In 1964 Charlie Keegan, a farmer from Co. Wicklow, went to Austria and won the World Ploughing Championships. You might think ‘pah, it’s just ploughing, big deal...’ but at that time during the 1960’s agriculture was the mainstay of the Irish economy. Almost every person in the country was connected in some way to the agriculture industry. When Charlie Keegan arrived home in Ireland, he was carried, shoulder high, off the plane with the Golden Plough cradled in his arms. Let me assure you, it was a big deal! Charlie was the first man to bring the Golden Plough to Ireland and the first Irish man to win a World Title! His prize was a Deutz D15 tractor, he ploughed on a Deutz D40L tractor and used a Kverneland Hydrein Special 2 furrow match plough. This year is the 50th Anniversary of Charlie’s historic win and eleven years after his death in 2003. His grandson Michael Keegan (my husband) has committed to restoring both tractors, the D15 and D40L, and to find and restore a Kverneland Hydrein Special plough, before the 50th Anniversary.

This all came about when I was curator for @tweetingfarmers account on Twitter for a week in November 2013. While tweeting away about the various interesting things we do here on Waterfall Farm, I tweeted about Charlie’s win and the D15 tractor we have here. It was suggested we restore it and display it at the National Ploughing championships this September for the 50th Anniversary. Michael is a farmer and a perfectionist, very meticulous and tidy just like Charlie, who he was very close to especially after his father Alan died in 1999. Michael felt that the only right and fitting tribute to Charlie’s memory was to find the D40L, which had been sold during the 1980s, and restore both tractors. Charlie had several tractors of the same D40L model and so the hunt was on to find THE tractor as only it would do! Eventually the tractor was located, not too far away, and fortunately the man who owned it agreed to give it to Michael for the restoration project and we are very grateful to him for his help.

Now, to me, both these tractors look like rust buckets that wouldn’t hold water. However, the D15 has always been minded well and does odd jobs around the yard and is in working order. The D40L however is a different story and needs a lot of work, although I am told that all is not lost and today it was started for the first time in ten years! There is a funny noise coming from the engine, like maybe a bearing is gone, but the project has begun and while there is an enormous amount of work to be done and hurdles to jump I am hopeful that with a little help Michael can complete the project and make a fitting tribute to Charlie’s memory!

Waterfall Farm Shop is located adjacent to Powerscourt Waterfall, 30 minutes from Dublin. We sell local, quality, Irish products direct from the farmer/producer to the customer and you can order one of our grass fed pedigree Llyen lamb for your freezer. Please see www.waterfallfarm.ie/ and follow our farming fun daily on Twitter @waterfallfarm FB facebook.com/waterfallfarm.