Whoa Nelly AgWired peeps. Have you seen how BIG Big Bud is?

Big Bud is the world’s largest tractor and one of the biggest draws at this year’s Farm Progress Show. He was built by hand (all the Big Bud’s manufactured were done one at a time, no assembly line was ever used) and topped out at 27 feet long, 20 feet wide, 14 feet tall and weighing 100,000 pounds. Big Bud is the baby of Ron Harmonn, birthed in 1977 in Montana. The inspiration was derived for the need for a better tractor to plant and grow cotton.

Until this week, Big Bud had been on display in a farm museum in Dyersville, Iowa (the home of the famous ball field from Field of Dreams). He was moved to Boone, Iowa by Crop Production Services (Agrium), a company that provides agricultural inputs to farmers around the country.

Steve Sopher, an area agronomist with Agrium told me that they brought Big Bud in to give growers a walk down memory lane, and that he did. Between 15,000 – 20,000 people came to see Big Bud in person over the three days. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 people were at Farm Progress from around the world, so you can bet that most spent some time checking out Big Bud – and they won’t forget his enormity any time soon.

For those of you who missed out on this amazing piece of history, Sopher said that he will be back at the 2011 Farm Progress Show. You can also watch this video.

And be sure to check out all the Big Bud views in our Farm Progress Photo Album.

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: and