KALISPELL — The world’s largest farm tractor -- according to the Guinness World Records -- built in Havre back in 1977 was on display in Kalispell Monday at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.
“Just wanted to try and get it over here and give everyone a chance to have a peek at it,” largest farm tractor co-owner Robert Williams tells MTN News.
Weighing a cool 95,000 pounds, reaching 14 feet tall and 28 feet in length, the world’s largest Farm Tractor is a sight to see.
Click here to view a photo gallery of the tractor.
“1,000 horsepower, 1,000 gallons of fuel, yup, did a lot of work in its day,” said Robert.
Robert and his brother Randy Williams farm wheat primarily at their home in Big Sandy.
They became the third owners of the tractor back in 1997. “It was built about 50-60 miles north of our farm,” Randy Williams tells MTN News.
Randy said the tractor was used in full operation until 2009 before certain aspects of their farming methods needed change.
“We went to no-till farming, so we weren’t tilling our ground like they used to do and we really didn’t need the big tillage power,” explained Randy.
Robert said the tractor put on quite the show in its heyday, " this tractor actually in its day worked about 1.3 acres a minute, so you know you go out and work 800 to 1,000 acres in a day."
Howard Farquhar drove up from Polson to get an up-close look at the tractor. He was amazed by the sheer size of the machine.
“Just the size, just the width of it, the size of it, the amount of work it can do in a day and when you’re farming that’s a big deal,” said Farquhar.
The Bud 747 tractor has spent the last decade being showcased at farm shows and museums across the Midwest.
Robert hopes to find a permanent home for the tractor to be displayed in Northwest Montana soon.
“Things would go right if we could find someplace to have it over here, you know to show it off to some of the people that come through the park, you know a building or something, you know put it somewhere people can see it if we’re not going to use it you know,” said Robert.
Robert said they took their time hauling the tractor to Kalispell, taking roughly eight hours to transport from Havre.
