“I had it all apart,” he said proudly. “Got it so it would run again.”

He had to source an electrical part from Washington, which only arrived a week ago. He actually used to have a few parts in his shop for the brand. Unfortunately, not the part he needed.

“It’s a labor of love,” he said.

On occasion, at least for the tractors and machinery, parts simply can’t be found.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Don Lamb, vice-president of the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club, runs a 1940s vintage David Bradley chain saw at the club's annual Threshing Bee Saturday in Homer.

“We’ve had to have a machinist make a pulley,” he said.

After he sawed through a rather thick log, the smile was still there.

“The after effect when you get an engine running,” he said. “That makes you feel good.”

Matt Walstrom, of Stratford, was on site again this year making sorghum syrup, a boiling process similar to making maple syrup.

He has a new-to-him sorghum crusher.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Jim Cabeen, of Mason City, looks over one of the tractors on display at the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club's annual Threshing Bee in Homer. Cabeen came to the show to see about buying another tractor to add to his collection.

“It was made by Wilde & Company in Washington, Iowa,” Walstrom said. “The patent date is 1882.”

Getting it out of the wooded area where it had been laying for decades proved a challenge. It was almost too heavy for his skid loader and ended up requiring a little field-expedient rigging to move. It may not look like it, but the machine weighs about 4,000 pounds.

“It was pretty heavy,” he said.

Jim Cabeen, of Mason City, came to the show to both admire the tractors, and maybe buy one.

“I’m looking for something to buy,” Cabeen said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Matt Westrum, of Stratford, works on removing some sorghum debris from his crusher Saturday afternoon during the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club's annual Threshing Bee in Homer. The machine was recovered from a wooded area.

He had his eye on a John Deere A.

“I need to kick the tires, see if it will start, evaluate the condition,” he said.

He’s been at it for awhile. Even so, he sounds almost sad when he says he still has under 70 tractors.

“I’m still looking,” he said. “I bought my first John Deere B when I was 13. I bought it to use.”

He has tacit approval from his wife.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
McKinlee Phipps, 8, of Ogden, waits for her cue Saturday morning as she prepares to sit in for a number or two with the High Trestle Rovers at the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club’s annual Threshing Bee in Homer.

“She knows I’m here,” he said. “She didn’t want to come.”

The 1929 vintage Witte log saw Keith Stuhrenberg, of Barnum, was demonstrating still works quite well. He was using it to slice inch-thick slabs off of a much longer log. The saw is powered by a hit-and-miss engine that’s sometimes easy, and sometimes a bit reluctant, to start.

“It was used to cut logs up to split into firewood later,” he said.

He got to use it for that once when he helped a neighbor cut up some logs.

“He just said, ‘That’s cool,'” Stuhrenberg said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Members of the High Trestle Rovers entertain the crowd Saturday afternoon during the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club's annual Threshing Bee in Homer.

Missing from the Homer Threshing Bee this year was actual grain threshing.

Don Lamb explained that heavy rains followed by extreme heat caused the oats being grown for the show to fail.

One of the requirements for visiting the show is to stop and enjoy a cup of homemade ice cream.

Kim Anderson, who lives nearby in what would be suburban Homer if Homer had continued to grow, has been serving the ice cream for about seven years.

Her secret.

“Good ingredients, and never raise your prices,” Anderson said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
JD Daniels, of Lehigh, gets a tractor driving lesson from Walker Smith, of Lehigh, Saturday afternoon at the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club's annual Threshing Bee in Homer.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
A piglet statue sits among the collection of pig oilers on display Saturday afternoon at the West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club's annual Threshing Bee in Homer.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Zane Woodle, of Webster City, at right, gets to help West Central Region Cockshutt & Co-op Club Vice-President Don Lamb run his 1940s vintage David Bradley chainsaw during the club's annual Threshing Bee in Homer.