OMAHA (DTN) -- When you write a monthly column about vintage farm machinery for a couple decades like I have, you kind of get associated with old farm machinery. In my mind, there are worse things I could be associated with.

Some people I know will randomly send me photos of vintage farm equipment they come across in their lives. This is especially true with several of my now retired colleagues as well as some current ones.

Last week my retired boss, Urban Lehner, sent me a photo of an old tractor he saw in his travels. I'm glad they send me photos of far-away places as I have livestock, so I don't get to travel too much.

Urban's photo was taken on a sunflower farm on Sauvie Island in the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon. In the photo he sent me was a Farmall 140 tractor on display at a sunflower farm.

Now I am not terribly familiar with this particular model of tractor from International. It is a fairly small tractor that apparently was not very common in the Midwest as I have never seen one in person.

Doing some online research, the 140 was made from 1958 to 1979, which is a pretty long period of time for one tractor model. It featured a 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder gasoline engine, which produced about 17 horsepower at the drawbar and 21 horsepower for the PTO.

Many of these smaller tractors were used on vegetable, tobacco and small grain farms. I would go out on a limb and say most of these tractors were sold along the coasts and in the South, which might explain why I have never seen one before.

The 140's lineage would be the Farmall A, then the Super A and followed by the 130. I am not sure I have ever seen any of these IH models in person either.

About the only IH tractor on the small side I am familiar with is the Farmall Cub. We actually have one sitting in one of our sheds right now. My cousin bought it from one of my son's friends a few years ago and he keeps it at our place.

More online research shows the Cub was made from 1947 to 1979, another long run for a tractor. There were three major series of the Cub -- 1947 to 1964 was the Farmall Cub, the International Cub from 1964 to 1975 and the new International Cub, which ran until the end of production in 1979.

The little tractor had a 1.0-liter, 4-cylinder engine, which produced 10 horsepower at the drawbar and 11 horsepower PTO.

After the droughts of the last few years, my yard had large areas of nothing growing in it. I reseeded all these spots this spring and harrowed the seed into the soil.

I used the Cub because it was narrow enough to fit through the 5-foot-wide gate into our fenced in backyard. Operating this tractor is almost like driving a large, riding lawn mower.

The Cub does have a PTO shaft but I'm not sure what you could run with it. I guess maybe a small mower or something like that. I think it would be too small to run an auger when moving grain, which is one of the chores we use our vintage tractors for.

It is interesting that International manufactured two small tractor models at nearly the same time for many years with the 140 and the Cub. Maybe the two tractors served different markets and that's why both were produced for as long as they were.

Another interesting thing I learned about the 140, in 1963 this model of tractor was restyled. The new style was to match the Farmall 404 and 504, which were in production at the time.

I have actually seen a few Farmall 504 tractors over the years. I have been to a few farm machinery auctions with this model. In addition, one of our family friends also has a Farmall 504 tractor.

I want to thank Urban for sending me the photo of the Farmall 140 tractor. And I also want to thank him for an interesting topic for a column.

If you come across any interesting pieces of vintage iron in your travels or daily life, please feel free to send them to me. My contact information is below. I would be interested in seeing what you are seeing out there.

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

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