Today a farmer will fuel up his tractor, maybe do some greasing and basic maintenance and then drive out to a field with a piece of equipment to do farm-work.
Years ago, the work horse did this job, but the farmer had to grow, harvest, and store the feed for the animal (oats, hay, corn), groom and care for it, scoop up the manure by hand, and then use the horse to haul it out into the field.

Alfred with his sows

Alfred Nissen with one of his work horses

Alfred Nissen with two of his work horses

Orlo Nissen getting ready to feed the horses and livestock

Melvin Nissen with his FFA hogs

Alfred Nissen with work horses - Lyden Studio photo

Alfred Nissen

Orlo & Melvin

Orlo & Melvin Nissen with their FFA hogs

August 31, 1939

11 in view - #8 Amos Kusel
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8 in view - #2 Orlo Nissen #3 Melvin Nissen #5 Roy Struve #8 Robert Kruse
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5 in view - #1 George Campbell #5 Alvin Musfeldt

Orlo and Melvin Nissen have a litter of spots. The pigs were farrowed about the first of March and weigh a little over two hundred pounds now. They have been raised on clean ground on a balanced ration. When the pigs were under fifty pounds the boys fed a pig meal of 50 pounds corn, 25 oats, 10 tankage, 10 soybean, 5 alfalfa meal and 1 and a half pound Moorman minerals. After the pigs reached fifty pounds the boys fed corn and protein. The boys, Manning High Vocational students, have raised sixteen pigs from the two litters.

Billie Meggers has two litters of Hampshire hogs for his project far vocational agriculture. When the boys were studying hogs in class Billie decided that he wanted to raise Hampshires. He borrowed forty dollars from the bank and bought two gilts. He has raised thirteen fine pigs from these two gilts by putting the pigs on clean ground, feeding the sows well when suckling the pigs and feeding a balanced ration.