It’s arrived!
The plough we have been scouring the Earth for has arrived. And, typically, just like waiting for a bus, you wait an age for one and two arrive at same time! With the help of Kverneland Ireland, the plough from the UK, which I mentioned before (pay attention down the back!), was purchased and transported to Ireland.
Almost at the same time, another plough was found and acquired locally. This was actually a plough that Charlie, Michael’s grandfather, had sold to our neighbour and it was just sitting on his land for years. I could really tie myself in knots trying to explain the ‘plough situation’ but I’ll stick to the basics and hopefully we’ll all know what I’m saying. The Kverneland plough from the UK has three furrows and is not a match plough, but is from an older era and does have a square beam that Charlie’s Kverneland Hydrein Match Special plough had. The neighbour’s plough is a Kverneland Hydrein Match Special plough but a newer model with a round beam. So essentially Michael has been ‘stealing from Peter to feed Paul’ and used both ploughs to turn the UK plough into a match plough - phew!
To clean the boards and tidy the plough up, Michael has been ploughing all sorts of patches of ground and neighbouring farms fields. A fantastic rust removal product called ‘Evaporust’, was kindly donated to us for ‘The Tractor Project’. It looks like a really exciting product which Michael is keen to use on the plough and also the more delicate parts of the D40L tractor.
The engine of the D40L was collected from Tom Murphy’s and brought out to Balbriggan where Peter Jones is restoring the tractor. Tom completely rebuilt the engine and there are now new wearing parts throughout. Unfortunately, the clutch was ‘making a noise’ and has to be replaced, so a new clutch and truss bearing have been ordered from Deutz. There is a lot of ongoing work with the tractor such as filling panels, sand blasting and using the Evaporust on the delicate areas and Peter is doing a really great job. Crossing all fingers and toes, and touching wood, we are very hopeful that the September target is achievable.
On the farm the constant rain is really playing havoc with silage making and at this stage the winter’s fodder is under threat. Hopefully summer will arrive soon and we can breathe easier. The Farm Shop is full swing as our ‘summer season’ has kicked off in earnest despite the weather and the delicious Wexford strawberries are going down a storm! In other news my kitchen garden is also bearing fruit. I’m no gardener but whilst weeding I noticed my peas have sprouted, though admittedly I did weed out a couple by mistake!