Classic kit busy sowing in the southeast

In the world of farming, where its go-go-go and many talk about the latest technology and big equipment, it’s great to catch up with a passionate tillage and beef farmer who is running and maintaining classic machinery. Based near the village of Murrinstown, less than five miles from Wexford town, Frank Cardiff grows 100 acres of tillage and runs a store cattle to beef enterprise on 40 acres of grassland. Frank’s brother, Noel, farms just up the road.

He predominately has a suckler herd, and grows a small amount of tillage. Both brothers share their classic fleet of equipment, and help each other out with the machinery works.

Frank attended Salesian Agricultural College, Pallaskenry in Co Limerick in 1971 for a one-year course in agriculture.

“I studied a general course in agriculture, something similar to the Green Cert today. I remember in those days the students pulled the beet by hand at the college. Twenty or 30 of us would head for the field and pull the beet and put it into piles, it never done us a bit of harm. That was the first year I saw pit silage being made. I still remember a Nuffield tractor pulling a 40-inch UG single chop harvester,” said Frank.

Upon completing the course, he returned home to farm full time alongside his father Paddy. He took over the home farm in 1980. When we caught up with Frank, he was sowing spring barley.

The tractor fleet

The Cardiffs’ tractor fleet consists of a 1965 Ford 5000 with a power loader, a 1975 Ford 7000, two 1984 Ford 7710s, both of which are four-wheel drive, a 1978 Ford 7700 and a 1997 New Holland 8160.

Frank also has two older tractors, a Ferguson 20 which he won in a vintage club fundraising raffle and a 1950 Fordson Major, which dates back to his father’s time on the farm.“The 1975 Ford 7000 is a serious tractor, it’s on the farm here since 1992 and it does a huge amount of work. The 1965 Ford 5000 is on the farm over 50 years, and the 1978 Ford 7700 has been here for well over 40 years. It’s a very good tractor, but it had one major fault, the engine block goes porous in them, but otherwise it was very reliable. One of the Ford 7710s has been here since the beet factory days, it must be here 24 or 25 years. The other Ford 7710 is a real head turner, it’s only here eight or nine years and it’s a real beauty. “I bring it on vintage runs, including a run to Wales every second year. My local club – the Bargy Vintage Club – has an affiliation with a club in Wales. Every second year we get the ferry from Rosslare to Pembrokeshire in Wales and attend a vintage rally. It’s an exchange run, every other year they come over to Ireland. We leave Wexford on a Saturday and return on a Monday evening. We drive around 15/16 miles from the boat to the showgrounds at Harverdfordwest. The run takes place on the Sunday, and features up to 300 tractors.

“Our vintage club extends an invite for all enthusiasts around the country to attend. The first year, approximately 100-110 tractors went over. The last time around 90 went, and this year we are hoping for around 100 again. People from Cork, Kerry, Cavan, Louth, Offaly and of course Wexford have signed up so far. It’s a very enjoyable weekend. We have a deal done with the ferry company, so it only costs €220 return to bring the tractors over on the boat. It’s on at the end of the month and it’s open to everyone,” said Frank.

Ploughing

Starting off with Wexford-built Pierce ploughs, Frank progressed to Overum ploughs and in more recent years moved on to Kverneland ploughs. “I ploughed with Overum ploughs for years. They were a great, reliable plough. They were every bit as good as the Kverneland, but the Kverneland has the name. Up until three years ago, I was ploughing with a four-wheel drive Ford 7710, with a three-furrow reversible Kverneland plough. That plough had a 120 headstock and I later converted it to a four furrow.

“Three years ago, I treated myself to a 1997 New Holland 8160. I felt that I needed to upgrade the plough too, as it was beginning to wear out. I bought another Kverneland, this time a model E. It had the heavier 240 headstock and fixed 16in furrows on number eight boards. It’s a nice, simple plough,” said Frank.

Tilling, sowing and spraying

“We have cultivators, power harrows and spike rotavators. Usually, we get the ground ready after ploughing with a Kverneland levelling harrow. It’s a great job, two or three runs and it’s usually ready for sowing. I’m not sure how old that harrow is, but I’ll put it this way, it’s like myself, it’s getting the pension,” laughed Frank.

“We sow the spring cereals with a Fiona 3m box drill, which was built in the late 90s. I run it on a Ford 7000 with dual wheels – it’s a nice, light outfit and there’s very little compaction. I bought the drill second-hand in 2006, along with another drill for parts. Since then, I’ve picked up two more used drills, and I use the three spare drills for parts. Only this morning I robbed a few pipes off an older drill to keep the main drill going. My main sprayer is a 1995 12m Berthoud, with a 220-gallon tank. I like to spray with a Ford 7700, because it’s high off the ground and it has great visibility from the cab. I also have a smaller Berthoud sprayer, which I use for spraying the beet. I like to apply the beet sprays through a separate machine, it gives me a great peace of mind,” said Frank.

