Delayed by a week due to wet weather, the South East Ireland Ford 6 Cylinder club tillage day finally got underway on a cool, autumn day in Co. Kilkenny.
The host for the event was Austin Rothwell, who had made up to 40ac of his farm available to be ploughed and cultivated by club members and their Ford tractors. Austin himself is a great fan of Ford machines; he runs a fleet of them in his own contracting business.
Naturally, it was the ploughing that kicked off the action on Sunday, September 30.
Below is a selection of photographs from the ‘blue-themed’ event.
Click on a thumbnail in the gallery (below) to open up a full-size image; once opened you can scroll sideways to see the next picture.
Another well-matched combination (and a rather rare tractor) was a 4WD Ford 9600 (see main/featured picture) belonging to Martin O’Sullivan; he had it pulling a six-furrow conventional Kverneland.
The 9600 was produced in the US and later in Antwerp; although it retained its distinctive US styling throughout.
A very smartly turned out 6600 was doing sterling work with a three-furrow Kverneland. Given the degree of slip at the rear wheels, it’s easy to see why the world turned to all-wheel-drive in the 1970s; although Ford itself was somewhat late to the party.
Countys were much associated with Ford; although, they did convert other makes (brands) as well. There were at least three present at the event, ranging from an absolutely pristine 774 to a ‘Forward Control’ unit.
Those that did make it along enjoyed near-perfect ground conditions for the ensuing tillage work.