A century farm filled with historic tractors

written and photographed by Peter Murphy

Tractors make Orville Blaylock’s world go round. On his century farm at the northern edge of Moro, Blaylock has enjoyed a long association with the treaded tractor. Blaylock came to the Horace Strong farm in 1963 through marriage and has been growing wheat with his wife, Shirley, ever since.

He picked up his first keeper for $300 when, he said, “I found that I had raised a hand … and it was mine.” He doesn’t know quite how much money he’s sunk into it since then.

Blaylock and his family work their 6,000 acres of winter wheat, destined for tables across Asia as noodles. During the cold and chilly months of winter when wheat farming is at a lull, you can find Blaylock in his shop, tinkering with tractors from the past.