“We had a Massey Ferguson 50B industrial digger on the farm for years. It was a great machine, and it done a serious amount of work for us, but it was worn out. And when I say it was bet, it was definitely bet. We put several engines in it over the years and it needed to be fully rebuilt once again. There’s a man by the name of Joe Nolan in Wexford who specialises in 50Bs – he fixes them, rebuilds them, breaks them and trades in them. He watched out for a long time and found us a very original low hour machine in Cork. We parted with €6,000 along with our own machine, and we haven’t looked back since. It feeds cattle all winter, cleans out sheds and loads the seed and fertiliser. I have a Tanco beet washer and chopping bucket on it for most of the winter too. They are a great tool”, said Frank.

Combines

“My two combines are my prized possessions,” laughed Frank. “Our first combine was a Massey Ferguson 400, which had an 8.5ft head. We upgraded that to a Clayson 122, which also had an 8.5ft cutting head. After that, we upgraded to a Clayson 1530, which had a 10ft head. We ran that machine for a long time, and it was beginning to get tired. One day my brother and I were getting parts at Byrnes of Ballytarsna, the combine breakers. We spotted a 1970 Clayson 135– it was a local machine and was in decent shape. We thought it would be a shame to break it, so we bought it for €1,200, and said we would run it alongside the Clayson 1530. It had a few minor problems, but we drove it home the next day and we fixed it. It has been a reliable machine and has been out cutting every harvest. “In 2018 my nephew, who is a mechanic, came across a 1975 New Holland 1545 with a 13ft header. It was a barn find, belonging to a guy he was working with. Our previous Clayson 1530 was clapped out and we had to buy another machine. That 1545 was in great mechanical order. We gave €4,500 for it, and it’s gone very well for us– all we’ve put into it have been a few belts.

“My brother and I run the two combines at the harvest. We often pull three or four trailers onto the headland of the field, and cut away with the two combines. We tip away at our own pace, but get through ground fairly quickly with the two machines.

“This year, we will be taking part in the Century of Harvesting event in Duncormick, Co Wexford. It’s happening on 20 July, and will see combine harvesters from the last 100 years up to modern day machines cutting alongside each other”, said Frank.

Beet

“We have been growing beet every year on the farm for as long as I can remember. We had a quota from the sugar factory once upon a time. All the beet from this area was sent to Thurles via railway. When Thurles closed, it was sent to Mallow. As time moved on, a lot of the smaller growers around here sublet their quota to bigger beet growers. When the beet factories closed, it took the heart out of the countryside around here,” said Frank.

“The first beet harvester that came into our yard was a contractor with an Armour Mk 5 with a side elevator, which was mounted on a Fordson Major. I remember the beet would pass up the elevator, which was almost one side of the tractor seat. Our own first harvester was a Catchpole machine. It was a simple set up and was drawn by a Fordson Major tractor with a side elevator. I have fond memories side-filling with it alongside a Massey Ferguson 135. After that, we had a yellow medium tip single row Armour Salmon harvester for years. I still grow beet, but I get a contractor to sow and harvest it,” said Frank.

Silage

“We mow our own silage and bale it ourselves, and hire a contractor in to do the wrapping. We mow with a John Deere 1350 trailed mower. In 2000, we bought a used 1996 Claas Rolant 46 round baler off a local contractor. We tend to bale all of the straw with it, except for an odd bit we might get big square baled. We also bale my own silage and my brother’s with it, and an odd bit of hay. It’s making up to 2,000 bales each year,” said Frank.

No plans to retire

“We own all our equipment and once it’s treated right, it works away very well. We never bought too much new machinery over the years, but we drive the machines ourselves and we know how to get the best out of them. We don’t have any repayments from the bank, but we do have repair bills. We carry out all of our repair works ourselves. I’m not looking out for any particular machine at the minute, but if I seen something I liked, I’d probably buy it,” laughed Frank.

“I love farming, but the rules and regulations in recent years are stressing people out. I have scaled back on the rented acres in recent years, but I’ve no plans to retire. I don’t believe in people retiring and completely shutting off. And retirement isn’t for everyone. I think farming is great for people’s mental health, it keeps the mind occupied. It’s better to wear out, than rust out”, concluded Frank.