A father's dream come true

20 March 2009

TIM CRONSHAW

At the ready: Peter Ridge of Greenfields, at Methven, with his 1921 Industrial Fordson, part of a collection of vintage tractors that started the Ridge family on the road to hosting the 2010 World Ploughing Championships.

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Preparing for the 2010 World Ploughing Championships has been a 10-year journey for one family, writes TIM CRONSHAW

Sadly, he never got to see this unfold. But his family will, and they have committed to hosting tens of thousands of visitors so top ploughmen can till to their heart's delight in April next year. John Ridge's sons, Peter, Ian and Brian, who have taken over J F Ridge & Sons, have agreed to hold the event in memory of their father.
The eldest son, Peter, admits the 57th World Ploughing Championship will be "massive . . . absolute chaos".
"We put our hands up because it was my father's wish to have the world finals here. He used to say he would not miss it and he would be here on crutches or in a wheelchair, but unfortunately he didn't make it so we are carrying on the dream and he will be here in spirit."
Greenfields was the site of the New Zealand ploughing championships in 1996. A committee charged with selecting grounds for a future world contest in Methven liked what they saw. The Ridge family were told Greenfields met the criteria of good soils, big paddocks and a scenic mountain backdrop.
The Ridges' link to match ploughing was a natural one.
Tractors and farm machinery are everyday tools at the 450-hectare Greenfields home farm at Highbank and additional cropping block of another 200ha "down the road".
As time passed, John and Peter developed an interest in vintage tractors and began attending rallies in their restored farm hacks.
"Dad grew up with Massey Harris [tractors] on a farm they used to own at Broadfields which is now owned by Lincoln University," says Peter. "He used to come home from school and drive a Massey Harris, but he never started collecting them until we did as a family."
The collection has grown to 12 restored tractors. The reddish hue of Massey Harris was favoured by his father, while Peter's "licorice allsorts" taste was more eclectic, including Allis-Chalmers, McCormick and Fordson. They entered vintage ploughing on the Methven, Rakaia and Ashburton circuit for the fun of it with John's 1940s Massey Harris and three-furrow red-and-grey plough, and Peter's E27 N Fordson of the same era.
"We enjoyed it and it was a nice day out," says Peter. "Sometimes we would win prizes and sometimes we wouldn't, and that's where the ploughing started."
Drawn into the camaraderie of competitive ploughing, John agreed to the New Zealand finals being run at Greenfields, and father and son helped run a country fair with the Methven Vintage Club.
This connection will be continued with a large fair held simultaneously at the 2010 world championships, including trade displays, horse ploughing, traction engines and vintage displays.
The national ploughing championships will be staged two days before near the fair site.
It's a large undertaking. On the first day 25,000 visitors are expected to watch the world contest, growing to 35,000 on the second.
Match ploughing has a massive following internationally and particularly in Europe. When Ireland hosted the world event an estimated 100,000 people attended over two days.
A field of 64 ploughmen representing 32 countries will arrive with support crews and require fields for practise and match runs over 80ha of land at Greenfields and neighbouring properties.
Farming will inevitably be put on the backburner and preparing for the event has required a realignment of the cropping rotation.
A typical Greenfields rotation would be wheat to grass to peas to clover or barley, with break crops and brassicas introduced and latterly cocksfoot for seed, while about 25ha is planted in potatoes for the North Island seed market.
The Ridges have had the benefit of a decade of planning to get their heads around adjusting this cycle so large grass and stubble paddocks are available for ploughing.
"Ten years ago we had to have a bit of an idea about what we were doing. We had to jump ahead to 2010 and work backwards, and probably the last three years were the most important for the paddocks we wanted to put in grass. We had to get the rotation right to take it to grass for the world finals."
The finals are divided into two days, with ploughing on the first day held on stubble and the second on grassland.
A tough growing season has required some juggling to the cropping cycle. A field meant to be planted in white clover had a bad slug infestation and the Ridges had the dilemma of deciding whether to carry on with a poor clover crop or tip the paddock over and start again in barley, as they eventually did.
