Worland Man Has 205 John Deere Tractors On His Property, Causes Tour Buses To Stop

The rows of distinctive green tractors flying flags, interspersed with statues of farm creatures, turns the heads of drivers traveling north of Worland on U.S. Highway 20.

In fact, a former dairy farmer’s collection of 205 John Deere tractors that front his 91 acres has become an unofficial tourist magnet.

Last year tour buses headed to Yellowstone National Park called Pete Smet asking if they could stop by what is otherwise his metal recycling business and home.

“They were from all over the world, some spoke differently, from Germany, some of them I didn’t understand them,” he said. “They knew how to say ‘nice collection.’”

Smet, 67, said people from Japan, Norway and Sweden have also wanted to wander among the tractors that include nearly every model of John Deere’s A, B, 10, and 20 series. He also has a start on the 30 series.

The collection covers the years from 1920 to the early 1960s.

Other models in his collection include International, Oliver, McCormick and Case. He said he recently bought 17 tractors at an auction on a property owned by a Worland friend who died recently. One of those tractors is his most valuable and rarest, a 1920 Hart-Parr.

“It sits on steel,” Smet said, referring to the wheels and pointing out the motor is mounted sideways. “It’s almost like a hit-and-miss motor. It’s crazy. I guarantee you it's worth $10,000 easy.”

Smet, though, has his highest praise for the John Deere collection lining the front of his home and across his property to the office of his recycling business.

He grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and married Debbie, who grew up on a neighboring farm in the cheese state. For the first 40-some years they farmed and he built homes and at one time he also ran a tavern.

An elk tag brought him to the Ten Sleep area nearly three decades ago and his 10 days in the state with Debbie and family members stirred an interest in moving West. He met a Worland man who became a friend, eventually built an addition on his house, and after listening to his friend’s encouragement some 26 years ago made the move to Wyoming.

“By Sept. 11, 2001, we had a house set up,” Smet said. “We saw on (the friend’s) TV that they hit the towers.”

Plans To Retire

After initially working in the recycling business at another Worland location, he used the proceeds from the sale of his farm and equipment in Wisconsin to purchase the current property. Smet said they still own a home in Wisconsin but are retiring in Wyoming.

While farming in Wisconsin, Smet used only John Deere equipment for his dairy operation.

Is he obsessed with the brand?

“I think so,” he said. “I’ve got other tractors, too.”

For America’s 250th birthday, Smet put up 72 flags among his tractor display, which he has been acquiring for 45 years. He doesn’t have a favorite machine — he “likes them all,” he said.

The rarest models include a John Deere diesel 80 tractor built in 1955 or 1956. Only 3,485 were made. Smet said his understanding is only 29 or so are left. 

“I had a guy from Pennsylvania that wanted to buy it. He offered me $20,000 for it, like two weeks ago,” Smet said. “I said, ‘I ain’t selling it.’”

He also purchased a rare John Deere 1942 BR tractor that was in a container in Wisconsin.

A handful of his tractors are “hand-crankers.” Smet estimates that about 65% of his collection runs and he fires them up from time to time. In addition to Wisconsin, he has purchased tractors from Minnesota, Montana, Iowa, and Arizona.

He took nine tractors to the Washakie County Fair parade last month.

Outside of his business office a John Deere 5020 with dual wheels sits with a banner across it recognizing the nation’s 250th birthday. A short distance away is his largest tractor, an 8440 four-wheel drive built in the early 1980s. He recently purchased an eight-bottom plow to paint and display with the tractor and show the power of the machine.

Smet laments that most of the younger generation has no knowledge or interest in tractors and most of the generation who appreciated the older machines are quickly passing.

Manure Spreader

In addition to his tractors, he also has old farm equipment that includes an old “ground action” manure spreader that required the turning of its wheels to force the manure off the back. 

“You can’t find them,” he said. “I’ve had so many people wanting to buy it.”

There are old rakes, balers, and John Deere bulldozers, including a little model that required a crank to start.

A handmade steam tractor from the early days of the past century was parked along a road in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. It now sits in the yard with a little sign advertising Smet’s business painted on the tank.

He also has a 1919 fire engine run by a chain drive as well as other fire engines from past decades that once served Ten Sleep and other communities. Old trucks from the Greybull airport can also be found parked in a display row.

In a garage by his office is a 1929 Chevy truck with a wooden bed.

“The mayor drove it like two years ago in the parade with his wife,” Smet said.

At the edge of his property by the highway, Smet parked a Buick hearse that sits as last in the row of tractors. He acquired it from a local funeral home. It is painted with the phrase “End of the Line.”

Debbie Smet has interspersed their yard outside the house with farm animal statues to create a scene that reminds them both of their Wisconsin past.

There are nearly full-size statues of a Jersey cow and classic black-and-white Holstein. Chickens, elk, wolves, a bison, and grizzly bear are on top of a shed along with other creatures of the West and the farm.

42 'Kids'

While the couple has no biological children, Smet said they raised 42 kids unofficially over the years by providing a home and jobs on the farm. His “kids” came to Wyoming a few years ago and helped him build the couple's retirement house. It took seven days.

They returned last year and built him a second garage in one day. He has already installed part of his toy tractor collection and some John Deere signs on its walls.

“They’re good kids,” he said.

One of his “sons” now works with him in the recycling business and he is teaching other young men to work on the tractors.

Growing up on the farm, he learned to overhaul tractors and recalls an Oliver tractor that he completely rebuilt.

“Now that I’m retired, I’m going to work on them,” he said.

But the “retiree” admits to being on the job at the recycling operation at 7 a.m. During his conversation with Cowboy State Daily the phone rang with questions and issues that needed to be solved.

Toy Tractors

In addition to the big tractors, both personal garages he owns have shelves with pedal-driven John Deere tractors for kids, a John Deere car, and rows of toy and collectible tractors.

A woman stopped by and saw a couple of pedal-driven kid tractors in front of his house and donated a couple more to his collection.

In his business office, there is more of his tractor collection as well as a small model steam engine in a case.

In his wallet Smet carries a chart issued by the John Deere Company. Its little worn pages carry a listing of every series of tractor, corresponding VIN numbers, and the year that a particular model was made.

He pulls it out and puts it back in his wallet carefully.

Smet said when he dies, all of his “kids” will receive a part of his collection. Until then, he intends to add to it. 

“When I go back to Wisconsin I end up buying stuff. I’ve got a bad habit,” he said. “I’ve got tractors there yet. I’ve been waiting for the fuel prices to go down.”

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.