Our third visit to Great Shortridge farm sees Harold Beer demonstrate implements from the later Ferguson era as well as machines from the early Massey Ferguson range. We join him in the spring as he uses a Rotavator attachment to prepare a seedbed for potatoes that he then plants with an M-F 718 Automatic Potato Planter. Going on through the year, we see Harold at work with an M-F 770 Heavy-Duty Spike-Tooth harrow, a 32-7 unit seeder, an M-F 37-7 hay conditioner and a 732 mower. Some eighteen different sequences show a variety of machines in action from an M-F 203 digger-loader to unusual ploughs. Highlights include an M-F 711 potato harvester lifting the crop we saw planted earlier.
Nearly all the implements come from Harold Beer’s collection in North Devon. The programme has a full commentary scripted by Stuart Gibbard, author of The Ferguson Tractor Story and editor of Old Tractor magazine.