PRECISION was the key for ploughing enthusiasts who stepped back in time to show the best way to till the soil in a field at Kirton.

PRECISION was the key for ploughing enthusiasts who stepped back in time to show the best way to till the soil in a field at Kirton.

Farmers and farm workers took part in the competitive event with tractor drivers on hand to dismount and measure the width of the worker's furrows, and check their lines.

Judges watched as the vintage machines went up and down the field off Innocence Lane, sticking rigidly to their markers as they ploughed the stubble left over from a corn crop.

More than 40 ploughmen from across the county took part in the event on Sunday , organised by the Kirton Ploughing Society.

Organiser Tom Wells said: “We have been running the competition for three years now and it is going from strength to strength”.

Mike Childerley was the ploughman of the day and winner of the classic mounted class, while Michael Moore won the vintage mounted class and John Webb the vintage trailed.

Ploughing is the first stage in preparing the soil for replanting with the next crop and is a rural craft. Judges were looking at the straightness of the furrows, ensuring all stubble and grass was buried to prevent regrowth and checking the lines were cut just deep enough.

While the enthusiasm for tractors and machinery of the bygone era remain, it is becoming difficult for owners of the old machines to keep them running with spare parts hard to come by.

WEBLINK:

www.ploughmen.co.uk

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