I have always been fascinated by the ways equipment companies designed and planned their advertising. Some pictures that were included in brochures were taken while operating on test farms, some during engineering testing, some on farms operated by local farmers near the particular production factory, etc.

IH often used pictures from their Hinsdale, IL test farm in their brochures I know.

How they all selected when and where they took photographs - it would be interesting to hear. They wanted I am sure a nice cross section of  materials to show all their farmer and dealer prospects.

The New Idea company often used farmers/ farms where they tested equipment- many were taken within a 10 mile radius of the Coldwater, OH plant. They did not have a test farm - but their field service and field experimental departments used quite a bit of creativity at times.

A good friend of mine who farmed just south of Coldwater 2 miles had three brothers who all worked at NI. One brother was in charge of field service and often arranged to have new equipment to be brought out to his farm and used and tested. Shortly after NI bought the Uni concept from MM, NI was wanting to greatly expand its usefulness and customer base.

My friend Carl B. had a big (at the time) 702 Uni brought out to him to use along with a chopper, husking bed, corn heads and grain table, and combine attachments in 1966-67. While it was at his farm, the picture was taken of him with it and was used in the above brochure (foreground picture) standing next to the ladder of the Uni dressed in his coveralls and work clothes.

I asked him about the situation and this is what he recollected.

He was milking around 50 cows at the time, farmed 260 acres of corn, hay, oats, wheat and soybeans and also drove a school bus at that time. Would get up 4:00 am to milk before his bus route. His son was fairly young, around 10 years old and helped do some farm work. Couple daughters fed calves and helped milk in the evenings after school. He had been using a 1 row chopper and a 2 row picker for corn harvesting. He said when they brought that big Uni with its big V6 power out, they thought they had went from a buggy to a Cadillac. That Uni was a huge harvester for operations of that size for the time. He had two concrete Madison silos 18x60 that he filled. The monetary investment was big for a machine like it at the time, thankfully he said he did not have to buy it, but got a lot of his crops harvested for several years with testing equipment. The smaller farmers shied away from something so big and costly, unless they were expanding or doing lots of custom harvesting work. The Uni didn't have a cab, but it wasn't a big deal, hardly anyone had a tractor cab then anyway, and guys were used to sitting out in the open. That was just part of farming then.  As a kid they had draft horses and a F20, so it was a big deal.

Later in the '70s, as operations got larger around the neighborhood, he rarely had a Uni brought out. He did still get to test some tandem axle spreaders such as the 244, 245 spreaders.  One thing he did say was that farmers often made great suggestions to improve the practicality or serviceability of a machine, but when the machine was taken back to the factory to engineering, they didn't always follow through with the farmer ideas. The 290 haybine was one he mentioned with its jackshaft/ drive mechanisms issues.

NI held a local on-the-farm owner's clinic at his place to help farmers see field adjustments that was set up through the local dealer (Coldwater Implement Co.) also that drew around 150 people, as they were also trying to sell more of these units locally in the presence of the local economy. Many part time farmers worked at NI during the day and farmed at night and weekends and had buying influence.

Carl is retired now, and lives around the corner from that same farm he worked, his son took over in the early '90s and dairied until about 2 years ago and lives on the farm and raises steers and farms  it. And they had bought a 706 Uni themselves in the late '70s and then later to a 800C in the '90s.

Anyone else know of someone who was in a sales brochure or advertising movie? Many have gone on by now from these '50s-'60s timeframes. I am glad I had the chance to ask him about it while he is still around. He does have a very large blown up color copy poster of the above brochure shot in his two car garage hanging on the wall.

Sorry for the long post - but advertising is something that farm equipment companies had to do well and be innovative with also and I have always enjoyed seeing. The brochures left behind is how some of us learn about this machinery.