"I'm Gonna Ride the RED Tractor!"

I don't complain much about what I see on social media, even to myself.  The endless pictures of food and pets are mildly annoying at best.  Passionate political arguments are, at the very least, slightly informative.  Sure, I cringe at poor spelling and horrid grammar, but I can just skip past those posts.  Anyone who uses too much profanity or gets too annoying with promoting some fad is simply deleted from my social media feed.  But this latest thing I cannot ignore.  It's despicable.  I can't stand it!

"What has happened?" you ask.  I'll tell you.  I've got this friend who occasionally posts on social media.  He usually posts fun pictures, bits of news, and a few political things.  All interesting stuff.  But now he's started sharing promotions from his place of work.  He is using social media to promote John Deere!

Ok, so it's not that bad.  I just thought that would be a fun way to introduce how farmers feel about their equipment.  Most farmers are as passionate about the make of their equipment as sports fans are about their teams.  For example, there are farmers who like to only use John Deere equipment.  Then there are the sensible farmers who know that John Deere equipment breaks far too easily and won't go near it.  As you can tell, I am not a John Deere fan.  The equipment on our farm ranges from Massey-Ferguson to White to International to New Holland, and includes a few relics like Cockshutts, Olivers, and even a little old Ford tractor.  We aren't fanatically tied to any one make of equipment, although Dad does like to collect old Oliver tractors that don't actually run, but we generally avoid John Deere.  There are those who are fans of makes other than John Deere, of course.  Some farmers only drive the blue equipment of New Holland, or the red Massey-Ferguson equipment, for example.  No company builds perfect equipment, and each has its pros and cons, and all farmers know that.  However, I've become convinced that city folks are woefully uninformed about the variety of equipment.

If I can say anything good about John Deere, it's that they have consistently had an excellent marketing policy for many years.  Have you ever looked for material with tractors on it, or some farm toys that don't come directly from the equipment manufacturer?  Almost everything you find is John Deere, or has the green and yellow John Deere colours on it.  My city-dwelling relatives used to proudly point out the farm-related toys, etc. that they had bought for their children.  All of the stuff was John Deere.  I would sadly shake my head and do my best to find something with red tractors on it for the kids.  Why red tractors?  It was mainly because there are several different companies that make red equipment (Massey-Ferguson, White, International, even some New Holland stuff).  As a result, I have succeeded in the past few years in reversing the John Deere indoctrination and have taught my relatives and their children that red tractors are best.

Those kids still have their John Deere toys, though.  So how do I know that I succeeded?  Well, in the summer of 2015 some of my cousins came to the farm for a visit.  I went to help one of my cousins unload her children from the minivan and opened the door to be greeted by a very excited preschooler who exclaimed, "Valerie, I'm gonna ride the RED tractor!" as soon as he saw me.  I was so proud!  His mom scolded him and told him to ask, instead of tell.  Even so, I gladly honoured his wish and took him and the rest of the kids for a ride on the Massey-Ferguson tractor.  This summer he was just as excited about riding in a red tractor, but the battery died, so we took the faded red Cockshutt out for a spin.  I think I may have done too good of a job.  Now I have to teach them that grey, blue, and some green tractors are also cool.

I should also mention, for the sake of fairness, that I have used John Deere equipment before.  I have driven a couple of John Deere tractors at school, I regularly use a John Deere lawn mower (which has the clutch on the wrong side) to mow the church lawn, and I used a small square baler to bale some hay this summer.  I have to admit, I liked the baler.  But, just as I will always look sideways at Calgray Flames fans and staunchly support the Olds College Broncos, I think I will always have fun teasing farmers who are John Deere fans and I will judge equipment at farm auctions by condition and colour.

One of my dad's old Oliver tractors.  The green and yellow on this tractor has nothing to do with John Deere.