It was being held on the property of Kasteel Rivieren. Rivieren, like Eijsden, was a "Landgoed". A Landgoed loosely translates to estate or plantation. Generally it was the country property of a wealthly family. The center of a Landgoed was the fortified house, which was more often than not called a kasteel. If you look in a Dutch-English dictionary kasteel translates to "Castle" but these were not castles as we generally think of castles. They were more like manor houses but they did need to offer protection to the family, their workers, and the property.
There are many such "Kasteel" type properties in and around southern Netherlands and Belgium. This book highlights some.
There are many such "Kasteel" type properties in and around southern Netherlands and Belgium. This book highlights some.
Kasteel Rivieren originated as a klooster (convent) in 1364. It was transformed into a Landgoed in the 1700's. It is still a working farm and there is also a small restaurant operating in one of the outbuildings. The kasteel is not that impressive from the outside. It looks quite run down. But then it is several hundred years old.
The plowing competition took place across the street in the open fields. As it was explained to me, each province can send three competitors to the nationals. There are 16 provinces and I think that there were about 48 tractors out there. I walked around and checked out each tractor and came to the conclusion that Massey Ferguson was the tractor of choice. Most of the tractors were older, smaller tractors from the 1940's and 50's but there were some exceptions. There were no large, modern tractors like at the Limburg Province level championship.
The rules were a little different at this meet. Each driver had to plow a wide lane from outside in. This is more like how a real field would be plowed. There was no one meter strip down the center as at the provincial contests. The lanes were odd shaped and so they had to cut short furrows to straighten out their lane so the last couple of runs were full length and straight.
This competition was not nearly as fun for the few spectators that were there (and there were very few). First off it was really hot and the sun was punishing. Secondly, this was the national championship and the drivers were super serious. There was very little down time when you could walk up to them and talk about their equipment.
This John Deere was amazing. The driver showed great experience and control over his equipment. The length of the set-up should have been a disadvantage, because of control issues, but he cut perfectly straight furrows. This model John Deere has a tiny engine and yet he did all his plowing at barely above idle. Low gearing and the large rear wheels transfer high torque and power to the ground.
This unknown tractor must be the oldest there. I could not find any name on the machine so I don't know what it is. It rolled on steel wheels. This was common in the 1920's and 30's. Steel wheels have great traction and they last for ever out in the fields. But they are really rough on roads so they stayed on dirt as much as possible. This driver was also really good. His furrows were perfect and considering the age and simplicity of the tractor and plow it was very impressive. In my opinion he had the best results in the field.
One driver had an oil soaked Swedish rig. I'm surprised they let it in the field it had so many oil leaks. I saw it sitting still and there was no oil on the ground underneath but the whole tractor was coated in oil or fuel. Seemed strange. I would guess it is a mid-1930's tractor but the plow looks to be even older. I can't really remember his results so they must have been average. Of course average, at this level of competition, is a high level of perfection.
The last tractor I'll highlight (I know, I know, seen one seen them all...) is this International Harvestor H model. I used this very same model on our farm and at our family's campground for many years. I learned to "drive" on an H. He had a trip-type pulled plow, which is very similar in function to the plow we had on the farm. You pull on a rope, which engages gearing driven by one of the wheels, to raise and lower the plow. The tricycle type row-cropper tractors have a big disadvantage in these competitions because the front wheels do not follow the furrow like regular tractors do. The driver has to pay much closer attention to steering and keeping his line straight. This guy was intense and constantly squinting and talking to himself. But he could plow very straight. When he was sitting still idling the tow pin rattled in the pintle and I immediately flashed back to that sound from our tractors. I guess it is peculiar to the H but it is a very distinctive sound.
I didn't stay too long at this. There really wasn't much to do once I walked and looked at each set-up and the driver's work. I did lay down for 15 minutes at the far end of the field area on a bench. It was that 3:00 o'clock dip that kicks my butt. Fifteen minutes with my feet up and my eyes closed and I was good to go. I did like looking at some of the older, unusual tractors and plows but in general I think the Province level contest was more interesting and fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment