AIS-Uncastar Firming, Saturday, September 5, 1992
Tractor Collector £ Gear Up For International Cockshutt Show
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
YORK (York Co.) A Cocks
hutt is a better investment than a
CD.
That’s the philosophy of Cocks
hutt tractor enthusiast Floyd Mill
er, who’s been collecting and
restoring antique tractors for sev
eral years.
Miller, York, is a director of the
International Cockshutt/Co-op
Tractor Collectors Association. In
that capacity, he will chair the
group’s annual meeting and
Cockshutt tractor show to be held
September 11-13 in Westminster,
Md.
That show is a featured part of
the 30th annual Steam and Gas
Roundup of the Mason-Dixon
Historical Society and will take
place on the grounds of the Carroll
County Farm Museum at
Westminster.
The Cockshutt association
membership of4oo spans the U.S.
and Canada, alternating meetings
between the two countries. Begun
about four years ago, the group’s
Westminster gathering is the first
in the mid-Atlantic area. Miller
expects it will be several years
before another meeting is sche
duled on the eastern seaboard.
An estimated 100 vintage
Cockshutt and co-op tractors are
expected for the national show,
including several from Canadian
participants. Miller hopes to have
on display by its Ohio owner the
only Model 580 Cockshutt known
to still exist, a 1960’s machine
large for its time and powered by a
354 Perkins Diesel engine. A
descendant of the founding
Cockshutt family, William Cocks
hutt has been invited to attend as a
This 1950 E-3 Co-op tractor has been returned to like
new condition by collector-restorer Floyd Miller.
COLLEGE PARK, Md.
Weeds can be controlled by their
natural insect and disease ene
mies, said Dr. Phil Tipping, a
Maryland Department of Agricul
ture scientist conducting research
at a Maryland Agricultural Exper
iment Stations (MAES) facility.
Tipping will be demonstrating
MAES research in biocontrol of
weeds at the Western Maryland
Reserach and Education Center’s
field day near Keedysville on Sep
tember 10.
For example, musk thistle is at a
manageable level because of
recent bicontrol efforts. Biological
control of the thistle included
bringing beneficial insects and
diseases that previously kept the
weed in check in Europe and Asia
to the United States.
“Biological control often is
used because it can be very effec
tive on a regional basis, which is
demonstrated in the success of
musk thistle control in this area,”
Tipping said. “Since musk thistle
special guest.
Other features of the vintage
machinery celebration include a
“parts corral,” toy collectors from
as far away as Wisconsin, and the
issuance of a limited edition
Cockshutt 540 toy tractor of 1/16
scale.
According to Miller, the
English-owned Cockshutt firm
began in 1877 in Canada as the
Brantford Plow Works, later
known as the Cockshutt Plow
Company. Cockshutt plows, he
said played a major role in open
ing the Canadian west.
Before World War 11, Cocks
hutt sold Oliver tractors, painted
with the Cockshutt colors and
name. Then, in 1946, they began
manufacturing the Cockshutt
Model 30, a two-to-three bottom
plow tractor and the first on the
market with a live PTO and
hydraulic system. They also
bought out die Ohio Cultivator
Company, Bellevue, Ohio, where
the Black Hawk line of com plan
ters, grain drills, and other equip
ment was produced. White-Oliver
Corporation bought out Cockshutt
Farm Equipment Limited in 1962.
The organization also includes
collectors of the Co-op model
tractor manufactured in Battle
Creek, Mich, and Shelbyville, Ind.
betwen 1935 and 1951.
“We hope to have several of
these co-ops as well at the Mary
land show,” said Miller, who has
restored both Cockshutt and co-op
models to mint condition.
Miller’s father, a thresherman
father who did local custom work
in the Hellam area of eastern York
county, once owned two Cocks
hutt Model 40s and a Model 30.
When they sold at public sale,
Control Weeds
has become a target of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, its
population is declining in Mary
land and nearby states.”
Musk thistle and other weeds
are a problem for Maryland far
mers because they are unpalatable
to livestock and crowd out more
desireable pasture growth, the
researcher said.
In seeking out a weed’s ene
mies, the trick is finding those that
feed specifically on the target
weed, he said.
But biocontrol doesn’t com
pletely eliminate weeds—it man
ages the weed population.
"The cornerstone of biocontrol
is that it doesn’t eradicate the
target pest -- it just lowers its num
bers to a manageable level,” Tip
ping said.
