This John Deere 4440 tractor with 5,333 hours sold for $42,000 on an October 25, 2012 farm estate auction in south-central Wisconsin.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: It PAYS to take great care of your used equipment!

Vivid proof came on a farm estate auction October 25, 2012 near Janesville, WI. George Auction Service held this sale that featured (2) very nice condition, well cared for John Deere tractors, a 4440 tractor with 5,333 hours and a late-model JD 4020 with 8,233 hours (diesel, power shift, side console, 1 onwer).

The John Deere Historic Site in Grand Detour, Illinois is a reminder of how the business continues to explore ways of bringing quality to the lives of people in the U.S.

Since the company is celebrating its 175th anniversary throughout the year, there have been a number of events that are being held in order to raise interest in the history of John Deere and its place in American culture.

The John Deere Historic Site in Grand Detour, Illinois, has been a place that is buzzing this year, as it has held various events throughout 2012, ranging from blacksmith gatherings to art shows.

This 1963 John Deere 4010 tractor with 8,000 hours sold for $9,250 on a September 29, 2012 farm auction in southwest Indiana.

John Deere made the 4010 model tractor from 1961-1963. So 50 years old now.

And worth 27.3% more now vs. 10 years ago.

Yep, it’s true. The average auction sale price on John Deere 4010 tractors back in 2002 was $4,798. So far in 2012 the average auction sale price on Deere 4010′s is up to $6,110.

John Deere Tractor Show

Last Saturday, a huge crowd gathered on a green lawn under an autumn Michigan sky to take part in the annual ACE Hardware Antique Tractor Show in Rockford, where tractor enthusiasts gather every year to show off their machines that span decades, the Rockford Squire reports.

On Saturday, September 8, Milan, Illinois’ Jan Morrison was hit with nostalgia as she walked through the First Heritage Tractor Show in Moline, where several vintage John Deere tractors brought memories of her childhood flooding back.

According to the Quad-City Times, Morrison was just one of many John Deere enthusiasts who attended the event, where only tractors produced in or before 1970 were allowed to be displayed.

“I remember these because of my dad and my grandfather” she said as she wandered the ground with her husband, Don, sister, Phyllis Lang, and brother-in-law, Ray Lang, of Grinnell, Iowa. “You can take the girl off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the girl.”

The number of antique tractor collectors in Nebraska and the surrounding area has always been significant, but at the recent parade in the annual state fair the record books were taken out and altered to account for the more than 1,100 people who participated.

According to the Grand Island Independent, the Nebraska State Fair is always one of the biggest tractor-related events around the world, but the 2012 celebration broke the previous entry into Guinness Book of World Records by more than 400 hundred participants.

While the Nebraska State Fair was doused in rain for almost the entire weekend, this precipitation was not enough to dampen the spirits of the many attendees that took part in the parade.

Though John Deere, both the man and the company, are often associated with the American Midwest, the innovator moved out to this region from the Northeast section of the U.S.

Although his company was founded in Illinois, he got his start in the small town of Rutland, Vermont.

He only spent a year in Rutland, and it was after years of a meager education in the surrounding area that he was apprenticed to a blacksmith in Middlebury, Vermont, where he got his first taste of tools and agricultural equipment.

Machinery Pete’s farm equipment roots lead back to Tolley, North Dakota in 1907 where his great grandmother’s 1/2 brother Rasmus Miller bought into the local Deere dealership.

Looking through Deere’s 175 Year Anniversary Exhibit at the 2012 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY: February 2012.

Machinery Pete’s farm equipment roots lead back to Tolley, North Dakota in 1907 where his great grandmother’s 1/2 brother Rasmus Miller bought into the local Deere dealership

John Deere is celebrating its 175th year anniversary this year. Closing in on 200 years since John Deere’s plow revolutionized the world of agriculture and beyond.

Credit

Life in the 1930s was a time when row crop tractors were prevalent in the farming industry, as these models were capable of cultivating row crops and featured one front wheel or two closely-spaced front wheels that traveled between two rows, according to Ag Web.

The industry saw several changes occur in the coming years, but the issue of power was always prominent. Many of the machines featured wide rear fenders, panels around the front of the operator’s platform and treads to help harness the power of the machine.