehicles today

Love it..I ran a 860 MF for my neighbor on wheat harvest, it was probably 1996 or 97.. For the non-farmers on here they have no idea the the hard hot work, knowledge, heartyness wisdom and judgement into doing this..

What great memories! Loved it! Thanks Tracy!

Thank you for such a wonderful insight into your early days. We loved watching it here in Melbourne Australia

thank you for sharing the old vids. life before pcs and cell phones. my former inlaws were custom combining out of selfridge nd back about that time. thank you.

Loved it brilliant, brings back memories

This was great, I sure hope you do more than just this one. It's amazing to see how much the machinery and agriculture has changed since you first started. Thank you for the entertainment

Man! I wish I had that crew cab 74 Ford now. Very cool! Thanks for sharing your history guys! Todd Konoske the retired trucker.

Love seeing those pictures of Massey Ferguson combines. Our family ag business sold Massey Ferguson and I helped to work on many of the combines along with running a MH 82 on the family farm. Glad to see that you and Jim are well and doing good. Happy New Year to you and Jim.

Great stuff Tracey! Loved the history,. Great to see you again.

Awesome video really love seeing the history of your family and the early harvesting

I can’t imagine how many memories it brings back, for you & Jim. Really good video.

Always enjoy time with you. In the day the massey was the machine 92's 410's 510's.

AWESOME!!!!!! Thank you very much. This brought many good memories of my own.

I really enjoyed seeing the history of your family’s business thank you for sharing this part of your family’s life

Thank you for taking the time to show that.

That's to good to see from then to now an happy new year to your family

My last summer helping with our family harvest in SE Colorado was 1970, every June I still miss that part of my life. Glad you are sharing these memories and adventures.

I so enjoyed this video brought back so many memories we ran Massey Too I thought I was in heaven the fist time I ran a 750 . I grew up running 82s and super 92s massey’s Harvest time back then was hard work but yet it was very rewarding. Thank you again for the story if you have anymore of the old videos please keep posting them .

Thank You very much for sharing your past. I enjoy watching your videos from Roulette PA God Bless !!

Awesome and very interesting history keep it up. Thank you for a very interesting down memory lane.

Happy new year 🎈🎊 to you and your family, thank you for a great video 😀😀 looking forward to seeing more 😘

Fantastic Job!

You are a jewel . I farm Indiana

Some great family history thanks for sharing 🦘🇦🇺👍

"Harvest Cam" wow this is amazing to watch. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the memories. I went on harvest in '74 and '75. We were based out of Fort Supply, OK and would start harvest in Duke, Oklahoma. We did Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska. Thanks again.

ABSOLUTELY------ WONDERFUL THANK YOU FROM MINNESOTA

Wow that was a lot of fun too see!! Thanks for taking the time to do this and share👍‼️‼️

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Fantastic story. Thank you so much for sharing your family’s memories. Can’t wait to see the next journey Happy New Year 💥

Hopefully there’s more to come awesome

Love to see how y’all started hope it will be better this year happy new year to you both From your friend in Texas

Great video, nice to know the history of your harvesting lifestyle. Looking forward to harvest in 2022.

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

Happy new year 🎊🎆 to you and your family 😘 thank you for a great video 😀😀looking forward to more 😀😀

Looking forward to the next one ,all the best for 2022

Great video Tracey. Thanks for sharing. Glad we didn’t have to wait till harvest to see you back on RU-vid.

Brings back memories, unblocking the back ends of MF 525 very lucky not to bend the straw walkers. What a job getting them out to mend them. It used to take us weeks to cut 150 acre, now that's done in hours. We ran 2/3 525s one was usually broken down, no cabs soo dusty, how did we do it? Thank you for the memory jog, all the best from the UK, for the new year.

I like these vid’s as much as I liked this year’s harvest content. Just a great way to spend an evening.

Just loved these wonderful videos, nothing beats the farming community people and all the equipment that goes with all the hard but satisfying work, love the generational depth of the family.

Very much enjoyed watching Massey 850 ,worked combine plant Brantford On, building those beasts (at that time )

Really enjoyed looking back in time especially with the old Massey Ferguson combine’s and to have 5 generation going on the road that must have been awesome thank you so much for sharing

Great video 👍🏻👍🏻

Thanks for the effort! I'm sure the journey to do this has been extra special for your family. Wish I had something that nice with mine from the 50's and 60's. Only black and white, but I treasure those too!