Ora, N.V. and the 116W

There are folks and days of your youth that stay with you forever. Ora Olson and his father N. V. Olson farmed about 3 miles north of us. When summer rolled around they, like other farmers in the area, would be looking for some young lads to bale hay for them. The first time I baled hay for Ora and N. V. it was a summer day much like today. The sun was shining, the humidity was high and the temperature was in the upper 80's or lower 90's. I was in my early teens somewhere in the area of 13 or 14 and no stranger to baling hay. This would however be a horse of a different color. The baler Ora used was a John Deere 116W. They were built between 1946 and 1956 so by the time I was riding the rack behind this beast it had been baling hay for many years. In case you are wondering the W at the end of the number indicates that this was a wire baler. The designation for twine was T. Working a rack behind a twine baler was a familiar task. In my youthful mind this would not be a big jump. How bad could wire be? First a bit of history. Prior to the 116W baling hay required two more fellas. One on each side of the baler to feed the wires. The 116W turned this hand task mechanical. On a good day a well packed twine bale will weigh in at about 60 pounds. This god forsaken John Deere couldn't make a 60 pound bale. The average bale coming out of this beast was somewhere between 75 and 90 pounds. Some farmers hire a crew. Ora and N. V. usually just hired two kids. Ora would run the baler. N. V. would drive the racks around and the two kids would man the rack. When all the racks were full we would head to the barn with N.V. He would man the elevator and unload the bales on it and send them up to the mow for us to stack. A the time N.V. was well in his 70's but he was the best unloader I ever worked with. Full rack, half rack, last 5 bales, it didn't matter. A bale was going to drop off the end of the elevator every 15 seconds all day long. If you went under the drop area to get one you knew exactly how long you had to get the bale and move before you got hit by one falling. When they are dropping from 15 or 20 feet up and weigh 75 pounds you learn to appreciate guys like N. V. All went well until about 5:00 p.m. We were working up in the mow and the hay had gotten up high enough we couldn't get any air flow. The temperature in the barn was well over 100 and my teenage body just quit. I just didn't have anything left in the tank. The bales kept coming and Ora and my brother carried the load. The next day I was outside and my grandfather came over to me for a little motivational chat. He told me in no uncertain terms that he had heard I couldn't hack the job I was supposed to do the day before. It was made clear to me that if I wanted to be treated and paid like a man I had to work like one. If I couldn't do that then I should find some other kind of work to do more suited to my abilities. His little talk had the desired effect and I never gave out again. I spent many days working behind that John Deere 116W. If you want a clear idea of what it could do I offer the following. I was 16 and Ora wanted to bale some straw. He thought it might be a bit wet but would go. The first bale came out of the baler and he came back to ask me how it was. I told him I didn't think it was fit to bale yet because I couldn't lift the bale off the rack. It weighed nearly 300 pounds. He said let's loosen the tension and try one more. The next one that came out still weighed 300 pounds but the wires were so loose when you went to pick it up the stretched up to your chin.

Ora, N.V. and Grandpa taught me to always give your best. Do your job from start to finish and never quit. In the early spring of 1974 in his 84th year N. V. was out plowing with Ora on the farm northwest of Wataga. He managed to put the tractor out of gear before he slumped dead over the steering wheel. I suppose if you are a farmer there is no better way to go. Ora was in the nursing home with my grandfather. He had a habit of whistling as he worked. No specific song just a sing song quiet whistle that was constantly with him. He had dementia and when everything else was gone, when he didn't know anyone or remember much of anything that whistle was all that remained. He passed away in 1996. The barn we filled with hay is gone and I'm sure the 116W has gone off to the scrap yard of history. It, Ora and N.V will be with me until the day I die.

The distinct feature of the 116W was that the bales came out the side. The chute curved around to get them back to the men on the rack. Ora kept his in great shape and we rarely had a rest period caused by any mechanical malfunction.