The Green Mule

"The Old Green Mule, She ain't what she used to be"

The Green Mule is actually a 1973 John Deere 2640, (nothing runs like a deere.) She is only the third tractor to live on the K-Bar. Before the 1970's all the horsepower for the farm and ranch work was done by, well by horses and mules. The first tractor was an old Cub Cadet. It was a used tractor bought by Dad that ran (sporadically) on gas. It was small, had a belly mower and did not have a three point hitch. It was better than what we had before, (nothing,) but it became clear the ranch needed a bigger tractor.

The first John Deere was a diesel tractor bought in the late 1970's by Dad and my brother Bob. It was much larger, and had the ability to pull disks and bush-hogs. It was the work horse for a long time until Dad had an opportunity to trade(with a little cash) for a larger tractor, and that is the tractor in the picture. It was named the "green mule" by Dad one fall as we were dragging hardwood logs from the soggy creek bottoms to the sandy hills where we could cut them up and split them up for posts and firewood. "The big logs were heavy, but not too heavy for my green mule."

Yes, It runs. One thing about the men of the K-Bar. We aren't as concerned about cosmetics as we are about performance. Dad is not one to quit on a garment because of a little wear or a change in style. He feels the same about the equipment. It may look like it is about to fall apart, but it still works,(although it does have a flat tire-rubber and locust thorns don't mix.)