Cutting edge skills at our big match
We farmers are proud to embrace all the modern technology available to us, but we are also very proud of the traditions on which our industry has grown.
The Cruckton Ploughing Match is an event which encompasses all those feelings. Since its inception in 1927 it has provided a day out where farmers, and anyone interested in how the countryside is managed, can get together after the high pressure harvest period.
New machinery is in action demonstrated by local businesses and we also appreciate the skills of horse and vintage tractor ploughmen who work without the help of the sat nav or electro-hydraulics.
The names of Powell, Smith, Tudor and Rodenhurst are recurring entries in Cruckton records. As a third generation farmer involved in the organisation of the match I have to make time to help mark out the ploughing plots and stewarding on the day in among the regular work on the farm.
I am lucky to have a fourth generation farmer working alongside me. Someone who has been ploughing at the match for several years, my daughter Marie, who will again be testing her skills in the reversible class.
Our match this year is tomorrow, Saturday September 23, at the Gittins family farm at Wykey near Ruyton-XI -Towns. It will provide one of the few remaining annual opportunities to see the development of cultivation and harvesting techniques over the past 100 years.
Andrew Goddard of Kinnerley will have his 19th century threshing machine in action – a reminder of how labour intensive harvest used to be.
Less land has been ploughed in recent years as modern minimum tillage systems found favour, but that trend has been halted since black grass became more of a problem and we have recognised that ploughing can be a vital tool in the rotational control of this pernicious weed and in reducing the risks of compaction. Modern technology may have made ploughing easier, but it can never replace the skill of setting a plough to cope with the variable conditions nature will throw at you.
So come along and marvel at the skills handed down from our forbears. The weather looks as though it will be kind, there are sheep dog trials, a scarecrow competition and a selection of trade stands, whose support we value and by whom I am sure you will be made most welcome.
Richard Savage
