Farmers aren’t just caretakers of animals, stewards of the soil and leaders in feeding the world. They’re also incredibly creative and clever inventors.
Cyrus McCormick invented the reaper in 1834, a tool that changed the future of farming and led to the creation of the International Harvester Company.
John Deere was a skilled blacksmith in Vermont who headed to Illinois where he fashioned the first steel plow. He eventually started what would become a leading agriculture equipment manufacturing company globally.
Farmers are known to pinch hit at a moment’s notice when something breaks or doesn’t work quite right. They’re a jack of all trades and can fix almost anything.
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They also are intuitive to the needs of their livestock and a good judge of what their crops need. Take Tom Pemberton for example.
This second-generation farmer from England is a hit on social media where he educates people about agriculture and what it’s like being a farmer growing up in the country.
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Not everyone understands where their food comes from, so his voluntary role as an unofficial spokesperson for farmers everywhere has been embraced.
“I got into social media by mistake. I was trying to promote a raw milk vending machine in a video, which my girlfriend helped me with at the time. We posted the video on Facebook and YouTube — Facebook went really well with around 11,000 views and YouTube only got 200-300 views. That’s how it started, completely by mistake!”
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His videos rack up millions of views and people love seeing the cows and sheep delivering their spring babies. But Tom’s latest project has people marveling over a product’s ingenuity.
The 27-year-old shares “the highs, the lows and everything in-between.” Followers caught a glimpse of his cows rubbing up on something that resembled a scrub brush we’d use in the kitchen to scrub filthy dishes and pots.
The cows went absolutely bonkers over this invention designed for them to scratch an itch they couldn’t reach. Most of the time, cattle, horses and other animals will rub up against a wood fence or the side of a building.
This can cause damage to the structure and possibly hurt the animal. This alternative is the perfect solution!
You could see the cattle rubbing their faces and necks against the bristle brush and loving every second of it. If cows could talk or text, they’d give this giant bristle brush five stars.
It didn’t take long before a company that manufactures these very tools reached out to Tom offering to install a free brush for his outdoor pasture. He shared with his followers how such a huge scratching post for cows is installed.
The workers traipsed into the pasture while the cows peacefully grazed nearby. The video showed how it was assembled just for the comfort of his 120-head cow herd who loved the new EasySwing Cow Brush from Mayo Farm Systems!
Some of the braver cows wandered over to check out what was going on on their turf. They could function as project managers they stood so close, seemingly judging everyone.
It seemed to be a fairly simple installation, by auguring a pole into the ground and slipping a giant metal round plate over it to form the base that settles below the ground’s surface.
It has to be very sturdy, because a cow rubbing up against it can weigh upwards of 1,600 pounds. A bull can weigh more than 2,400 pounds.
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Once the work wrapped up, though, it was like Christmas for the cows. They knew exactly what to do and they get right at it.
The cows were so cute to watch scratching away at the oversized bristle brush. They rubbed under their chin, the sides of their faces and even their rumps.
The brush comes in several sizes to accommodate for itchy animals including horses, goats and others. It was invented by Thomas Duffy, the founder of Mayo Farm Systems, who made the very first of these brushes for his brother who runs a small dairy farm.
If these cows could smile, we’re sure they would! It’s quite the invention!
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