It’s springtime in the Finger Lakes and a family farmer’s fancy turns to a new tractor as he thinks about all of the work that has to be done on dairy farms, grain farms, family farms, fruit farms, or market farms. While visiting Empire Tractor’s (click here) open house in Atlanta, NY on April 1, I got to see the new 8N Boomer tractor. This is a new model from New Holland and you can see by the grin on my face that I fell in love with this machine.
New Holland is trying to capitalize on all of us who can still remember the old 8N Ford tractors which were introduced in 1948 and became the top selling tractor of the time in North America. It had a four speed transmission and a four cylinder engine which produced about 25-30 horsepower. The body of the tractor was painted red and the fenders and sheet metal were painted grey. Some fifty years ago, our neighbor, Lester Horner, owned one and he came to help my father load up the corn bundles in the fall and haul them to the barn to be chopped up and blown into the silo for cow feed during the winter. I always thought the 8N Ford as kind of a toy as we had Case tractors which were big, heavy tractors.
The new 8N Boomer is anything but a toy! It has 50 some horsepower, sports four wheel drive, and sells for around $40,000. Now I’m wondering how I can fit one into my budget!
James R. Bupp
