I guess that this post is for the enthusiast and I confess to being no great expert.
Farm equipment has certainly moved on in the last two generations. While I was waiting to swap tractor driving with Dan during sowing, I took a few pictures of equipment which has been left by the side of the paddock.
I find wandering our farms very interesting – you find all sorts of bits and pieces. I always wondered if things were left there with the intention to collecting it later or abandoned in disgust after some fatal breakdown? I once found an old hand mower under a tree in the middle of the paddock, only to find out that it was used to try and hand mow areas of stinging nettles (in a 100 ac paddock – that would have been a slow job). The small petrol engine seized and it remained under that tree for the next 60 years abandoned and forgotten. It’s still there actually.
Farms can be dotted with examples of agricultural history – so here are a few interesting ones from our farm.
 |
It is a bit hard to tell because of the grass, but this is a horse drawn tine plough. The things to note here are the lever controls which would be managed by an operator walking behind or riding on the plough to change the tillage depth and implement angle. Also note the stone which was placed on the machine to provide a bit of extra weight or bite when ploughing hard ground. Also note the steel wheels and the small implement width of approximately four feet. Ploughing took a long time then. |
|
Here are two views of a more modern combine which would be pulled by a tractor. The first view is the front of the machine which would be attached to a tractor. As with the horse drown seeding machines, they were all ground driven, using a series of alternate cogs (displayed in the first picture) to be placed in the mechanism to achieve different sowing rates. A frame with a series of weak tines were attached underneath the combine to gently disturb the ground providing tilth of the seed and fertiliser to fall into.
The second picture shows the rear of the machine with the seed and fertiliser bins which were divided into front and rear bins. As you can see, one of the front bin’s door is open. This is where 60kg bags of seed would be lifted up to and emptied into the bin. The back bin would be where the fertiliser was placed. At the bottom of each bin would be cogs, whose rotation would expose a small hole between the cog’s teeth, thus allowing a controlled amount of material to fall to the ground. This is quite a modern combine (1950’s) as it has a wooden bin, but rubber tyres. |
|
And this is an interesting one – a disk combine. It would basically do the same job as the more modern combine shown above, but used disks instead of tines to provide the soil disturbance. Its interesting because over the last 10 years or so, disk based sowing machines have come back into vogue as a new option within sowing technology. Its interesting to see that the idea is not that new.
The first picture shows the front of the machine which would be attached to a tractor, although it is small enough to be pulled by a horse team. Also note the hand controls once again and the use of wood and cast steel wheels and components in its construction. The second picture is the rear of the machine clearly showing the disks. Disks require less power to pull as they roll over the ground with its leading edge sinking into soil and then inverting a small portion of it. The seed was placed right at the edge of the disk by a tube. An early example of minimum tillage. |
So there are a few of the things of interest around our farm. Quite a few people like to get the scrap metal merchants in an cleanup all this old gear for cash – but as for me, i like having it around and wonder which pieces of our current farming machinery will be parked at the edge of the paddock over the next 100 years being too old or small to warrant further use?
It is an interesting thought.
Cheers,
NeilK