Placing the trade displays and car parking also requires some thinking ahead. The paddock has to be firm enough to support traffic and a stubble paddock is unsuitable for parked vehicles.
Hosting the event will dip into the farm income, says Peter. "There is one paddock that would be ideal for planting spuds but we need that paddock for ploughing. To grow certified spuds you have to be 10 years out of them, and some of these paddocks are coming out of cycle and we cannot use them."
Green feed planted for wintering 4000 to 8000 lambs will have to be grazed down and there is the delicate subject of the residue they leave which might stick to visitors' shoes.
Greenfields lies to the south of the Rakaia River and its kowhai and lyndhurst silt loam soils are a fertile bed for crop growing. Oddly enough for the host site of tilling's premier event, ploughing is little used and the family has largely relied on direct drilling to prepare soils.
"We have tried to get away from the plough," Peter says. "The last time the match paddock was ploughed was six years ago. It can blow here, and in January grass seed was cut and just disappeared."
Little trace of the cut crop was found and that which wasn't cut had its seed shaken out of its head.
Ploughing is used for potato- growing to break the soil up and gain enough depth for planting. Otherwise, harvested paddocks are sprayed, lightly turned over for two or three strokes with the grubber and seed is drilled directly with a double disc.
This leaves the straw to sink into the soil, break down and build organic matter to retain moisture and prevent soil loss.
This has been a harder season than most, with a nasty dry spell accompanied by high winds, extended cloudy periods and rain when it was least needed at harvesting. Until rain arrived this month it was so dry Peter was wondering if they had enough feed for store lambs.
"The old tale for Highbank is that it never lets you down, but will give you some good scares, and this year has been one of them," he says.
Greenfields was bought by Peter's grandparents, Frank and Jessie, when they shifted from Broadfields in 1955. The farm was taken over by John and his wife, Anne, until J F Ridge & Sons was handed to the next generation in a partnership in the late 1980s.
When a neighbouring property became available it was too good to turn down and it was added to the homestead block even though interest rates had rocketed to 24 per cent.
The family got through those tough farming times and went on to add further properties to Greenfields.
Anne continues to be the family matriarch and as "the secretary/ treasurer", performs most of the bookwork. The three boys, supported by their wives, Sue, Jill and Sue, share the farming duties at Greenfields and each has their own area of expertise.
Peter enjoys tinkering in the workshop and carries out much of the machinery maintenance. He also does the drilling. Brian leads the spraying, and Ian handles much of the business and used to do the cultivation. This has changed, with nephews Brent and Matthew now carrying out much of the tractor work.
More feed wheat than milling wheat was grown this season because of better prices initially, and while returns have slipped, the crops were safely contracted. Vining peas are grown for Wattie's and dry peas for seed. White clover and ryegrass crops are planted for seed, as is cocksfoot, multiplied for European markets.
Specialist brassicas such as turnip and pak choi were grown last year.
Potatoes are a good income earner and much of the winter is spent on their grading in one of many sheds on the dryland property. The turnips and grass seed are lifted first, from January, followed by wheat, barley and peas and then the other crops.
The 20ha grass paddock for the world finals is the same one used for the national finals in 1996. Diagonal to this is another large-sized paddock for the stubble ploughing.
Contestants will compete on the grass and stubble days in reversible and conventional ploughing.
Reversible ploughing in match competition requires competitors to plough at an angle and fill in the first triangle, complete the second and then tidy up the headland, a rectangular strip. The reversible plough is turned over by the tractor's hydraulics at the end of each run.
In the conventional class, an elongated spiral follows an initial run and contestants don't have the added complication of touching up a headland.
Peter says both events take great skill at the level they will be competing at for the world crown.
He does not compete in modern ploughing and has taken a break from vintage ploughing aside from fun days with his local vintage club.
However, he and the rest of the family will be on the sideline as their father would have wished.

- © Fairfax NZ News