The U.S. Custom Harvesters Hall of Fame
INDUCTEES OF USCHI HALL OF FAME
Arthur L. Howard - (2013)
Arthur L. Howard (1917-1990) of Warren, MN participated in the 1944 war effort Massey Harris first self-propelled combine brigade. He ran a brigade for the next 28 years, combining for the same families or on the same land. His route included the following operations:
- D.R. (Doc) Preston of Electra, TX and Hugh Preston of Burkburnett, TX
- The Rogers Family of Perryton and Farnsworth, TX
- Sam, Glenn and Willard Pfenning of Hobart, OK
- Otis Lyle of Garden City, KS
- Don Crumbaker of Colby and Brewster, KS
- Gordon Sipple of Yuma, CO
- Bill Reese of Alliance, NE
From that single Massey Harris 21C combine in 1944 to 12 machines in the late 1950's and 1960's to 7 Massey Ferguson 760 combines in 1972, Art and the crew threshed from Texas north to the Canadian border (his own farm was in far Northwestern Minnesota).
Art was there at the beginning of the custom harvesting brigade. After 29 years, he retired from custom harvesting on the road. He then began to devote his energies to the entire wheat industry, both at a state and national level.
Art Howard helped lay the foundation on which the custom harvesting industry has been built. We thank Art and other early pioneers for their vision and dedication!
Combines are loaded and ready to move to the next location, 1958. Note the back wheels hanging off of the truck beds.
In 1958 a bumper crop and rail car shortage in Kansas caused the grain to be dumped on city streets until it could be moved.
Another picture of the bumper crop waiting to be shipped when the elevators filled up and there was a rail car shortage.
Early varieties of tall wheat brought two problems -- too much straw to process through the machines if it was cut low or dangerous tall stubble if it was cut high.
Field fires were a constant danger in the early years when truck exhaust pipes ignited tall stubble, 1958.
When truck drivers were delayed at elevators, combines had to pull out and dump their grain in parked trucks.
Art Howard with a Massey Harris Model 21, 1944; Art Howard, 1986.
Taken in Perryton, Texas, the combined brigades of Art Howard and Ray Hougard, another Minnesota custom operator.
Straw choppers were pulled off to leave straw swaths to bail for livestock bedding.
Wet weather caused problems, from rusty grain to muddy fields to plugged threshing cylinders.
Truck drivers pulled up alongside moving combines to 'dump on the go' to save time.
In 1971 Art field-tested three experimental MF 760 combines.
Art Howard in the middle of his combiners in the early years.
When the wheat was running good it took multiple trucks to keep up with the combiners.
10 machines making a wide swath in a field.
Art Howard on a MF 760 combine, 1973.
Massey Ferguson introduced their new line of 760 combines at the Art Howard farm on August 17, 1971.
Two 760 combines that MF displayed for the national press, Warren, Minnesota, 1971.
Art and Joyce Howard with son Robert in front of the cook car used to feed the crew, 1949.
