 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Better than new
Row-crop farmer Jerry Milam relies on trusted, time-tested machinery for work and play
| Story and photos by Allison Morgan |
5/24/2012 |
Most people get into agriculture because they enjoy working outdoors, watching things grow, and taking care of the land.
Jerry Milam got into it for the tractors.
Now granted, he also enjoys working outdoors, watching things grow, and taking care of the land.
But really, it’s all about the tractors.
“The part I liked about farming was the machinery,” says Jerry, who farms 1,000 acres of cotton and soybeans in the Claybrook Community between Lexington and Jackson. “That’s really what attracted me to it in the first place, and it’s what I still enjoy the most.”
However, while many machinery enthusiasts want the latest-and-greatest models, Jerry prefers tried-and-true equipment like his 1972 John Deere 4620 tractor that planted its 40th continuous crop this year. He bought the trusty tractor in 1977 from its original owner, Glen White of Brownsville.
“It had 1,800 hours on it when I bought it,” says Jerry, pointing out that the hour meter now displays nearly 9,000 hours. “I put that old aftermarket cab and air on it a couple of years later. There’s not a lot on it that hasn’t been rebuilt through the years, but it’s always reliable.”
Though the ’72 John Deere is the tractor Jerry has owned and operated the longest, his shop and sheds are filled with similar examples of well-used, well-maintained equipment, all proof of the frugal philosophy that Jerry has followed since he began farming more than 35 years ago. Though his family didn’t farm, Jerry says he grew up helping his neighbors with farm chores to make some spending money. After earning an associate’s degree at Jackson State Community College and studying criminal justice for one quarter at the University of Tennessee at Martin, Jerry decided to give farming a try.
After putting out his first crop on the property of his maternal grandmother, Beulah Duke, he slowly began buying and renting more ground as neighbors retired. Except for a 10-year hiatus during the farm crisis in the 1980s, when Jerry says he also worked a job “in town” to make ends meet, he’s been farming full time ever since.
“When I started — I’m not kidding — I had nothing,” says Jerry. “I was growing the farm some, but everyone kept saying you’ve got to get bigger, bigger, bigger, or you’re going to perish. But I wasn’t willing to play the numbers. It took me a long time to get stuff paid for, and I got to a point where I stopped reaching. I was finally glad to have some change in my jeans.”
While buying new equipment may be on the bottom of his priority list, Jerry stays on top of his crop management and consistently produces maximum yields, says Trevor Smith, agronomist for the newly renamed First Farmers Cooperative, of which Jerry is a member.
“From his fertility program to crop-scouting, Jerry generally does a good job with everything,” says Trevor. “His equipment may be old-fashioned, but he’s a modern-day farmer in every other sense of the word.”
Jerry says “babysitting” his crop every step of the way is the secret to its success, but he also gives credit to his wife of 29 years, Charlene.
“If it weren’t for my wife, I’d have to quit,” says Jerry. “She keeps the books, she pays the bills, she runs me wherever I need to go. She’s the backbone of this farm.”
Now that he’s on the “back side of his career,” Jerry says he’s in a position to reflect on what really matters in life. The fact that he’s 57 — the same age at which his father, Bruce, died of lung cancer in 1982 — is especially poignant.
“There are other things besides work, that’s what I’ve decided,” says Jerry. “With what I’m doing now, I can take some time to stop and enjoy life every once in a while instead of worrying about farming more land or working myself to death.”
One of Jerry’s most prized possessions, his father’s 1966 John Deere 3020 tractor, is also a constant reminder not to put off until tomorrow what he wants to do today.
“It was his ‘dream tractor,’ but he didn’t have it very long before he died,” says Jerry. “He’d waited too late. He should have bought it long before so he could enjoy it.”
Lesson learned, Jerry is determined to enjoy his machinery — whether at work or at play. For the past three years, he’s turned his passion for old equipment into a new hobby of restoring antique tractors and entering them in shows and pulls. Jerry’s first project was a 1951 M Farmall that he took apart, rebuilt, and repainted, piece by piece. He’s pulled with it several times, mostly at his “home track” in Mercer and in another antique tractor series in North Mississippi, and it’s even been featured on the cover of Fastline equipment magazine.
More recently, he’s been restoring a 1951 Oliver 77 Row Crop tractor for pulling, and his latest acquisition is a 1961 Farmall 460 he intends to use Saturday, July 28, in an antique tractor plowing event planned by the Browns Church Community Ruritan club.
“It’s nostalgic, bringing these machines back from the fence-row,” says Jerry. “Most of them are just rust buckets when you get them. And then when you get them looking and running good and people start admiring and commenting on them, there’s a lot of pride. Actually, at that point, they run better than new because the technology on the parts has advanced.”
These days, Jerry says he takes a tremendous amount of satisfaction in maintaining his farm at a sustainable level so that he can pursue his favorite new pastime and savor life’s simple pleasures.
“I’m lucky, and I know it,” says Jerry. “For a long time, I couldn’t afford to buy these antique tractors and fix them up. Now, I want to do something I enjoy because, one day soon, I won’t be able to. And I enjoy tinkering with these tractors as much as anything.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|