One of the advantages of bio
logical control of weeds versus
spraying pesticides, he said, is
biocontrol’s economic benefits.
“Biocontrol is very cost
effective. Look at the introduced
w
Bill Cockshutt, a descendant of the owners of the Cockshutt equipment firm, has
been Invited to attend the National Cockshutt Show in Westminster.
Miller had not yet caught the time to devote to his purchase, he national show at the Carroll Coun
“restoring bug” and did not keep restored the Cockshutt in about six ty Farm Museum grounds outside
any of the tractors of his boyhood, months time. He displays it at Westminster. The show will be
But his interest was rekindled numerous vintage equipment °P en from 10 a - m - to 11 p.m. on
after becoming a gas engine hob- shows and hauled it back to the September 11,12 and 13, includ
byist in the early 19605. Eisenhower farm at Gettysburg * n B devotional services on Sunday
Cockshutts, according to Mill- to display during a special tribute morning. . ,
er, were not as well known in 10 t * ie kte president. Informauon on the national
Pennsylvania as in the midwest _ • • Cockshqtt/co-op tractor orgamza
and Canada, and those sold were ***** “ £l™
mostly in the Lebanon Valley. Wlth * few b y OT "* ctl "g ?oyd
Lancaster, York, and Somerset mg tocomplete. Rll Box 613 York, PA 17406,
county areas. Many of the larger tt « c * her hsl mmute devils to the (717) 755-6946.
ones, he said, went to tractor
pulling use because of the “tough
rear end design.”
“Ten or twenty years ago, I
thought the price had topped out,”
said Miller. “Now they’re a better
investment than a bank. Most of
this stuff has been pretty well
hunted out, but sometimes you
find them at estate sales. People
don’t always know what they
have,”
It was at an estate sale in 1980
that Floyd Miller purchased the
gutted remnants of a Cockshutt
Black Hawk and numerous boxes
of parts. The acquisition included
the remains of a shiny tractor that
had once made national news
when it was presented by state
Farm Bureau organizations to
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
as a gift for use on his Gettysburg
farm.
Though several more years
passed until a retired Miller had
Through Natural Enemies
weed enemies as an invisible work
force,” he said. “And you don’t
have to keep paying them. You
just bring them to the area and
introduce them to the weed.”
The payoff comes over several
years because many of the weeds
are perennial. Once you find a
weed’s enemies, you don’t have to
spray annually for the one weed -
the insects or disease will feed on
it, easing the strain on the grower
or breeder.
Tipping has worked on biologi
cal weed control for about five
years. “There’s not a shortage of
target weeds,” he said, as one
weed comes under control, Tip
ping’s research team will seek
others nearby that are unpalatable
to livestock.
Soon, they will tackle plume
less thistle. Tipping said they
already have located one of the
thistle’s natural enemies, and they
currently are seeking more.
The WMREC Field Day will
highlight research activities at the
An original late 1800’s-era Cockshutt equipment seat
was acquired by Floyd Miller from a Kansas collector. Mill
er speculates that the cast iron seat originated on a piece
of horse-drawn equipment.
station that benefit the state’s agri
culture, environment, and natural
resources.
The day will feature research
wagon tours, farm equipment dis
plays, and home economics semi
nars. The wagon tours will begin
F. 0.4 Milk
ALEXANDRIA, Va.
Middle Atlantic Order Market
Administrator Rex F. Lothrop
recently announced a Class I milk
price of $ 15.62 per hundredweight
for September 1992.
This price is up 13 cents from
August and is $1.60 above last
September’s Class I price.
Mr. Lothrop announced a Class
in milk price of $12.64 per hun
dredweight for July 1992. The
Class DI price was up 27 cents
from the previous month.
The September 1992 Class I
price and the July 1992 Class 111
price are based on the July 1992
departing at 8:30 a.m. and will
continue until 11:30 a.m.
The 25-minute home econom
ics seminars will start at 9 a.m.
and on each half hour throughout
the morning.
$15.62
Price
Minnesota-Wisconsin manufac
turing milk price of $12.59 per
hundredweight at a 3.5 percent
butterfat content
The July 1992 butterfat price
was 80.19 cents per pound, down
seven-tenths of a cent from June.
The July skim milk price per hun
dredweight was $10.19.
The USDA reported that the
wholesale price of Grade A butter
at Chicago for July was 76.47
cents per pound on the mercantile
exchange and the Central Slates
Extra Grade nonfat dry milk price
was $1.15 per pound.