From planting time until harvest, farmers are totally reliant on sporadic spring and summer showers for needed interim moisture, and are hopeful that hurricanes entering the Gulf of Mexico will steer clear of them.  Once the harvests are in, September and October storms are generally welcome, starting the moisture build up for the following year. 

Kenneth McKamey's family has been farming this area since the turn of the century when his great grandfather, an insurance salesman by trade, visited the Corpus Christi area.  He liked what he saw and established the McKamey family farm near Taft, about 20 miles north of the city.  Kenneth received an abrupt introduction to farm management when his father died suddenly in 1968.  "I was in the Army, stationed at Fort Hood at the time.  Since there was no one else to take over, I was given a hardship discharge and called back home.  About the same time, our farm manager decided to call it quits, and I found myself in an urgent on-the-job training program." 

McKamey Farms grows grain sorghum and cotton on some 4000 acres here, 1000 of which are leased.  They also operate a major cotton gin and grain elevator.  "My gin manager came down with pneumonia and died a year after Dad passed away," recalls Kenneth.  Needless to say, he had his hands full. 

His first move was to lure Richard frost, an old Army buddy, as farm manager.  "Richard grew up on a farm in Minnesota," according to Kenneth.  "He knew farming, but nothing about cotton or hurricanes.  The first year, I was back at Fort Hood on summer reserve training.  Richard calls to tell me the wind is blowing 200 miles an hour, and it doesn't took like the rain will ever stop.  He was looking for advice, and I'm afraid I wasn't much help." Twenty-eight years later, Richard continues to manage the farm, and Kenneth's on-the-job training program, hurricanes notwithstanding, has obviously been a ringing success. 
 

McKamey Farms is a partnership between Kenneth and his son, Jeff.  Both are graduates of Cornell University with Masters degrees in Agricultural Engineering.

Over the years, McKamey Farms has used a variety of agricultural tractor brands and models.  "Caterpillar has been trying to sell me ag tractors for over 20 years," says Kenneth.  "Quite a few of the steel-tracked special application machines were sold in this area back in the 70's.  I would have had a problem getting them across a paved road, so I never bought one.  Then when the rubber-belted tillage models came out in the mid 80's, I wasn't particularly interested because most of my applications were row crop.  Two years ago, I saw a Cat Challenger 45 at a farm show in Corpus Christi, and asked to have it demonstrated on the farm." 

Seeing the Challenger 45 at a farm show, McKamey asked for a demonstration at his farm.  Now his Challenger 45 carries two 250 gallon saddle tanks and pulls either a 40-foot rotary hoe, a hooded sprayer or a 38-foot field cultivator.

"We could tell right away from the footprint left by the Challenger tractor that it was not compacting the soil like our rubber-tired tractors," says McKamey.

Going to flat beds provided the incentive to purchase a Challenger 85C tillage tractor last year.  While minimizing compaction was its main selling point, the McKameys have also found this machine able to plow deeper than their rubber-tired tractors - an extra bonus to improving moisture retention. 

This year was the first year in a while that too much rain threatened to cross up the planting schedule.  Because of the threat of compaction, Kenneth says he'll do almost anything to keep from going into his fields when they're wet.  The Cat rubber-belted tractor does give him the option of doing so if he's way behind schedule and has no other choice. 
 

"The Challenger tractors have better traction than my other brands."

When comparing power between Cat tracked tractors and others, McKamey figures a good rule of thumb is that the Challenger tractors have pulling power equivalent to rubber-tired tractors with 25 percent more horsepower.  In other words, their Challenger 45 with 200 hp performs the same work as a 250 hp rubber-tired tractor. 
 

McKamey's Challenger 85C is set up with 300-gallon tanks.  In addition to a 20-foot chisel plow,  the Challenger 85C pulls a 52-foot field cultivator and a 40-foot field chisel plow with 18-inch sweeps.

Bill Smith, who was operating the Challenger 45, commented on the comfort of the tractor: "I can't imagine being in a rubber-tired tractor for the 12-hour shifts we're running now. I'd be so tired, I wouldn't be able to do anything the rest of the day. This Challenger 45 is the most comfortable tractor I've ever operated." 

Farm Manager, Richard Frost, reported he's experiencing a 30 percent fuel efficiency improvement from the Challenger tractors over his rubber tired machines. He uses the Challenger 45 tractor to pull several  implements, including a 38-foot field cultivator, a hooded sprayer and a 40-foot rotary hoe.  Fertilizer and herbicide incorporation are handled by both tractors, the Challenger 45 being set up with two 250-gallon saddle tanks, while the Challenger 85C is equipped with 300-gallon tanks.  Besides the 20-foot chisel plow, the 85C is also used to pull a 52-foot field cultivator and a 40-foot field plow with 18-inchsweeps. The McKameys use 30-inch belts on the Challenger 85C and both 18 and 24-inch belts on the Challenger 45. 

Kenneth McKamey says he's seeing more and more of Cat's tracked ag tractors on farms in this area. Many of his neighbors apparently are coming to realize the benefits of battling compaction. 

 As Richard Frost says, "If you walked blindfolded out in a field worked by both rubber-tired and tracked tractors, you'd know where each had been working.  The difference is startling." 
 

FARMING ON TRACK 
The Caterpillar Guide To Farm Power Management 
This article was featured in the Fall 1997 issue. 

For more information, contact HOLT CAT at (800) 275-4658 or visit their web site.