Local (brush pulling) November 08, 2017 08:56PM
Just wandering how does the number of brush pullers in your area now compare to 3 years ago? If there has been a significate change
one way or the other what caused it? In our area the numbers are dropping. I think the cost even in the MPH classes is one of the biggest factors.
Also there are not as many folks on the farm that pull.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 09, 2017 12:00AM
It's dropping off in my area to, what caused it three dollar corn and nine dollar beans, and your right it cost a lot of money even for a 12 MPH tractor to compete now days.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 09, 2017 12:28AM
Seems like there is always one or a small group that wants to keep changing rules to bigger turbo or bigger pump etc........every time a change is made you gain one and loose two in my opinion... Been around pulling for 20years and the parts keep getting more costly and people just dont have the extra cash to go play anymore.
Some serious things need to change in organizations way of thinking when they make rules. If you want this sport to live it needs to be easier and cheaper to get into pulling, no there is nothing cheap about pulling but it could be cheaper than it is....
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 09, 2017 10:12AM
Has it ever changed wow; use to come in and pull my local fair 6 or 8 MPH class. Now I stay at home, these guys can take there tractor down the track and stay under speed limit, but the last 20 or 40 feet all hell breaks lose. I lose by 50 to 100 feet. These same tractors will pull in a stock farm class also.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 09, 2017 10:54AM
Its dropping every were brush or sanctioned and theres not much of a way to get the younger generation into it theres getting to be no classes the average Dad can afford to pull in to spark the Kids interest .iHAVE A 19 year old son that would rather play with his I phone than a girl that's bad
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 09, 2017 11:53PM
I help with a local fair pull and people like the smoke and speed but the local pickups and tractors with drivers that they know are still the most popular.win or lose they get the most crowd interaction after the pull .I went to NTPA pull and they allowed beer in the pits and tailgating along the whole track and people stayed till 1 in the morning to see the local guys pull their semis and pickups.It probably made more money than most as they all had to buy pit passes.I have been involved in racing up to World of Outlaw sprints and the class the promoters love is the lowest paying street stock type cars cause all their buddies are in the pits or stands just to watch them.I have friends that are top pullers and they all say the fun is gone when it becomes a business.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 10, 2017 12:59AM
I agree all the county fairs have cut all the locals out lots of people went just to se neighbor against neighbor and don't get me wrong the bigger classes were just a plus Now how is there going to be many new pullers interest sparked mine was sparked by my Dad pulling around a couple county fairs with plain old off the farm, farm classes wich in the 70s and 80s was a big thing like you said the locals have always drew a big croud
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 10, 2017 01:39AM
I think cost of getting in to the fair and insurance cost is keeping these pulls down as well. Plus there is not many small farms around any more that have older tractors to pull. More big farms with bigger tractors
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 10, 2017 01:45AM
Agree. Lots of farms now with zero 2WD tractors. See a few places that run MFD or duals classes, haven't seen one in person.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 10, 2017 02:11AM
When you consider a 4020 or 1066 is 50 plus years old the young generation probably never drove one or even have one on the farm.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 10, 2017 02:56AM
Try explaining that to antique or tractor show leaders. A tractor built between 1960-1975 is WAYYYYYYYY too new to let pull.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 10, 2017 10:36AM
If you really want to go down the rabbit hole on local or brush pulling problems there's a laundry list of issues.

1) First problem I see is a lack of publicity or poor communication about who/what/where/when for a pull. How many times do we see, on the DAY before, a post that talks about a pull and virtually no information about it?
2) Rule sets that vary from place to place....there might be a half dozen tractors in a county over that could come pull but because they don't fit the rules they can't come pull. A true national set of rules so that you could take a "hot farm" from one part of the world and put it in competition elsewhere in similar class.
3) The folks that would be tractor pullers are pulling diesel trucks. They identify with the Cummins trucks more than they do a 1066 or a 4440.
4) As mentioned costs are prohibitive. I think availability of parts to build something for local pulling isnt an issue it's the cost, and the cost to play at the top is enormous. Everythings expensive, and any inclination to find a "inexpensive" way to pull, you're going 3mph and hooking to a dyno at the end of the class for a barnyard class.
5) We can blame the farm economy to an extent but not everyone that pulls farms, at least full time. It impacts the sport from top to bottom no doubt.
6) Booking pulls on top of one another within 1 to 2 hours driving distance of one another? That will kill hook numbers in a hurry.

Im sure Im missing other stuff. I have seen some good numbers at events I've been to this year and I've also seen some stagnate or drop. For my business I see, in monitoring where I can go get pulling coverage, I have a whole lot to choose from, from April 30th through October 15th. I'm all about growing the sport, keeping pullers connected, informed, and in the spotlight...what else needs to be done? Good posts, nice comments from everyone chiming in.


Bryan Lively -

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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 10, 2017 11:34PM
I agree with most that has been said above. 1 things that gets my goat is how some of the brush pulls nickel and dime the pulls to death. In my opinion if you show up with tractor to pull you should not have to pay to get into the event. If I have a choice of two pulls I will go to one that does not charge me to get in. I am in MN and folks ask me why I pull so much in WI it is because they welcome me with open arms.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 10, 2017 11:48AM
Numbers are way down at our local fair but for good reasons. I will admit that numbers started to decline when we tried very hard to enforce the rules about 5 years ago. I was part of the group who said if we have rules we should enforce them. It didn't go very well to say the least. Our own tractor didn't win many pulls over the years but was a top 5 tractor in the 9000 and was labeled as too hot for farm stock. Even though it passed every rule in the book. I volunteered to moved it up to an enhanced class but some others who did not fit the rules would not move up and still haven't. I finally made the decision after 25 years of pulling to hang it up. The fair has new leadership and an antique club now oversees the fair stock pull. The farm stock class hardly exists now.
Tractor pullers are like farmers they are extremely independent and bull headed. I can say that as a farmer and puller. Most absolutely fight change.
The most fun pulling I ever had was a cancer benefit pull in Mt. Upton NY. Run what ya brung and no winnings just donations.
So with all this being said pulling seems to work the best with no rules or pulling with an organization with regional or national rules. Like some I currently can't afford to build or maintain a Pro-farm, Super farm etc. but we can be fans. Good luck to all.
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 11, 2017 02:00AM
at our county fair we pay probably pay the best around and everyone usally gets paid,get decent numbers but some pullers that aren't very far away bouycott our pull for some reason. some come because we pay good, others don't come because they don't like one of the promoters or a rule. think they would drive 20-30 miles last year gaurented 50$ 400 to win. where else farm pulling pay thet?
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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 12, 2017 04:18AM
We tried something at our county fair last year. Only charged to get in the pit, $15 for everybody, but we didn't charge an entry fee. Just sign up in the class you're pulling in. We paid down as far as we could with a set purse amount. Essentially everyone who hooked, got paid to show up. $3400 purse split amongst 8-9 classes. Had 62 hooks for our first year and not 1 single complaint that I've heard about, short of 1 guy showing up at 6pm for the ECI show and not noon for the brush pull, but that was his fault.


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Re: Local (brush pulling) November 12, 2017 04:39AM
If you are brush pulling for the prize money your doing it wrong. If you want more brush pulls give the prize money back.
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