One of the most important tractor-related chores at harvest is running an auger. You can see tractors of different sizes at on-farm bin sites throughout rural areas.

As farm size has grown over the years, the size of auger tractors has increased along with the size of augers. These larger augers require more horsepower to move large quantities of grain into bins, making larger tractors necessary.

However, many vintage iron tractors across the Corn Belt continue to earn their keep at the bins. A quick trip through the countryside will reveal a rainbow of different tractor brands still working away on farms.

As I have written before, on our small eastern Nebraska family farm, only one tractor has served as our auger tractor. Our 1957 John Deere 620, which my grandpa bought slightly used 67 years ago, has held this job for as long as I can remember.

When I was a kid, my dad and uncle stored corn and soybeans in both a newer grain bin and an old corn crib. The auger stayed at the bin, while a Kelly Ryan elevator was used at the corn crib.

I vaguely remember the elevator having a belt on it, which is why the 620 was used to run it. At some point, they converted it to run off a PTO shaft, allowing any of our tractors to power it.

We continued to use the 620 as our auger tractor after moving to another farm in the 1990s. We no longer have the old corn crib, but we did have a wooden granary and later a grain bin in which we stored corn.

There have been a few times when we had to use another tractor on the auger. During one harvest a few years ago, our auger's gearbox went out, so we borrowed a neighbor's extra auger. Because it was a hydraulic auger, we put one of our 4020s on it.

Speaking of 4020s, if I had to guess which tractor has been the most popular auger tractor of all time, my educated guess would be the John Deere 4020. It has enough horsepower to handle different sizes of augers, and many are still open-station machines, making it easy to access the controls without having to climb into a cab.

Other tractors I would consider popular auger tractors include the John Deere 30 and 40 Series and the IH 06, 56 and 66 series. There are still many Farmall Hs and Ms sitting at bins running augers despite these tractors being more than 70 years old.

But that doesn't mean there aren't other colors of tractors working at the bin site during harvest.

The neighbor from whom we borrowed an auger a few years ago uses an Allis-Chalmers 7000 Series tractor to run an auger at their bins. And there is a farm we drive by once in a while that uses an Oliver four-digit tractor for the same job. I always think of my Oliver-loving late uncle whenever we pass that farm in the fall.

I would imagine there are many farms across North America using Case, Ford/New Holland, Massey Ferguson, Minneapolis-Moline, White and other tractor brands to run augers and move grain at on-farm bin sites. They don't have to be fancy; they just have to work.

What is your all-time favorite auger tractor? Please let me know which tractors are on your list and why you picked them. I will feature your selections in future columns.

Russ Quinn can be reached at Russ.Quinn@dtn.com

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