Greetings from Dyersville!

I can’t believe it’s the end of September already. August was a busy month, including a trip to the Iowa State Fair. There are a few things I have to do when I go to the fair, including see the “Butter Cow” and checking out the livestock and FFA tractor displays. The biggest Bull, appropriately named “Little Bill”, didn’t like getting his picture taken. That’s OK, I don’t necessarily like my picture taken either.

I got a late start with my sweetcorn this year, so I went with a shorter maturity variety. Of course, just when it was ready we got a windstorm. As you can see I still got enough to have a few meals.

The field corn on the other hand was really hurt by our hot and dry summer. Here’s a picture of a couple ears I pulled from the farm sitting by our 1:32nd Case International 4894 tractor. The ears are definitely smaller than usual.

Back to Farm Toy News…

A few months ago I mentioned that we were tooling a 1:64th Claas Xerion 5000 tractor (Stock # 16413OTP) for the National Farm Toy Museum. This unit features movable axles, 3-point hitch and a cab that can pivot between the front and rear of the machine. I believe this is the first tractor we’ve ever produced in 1:64th where the cab moves. In Europe we also currently offer a 1:32nd model of the Xerion 5000. (Stock # 43246) In addition, we’ve recently announced a 1:32nd Claas Jaguar 980 Self Propelled Forage Harvester. (Stock # 43285) This will be coming out later this year, along with some additional items. Watch for more information in my blog about bringing these units to North America. Britains continues to celebrate their 100th anniversary of producing farm toys with a special commemorative coin. You can check out the other new items that Britains has coming out at the following website “Britainsfarmtoys.co.uk.”

Until next time,

Bill