Richfield, WI – On a breezy morning in Richfield, WI, where red barns still dot the landscape and the smell of fresh earth clings to the air, local farmer and collector Herb Lofy stands beside a row of green machines — each with a story etched in steel.
Lofy reflected on a slice of Wisconsin farm history that stretches from horse-drawn threshers to self-propelled harvesting icons.
“Back in the 1940s, John Deere was only in the threshing machine business for about a decade,” Lofy said. “They bought out Wagner-Legol up in the Twin Cities around 1937. Ran with it until 1947, and then things changed — big time.”
That year, Deere transitioned into the world of combines — self-propelled machines that revolutionized how farmers harvested crops. Lofy pointed to one of his prized pieces: a late 1940s threshing machine that’s remarkably untouched.
“This one’s a one-owner machine from Arcadia, just a ways from the Mississippi. Never restored — just well cared for. The man I bought it from, his grandfather owned it, passed it to his dad, and then to him. He’s over in Jackson now. That’s real Wisconsin heritage right there.”
Lofy, dressed in blue coveralls, sunglasses and a baseball cap, was in his element as he shared the story about his collection of John Deere green.
Lofy walked to a machine from the late ’60s, when Deere was leading the combine evolution with models like the iconic 55.
“Back then, it was Deere and Massey neck-and-neck,” he said. “They were pushing the limits of harvesting. Alice Chalmers had their all-crop pull-types, but when it came to self-propelled, Deere and Massey were it.”
This particular machine came from the Heppi brothers of Jackson — caretakers in every sense of the word. “Mel Heckendorf owned it after them. I keep it mostly as a collector’s piece, but I’ll take it out every so often just to keep it alive. I’ve even got the corn head for it.”
The pride in Herb’s voice is unmistakable, especially when he talks about preserving these machines. “They were built tough. Most of them ended up scrapped — just the way of progress. But to keep some of these running, in this kind of condition, it’s something special. A connection to the people who worked the land before us.”
Behind the combines sits another relic — a two-cylinder John Deere tractor. “That sound,” Herb grinned. “That’s what got folks collecting. Deere rode those two-cylinders hard until the horsepower just couldn’t keep up.”
It wasn’t until 1960 that John Deere truly hit its stride with the release of the “New Generation” tractors — the 3010s and 4010s. “That’s when they really left their mark. Everyone else — International Harvester, Alice Chalmers, Minneapolis-Moline — they were solid. But Deere just took off. History proves it.”
Then there’s Herb’s workhorse: a 1997 John Deere combine — a fourth-owner machine, and his go-to during harvest. “It’s not just any combine,” he says, pointing to a rare sticker on the side. “One year in production. That was the 50th anniversary of Deere’s self-propelled combines. That’s why I keep it — a marker of how far we’ve come.”
“That’s the kind of history you can feel,” he said. “When folks come out to see it, young and old, you can see the appreciation light up. It’s not just about the machines — it’s about remembering where we came from.”
Whether it’s the unmistakable sound of a two-cylinder tractor or the dusty hum of a 60-year-old combine firing up for one more pass, Herb Lofy’s collection — and his stories — remind us that progress isn’t just about moving forward. Sometimes, it’s about honoring the machines that got us here.
