Paul Jolly: County's tractors are truly golden

It is quite remarkable how fortunate we are in Devon to be blessed with so many fabulous agricultural shows every year.

The effort made by the organisers and contributors is enormous without forgetting the input from the amazing animals themselves and I thoroughly recommend visiting at least one every year.

The biggest is of course the Devon County Show at Westpoint in May with crafts and flower displays, farm animals of every description, alpacas, goats, birds of prey and much more. 

Equine horsepower as well as automotive horsepower is also on display at most shows with Powderham Castle having possibly the finest collection of steam driven machinery to be seen in the UK at the annual Historic Vehicle Gathering in July.

Regional agricultural shows can in fact be found throughout the county such as Totnes and Honiton where the vintage tractor exhibits are as extensive as they are extraordinary and offer an amazing insight into how we looked after the land in the early days of mechanisation.

Often you will see just how our fields were ploughed with reciprocal steam engines winching cable attached ploughs from one end of the field to the other. Although a lengthy practice, it was an advance on the horse powered method of old.

The passion shown by these hardy individuals as they bring their magnificent Massey Ferguson tractors to show is every bit as strong as the classic car fraternity who also attend these events. Perhaps even more effort is needed since many tractors and other vintage equipment have to be trailered to show and returned the same way.

However, I know for certain that many tractor owners relish the long drive to and from these venues out of sheer determination to prove their machines can still do it and never mind the traffic behind!

The recent Kingsbridge show had no less than 111 vintage tractors, 17 crawlers, 42 stationary engines, as well as over 30 classic cars and bikes. Quite incredible.

There’s a great saying that goes: Buy new tractors and keep the old. New ones are silver, but old ones are gold.