Farmers Guide 25 years ago

April 1993 Farmers Guide advertised the new Fiatagri 94 Series 4wd tractors on the front page which explained that the 94 Series tractors were, “For the profit conscious farmers of the 90s”. The 94 Series had a 20 forward and 12 reverse gearbox with a 40kph top speed, an electro-hydraulic diff-lock and a 540/750/1,000rpm PTO with ground speed. Tony Clark noted that the latest Health & Safety at Work regulations were subjecting farmers to a plethora of costly restrictions and red tape administered by an army of officials. He added that they took no account of common sense and again the question of who pays for it all must be asked. With John Deere and Case IH already off the list of exhibitors at the forthcoming Royal Show, the April 1993 Farmers Guide reported that Massey Ferguson, Ford New Holland and Hydro Fertilisers had joined the list of absentees at Stoneleigh. Visitors to the Potato Marketing Board’s Spring Potato ’93 event at a

farm near Newark would be able to see 65 or so machines at work either cultivating, planting or grading a commercial crop of potatoes. A static display of harvesters would include a two-row trailed Kverneland, the Standen Statesman with a sorting platform for six pickers, the Grimme Continental and a side delivery Reekie harvester. Farmers Guide also noted that with the 1992 UK potato yield the highest ever recorded, the Potato Marketing Board was offering to buy farmers’ surplus stock at £10/t. A supplement on farm trailers listed several makes with some of them meeting the latest EEC construction regulations which required 50mph high speed axles, suspension systems and air brakes. Models featured included a 10t Norton trailer, finished in the buyer’s choice of colour, for £3,500, Brian Legg’s range of tippers, dumpers, flat-beds and tankers, and a range of Easterby tipper, dumpers and flat-beds. Other options included Tim high tip models and Richard Western’s new range of low priced 6–10t Joker trailers with prices starting at £2,800. On other pages John Gummer was pictured performing the opening ceremony at a new Ciba Agriculture warehouse in Cambridgeshire and fertiliser manufacturer Norsk Hydro had changed its name to Hydro Agri. Valmet launched a new range of tractors at the SIMA Show in Paris and Matrot UK announced a buyback scheme for sugar beet growers wishing to replace their existing Matrot harvester with the company’s latest 10t tanker model. ■

Henry Brown’s Vintage Diary 1 April

21 April

21–22 Apri

Road Cambridgeshire – NVTEC-EA Easter Sunday ay, Highw le Walpo Bank, Fen Run from Cedar Lodge, .uk. ea.org nvtecwww. 7QT. PE14 Wisbech at the Cambridgeshire – Cheffins Vintage Auction www. 2QT. CB6 Ely , Sutton Machinery Saleground, vintage@cheffins.co.uk. the Norfolk – Eastern Counties Vintage Show at ch Norwi sey, Costes , round Showg Royal Norfolk NR5 0TT. Email: Michael.curtice4@gmail.com; www. easterncountiesvintageshow.co.uk.

David Brown 2D With the VAK models well established on British farms, David Brown launched the 2D tool carrier at the 1955 Royal Smithfield Show. The 2D had a 14hp twin-cylinder, air-cooled diesel engine, a single plate clutch and a 4 forward/1 reverse gearbox all mounted above the rear axle. The engine’s two aluminium pistons were both on the compression stroke at the same time and a balancing cast iron piston in the sump gave a smooth running performance. The 2D specification included an adjustable wheel track, independent drum brakes and a compressed air implement lift system operated by a small gearbox-mounted compressor. The tool carrier’s tubular chassis served as a compressed air reservoir for the two lift cylinders and the two control levers could either be locked together for toolbar work or used independently to control, for example, the 2D’s mounted reversible plough. A tyre inflator connection on the chassis reservoir was an added bonus.

The 2D, with mid- and rearmounted toolbars, cost £389 in 1956 and an optional electric starting system added £10 to the price. A narrow vineyard version with an overall width of 1m was also available. Sales catalogues listed five different 2D tractor and implement packs for dairy farms, rowcrop work, commercial growers, smallholders and market gardeners. The dairy farmers’ pack for example, included a 5ft mid-mounted cutter bar, a trailer and the tractor was supplied with front axle weights.

About 1,300 David Brown 2D tool carriers were made at Meltham between 1956 and 1961.

Suffolk-based Farmers Guide reader Mrs Anne Green kindly sent us this newspaper cutting taken from the ‘Wiltshire News’ in 1953, featuring a wonderful picture of eight shire horses harrowing in Wiltshire with her Grandfather, John Butler (walking back, right). The original caption reads: “A delightful rural picture on the Wiltshire downland at Cannings Cross Farm, farmed by Mr John Butler, of The Grange, All Cannings, near Devizes. Behind the eight shire-bred horses harrowing, can be seen Tan Hill, site of the old-time horse, sheep and cattle fairs, where hundreds of animals arrived from cross-country routes.”   114 www.farmersguide.co.uk April 2018

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