Wayne Rabas’s Oliver tractor collection includes more than 50 models. He also collects a wide variety of implements and memorabilia. Oliver Collector Keeps Adding To His Long Green Line By Lorn Manthey, Contributing Editor Retired Wisconsin dairyman Wayne Rabas 550, 1755 and an 1800 around the farm where has channeled the energy he previously used he and his wife Susie live. He also drives for tending 100 milk cows into growing several of the tractors in nearby parades and his new “herd”, a long green line of Oliver enjoys attending auctions and sales where tractors. Since milking cows for the last time other Oliver models go to the highest bidder. in 2016, Rabas has devoted hundreds of hours These days he’s looking hard for a model toward expanding his collection of Oliver 1950 with a Detroit Diesel engine, a rare tractors, implements and memorabilia. His tractor that’s usually not at auctions. He’s lineup includes more than 50 models ranging hoping to locate one in the near future. from a cute little 440 up to a powerful 2255, His collection also includes an Oliver and many others in between. planter, corn picker, manure spreader, Rabas says he gravitated to the brand dealership signage, advertising materials, and This 440 tractor is the smallest one in his collection. because his father owned a nice 77 diesel, other memorabilia, including an Oliver gas still built wonderful tractors and implements and as a 9 or 10-year-old, it was the fi rst pump. “I grew up with the brand and drove until 1974, when the name disappeared and tractor he learned to drive on the family many Olivers like these at the equipment everything was branded White,” says Rabas. farm. It was an all-around workhorse for dealership our family had, so it’s a nice trip “The fact they’re not made anymore makes tillage, planting, harvesting, baling hay and down memory lane to collect them,” Rabas them all the more valuable, not just to me, but tending livestock. Today a 77, a slightly more says. “As a 13 or 14-year-old, I painted my many others who remember them working on powerful ‘Super 77’, a 550 and an 1800, all fi rst Oliver and used to paint them for nearly farms across the country.” in original condition, are the favorites in his 35 years at our dealership.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Wayne collection. Most of those he purchases these days are Rabas, 6264 Pine Grove Road, Luxemburg, Also in his current lineup are 60, 70 and 80 in good running condition, though he hopes Wis. 54217 (ph 920 863-6074). models along with 660, 770, 880 and 990’s. to restore a few more. Rabas created this “motorized” Oliver The 880, with just over 3,100 original hours, “Even though the Oliver brand was buggy for his front yard, painting it in authentic Oliver colors. joined his collection this year. He uses his purchased by White Equipment in 1960, they They’re Preserving Wild From The Northern Plains By Dee Goerge, Contibuting Editor If it weren’t for dedicated breeders, generally in color and heavily muscled the wild horses that once roamed Theodore with a square-set angular frame. They Roosevelt National Park and across the typically don’t require any vaccinations and Northern Plains would be a footnote in if they have room to roam, they don’t need history. The Nokota® breed preserves the to have their hooves trimmed. traits of the horses developed by Native “They are smart about not hurting Americans. themselves - a little like a mule,” Kuntz says. Despite attempts to eliminate the horses The Kuntz brothers struggled for 15 years to keep Native Americans on reservations, before the Nokota Horse Conservancy, horses were fenced into the park in the a 501(c)3 organization, formed in 1999. 1950’s. Later, when another elimination Contributions help pay pasture rent and program began, people purchased some of maintain the herd. Many members care for the original horses. Brothers Leo and Frank horses of their own throughout the country, Kuntz of Linton, N. Dak., bought 54 of them and tribes in North Dakota are working at a 1980’s roundup and named the breed, with the conservancy as well. For example, Photos by Shawna Lichtenwalner Nokota. Leo died in August, and his brother, Standing Rock Indian Reservation residents Brothers Leo and Frank Kuntz bought 54 wild horses at a 1980’s roundup in North Dakota and named the breed, Nokota. Frank, is the current executive director appreciate the breed because it descended and herd manager for the Nokota Horse from Sitting Bull’s ponies. There are even Conservancy. some Nokota horses in France, Sweden and Frank Kuntz explains that initially Leo Belgium. was interested in crossbreeding the Nokota Nokota horses are used for everything from with his Quarter Horses to use them for horse trail riding and ranch work to , racing, something the whole Kuntz family has endurance racing, and . been involved with. But Leo soon recognized “Once they are broke, people usually the signifi cance of preserving the breed. don’t sell them,” Kuntz says, noting prices “One thing that amazed me and Leo is for horses with papers range from $1,500 to their brains. They are just smart. And they $4,500. “We will soon post Leo’s horses on are hardy, sure-footed, sound and healthy,” the Conservancy Facebook page. We’d like Kuntz says. “When our family got involved to fi nd homes for the older mares and studs.” 38 years ago there were less than 200 of the Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Nokota horses. Even today there are less than 800.” Horse Conservancy, P.O. Box 761, Linton, Described as a little larger and rangier N. Dak. 58552 (701 254-4205; www. than Spanish colonial horses, Nokotas are nokotahorse.org). The brothers soon began an effort to preserve the breed.

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