Ever wonder what farmers do for fun when they’re not working out in the field or doing chores around the barn?
If you’re Oxford resident and hay farmer Nelson Kage, you’re competing in antique tractor pulls.
Kage, who’s a member of the Yesteryears Farm Tractor Club, will be one of many competing in the antique tractor pull Saturday at the Oakland County 4-H Fair in Davisburg.
Thanks to Kage’s ingenuity and some spare parts in his yard, the club has a sled to pull and test each tractor’s strength.
Over the winter, Kage along his brothers Lloyd, Wes and Randall, and Wes? son-in-law, Chris Dunlap, turned a bunch of odds and ends into a mighty steel sled capable of stopping a 6,000-pound tractor dead in its tracks.
The way it works is simple ? the 20-foot long sled is equipped with eight 250-pound concrete blocks and 14 metal weights, each weighing 100 pounds.
When a tractor starts pulling the sled, all the weights are positioned over the sled’s rear axle, which is from an old Case tractor circa the mid-1940s.
As the tractor moves, a complex system of gears pushes the weights forward and offers progressively greater resistance. The front of the sled is pushed toward the ground, creating an artificial gain in weight.
‘It gets harder and harder to pull,? Kage said.
Sooner or later, the tractor is no longer able to overcome the friction
‘Eventually, it will stop the tractor,? Kage said.
Tractors are judged by how many feet and inches they can move the massive payload toward the front of the sled. Trophies and ribbons will be awarded accordingly.
Saturday’s competition at the county fair, which starts at noon, is open to anyone, not just club members, with an antique tractor (1974 or older).
Kage, who owns an 80-acre hay farm in Brandon Township, is no stranger to antique tractors. He owns five McCormick Farmall tractors ranging from 1945-57
He still uses three of them to work his spread. The other two are just for show.
The Kage brothers own a total of 15 antique tractors between them.