This year’s De Courcey Harvest Day will be held on Bank Holiday Monday, August 5. The location will be Sandycove, Ballinspittle, Co. Cork.
Farmhand – the distributor of well-known machinery brands such as Krone, Amazone and Quicke – is the main sponsor of this year’s event, in conjunction with local dealer Derry O’Donovan Machinery.
The De Courcey Harvest Day began back in 2011 as a working demonstration; it’s now described as a “national event”.
An eye-catching Ford 6640 pictured at a previous De Courcey Harvest Day
Speaking ahead of Monday’s event, Farmhand marketing director Stephen Scrivener said: “It’s great to be part of such a key event in the Irish farming calendar.
“It’s a great community event for very worthy causes,” added Stephen. “We are very much looking forward to meeting with customers there – both old and new!
Image source: Shane Casey
“We’re bringing a Krone BiG X 630 and a BiG M 450, along with a further 20 machines from the Krone, Amazone and APV line-ups.
“We’re also bringing a new Amazone Cayros plough, which will be put through its paces on the day.”
Some of the people involved in the organisation of this year’s event
Bill Chambers from De Courcey Classic & Vintage Club added his comments to the mix, saying: “We are very thankful to John O’Donovan for the use of his land for the 2019 event. The beautiful site, which slopes towards the sea at Sandycove, is just perfect.
“John himself has been a supporter of the event right back to the beginning, often displaying a rare Dania D5000 forage harvester (pictured below).
“The Scania-powered Dania is a 1972 model; it was one of the first self-propelled forage harvesters in Ireland. John purchased his machine in 1973 from Sherrards in Ballintemple.”
He added: “Our main show still revolves around vintage harvesting, but we’ll have vintage tilling and working horses on the go too.
A nostalgia-inducing combine in action at a previous De Courcey Harvest Day
“We’ll have a big number of vintage and classic combine harvesters of all makes, as well as several reapers and binders in action. There’ll be steam engines and threshing sets as well.”
Building up a head of steam! A selection of equipment at a previous De Courcey Harvest Day
Proceeds from this year’s event will go to the Fr. John Kinston Mozambique project, Ballinadee National School, De Courcey boxing club and Ballinadee Community Hall.