Valtra driver Eamon Tracey third at the World Ploughing Contest

06.10.2006

The 53rd World Ploughing Contest was held alongside Ireland’s National Ploughing Championships in Tullow, County Carlow. During the four days of competition, the event was the number one subject of interest among the national media, including television, radio and newspapers – even though it coincided with a government crisis! The popularity of competition ploughing in Ireland was also demonstrated by the fact that over 220,000 spectators were on hand out of a total national population of around 4 million. Leading politicians could naturally be found among the guests alongside other celebrities, and the event was opened by none other than Mary McAleese, President of the Republic of Ireland.

Perhaps not all of the guests were interested in the actual ploughing, as only a handful of real ploughing professionals actually stood by the sides of the fields to watch and learn. Most of the guests remained within the 25-hectare exhibition grounds, in which 800 exhibitors competed for publicity. In addition, the event featured a comprehensive programme that included everything from horse show jumping to sheep dog trials, and from work health and safety demonstrations to dancing mechanical diggers.

The notoriously unreliable Irish weather could do nothing to dampen the spirits of the spectators or competitors. Over the four days the weather varied from complete downpours to drizzle and from storms to a less severe autumn chill. Despite this, everyone seemed to have a thoroughly great time enjoying the show.

What makes for a good plough?

As in any other sport, or art, competition ploughing provokes great emotions and differences of opinion. The 53rd World Ploughing Contest was no exception, with a lot of debate surrounding how different ploughing styles were judged. For example, in the British Isles ploughers and judges alike look for uniformity and neatness in the completeness of cutting with tailpieces on plough bodies for dumping the top of each furrow. Scandinavians, the other hand, tend to believe that this destroys the beautiful natural curve of the furrow. As the British point of view was represented by judges from England, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, among others, this opinion had considerable support.

The ploughing area and arrangements were widely praised by the participants. The ground was semi-thick mineral soil consisting of 53 percent sand, 33 percent silt and 14 percent clay. Grassland ploughing was performed on first year hay, while stubble ploughing was done on grain stubble that was approximately 10 centimetres in height. The normal ploughing depth in this region was eight inches, or 20.25 centimetres for stubble and seven inches for grassland. Competitors were given three hours to plough an area of 20x100 metres, and the opening split had to made in the first 20 minutes.

Five Valtra tractors from around the world

This year’s competition included five Valtra tractors driven in the Conventional Ploughing category by Eamon Tracey from Ireland, Matti Rautiainen from Finland, Nils Göransson from Sweden, and Branko Pilas from Croatia, and in the Reversible Ploughing category by Peter Gladwell from Australia.

Among this year’s Valtra drivers, Ireland’s own Eamon Tracey performed best, coming in third in the conventional category. The fields of Grangeford village were indeed familiar to Tracey, as his home is only a few kilometres from the competition area. The 37-year-old farmer is nine times Irish champion and has participated in the world championships three times before.

- I´m delighted overall. Little disappointed after first day as people said mine was the best ploughing, but the judges didn´t walk enough. I feel very happy with the way things went. I have never prepared for a competition as much as this due to being local. I live 10 miles from the site and I have worked the farm where the competition was for over 20 years so I knew every inch of the fields. This gave me extra pressure to do well, says Tracey.

Valtra’s A Series has traditionally been a favourite model among competition ploughers thanks to its agility and precise front linkage. Up to a third of all the tractors competing in past world championships have been Valtras. Nearly all competitors use Kverneland ploughs.

- I lovesthe Valmet 900 for ploughing. You sit well back, not too high and the tractor is quite low to the ground. It´s the most suitable machine for ploughing. Got it in 1999. The tractor doesn´t do much on the farm now but is still very good for ploughing, says Tracey.

The 54th World Ploughing Contest will be held next year in Kaunas, Lithuania.

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