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Sammy and Joan Woolmington have been farming in Co Wicklow since Sammy took over the farm from his late father in the 1970s.
Since then, the dairy farmer’s collection of Massey Fergusons has expanded significantly.
“He wasn’t able to reach the table when he started here,” Joan says of her husband.
“I was born in Rathdrum and I was reared here,” says Sammy. “I’ve been here all my life. I married a Wexford girl, Joan, my important partner for the last 42 years!
“I took over from my father in 1977 and we’ve farmed here together ever since. We have four children.”
Where it all started
“We’ve always had Massey Fergusons in the place. My father bought the first tractor here in 1954.
“It started off with a Ferguson tractor, which we had for 13 and a half years. And then my father bought a 135 back in 1968 complete with a loader and pickup hitch. When we got the 135 in 1968 my father bought a square baler, a Massey too, that’s still out in the shed. She did her first baling with the 135 in 1969.
“In 1974, we thought maybe we should go somewhat bigger again and he bought the Massey Ferguson 148. It had a power loader on it. It was all hydraulics this, that and the other. We had a Claas combine here that we bought and we got a man to make a tank to go on it. You pulled up the chute and emptied the grain into bags.
“We traded that combine and my brother and I bought a Massey 415. It had a hydraulic auger on it and it was a Rolls-Royce compared with what we had. Now we have a 525, which we’ve had for the last 30 years. It’s still going. I bought a Massey 575 tractor in 1979 and it had a Q cab. It was great – I didn’t have to wear the earmuffs.
“When the 148 went in 1979, we got another 575 complete with power-loader, and all the extra pumps and knick-knacks that went with it to make life a lot easier.
I remember it was the first two-wheel drive one sold in Ireland
“After that, we got into doing our own silage for a few years. This was in the 80s, and at that stage we were into the Massey Ferguson 690s. We bought our first Massey 690 in 1981. We had four in total.
“The Massey Ferguson 3065 High Vis or the ‘slope nose’ as we call it, arrived here in November of 1992. I remember it was the first two-wheel drive one sold in Ireland.
“My favourite to date would have to be the 3065 High Vis tractor, because I’ve kept it for 28 years. But then I’ve had three Massey Ferguson diggers too. The current one is a 50H6, and they were great machines.
“Today, we’ve a 2000 Massey Ferguson 6270, and I bought a 5455 complete with loader two years ago. To cut a long story short, between vintage and modern tractors, I have 10.”
Vintage tractors
“The vintage all began in 1993. We had just put up the milking parlour at the time and I said to the man putting the roof on it, ‘Do you know where I could get a hold of an old Massey Ferguson tractor? I’m thinking of doing a bit of vintage with it.’
“It started with Barndarrig Ploughing Society. I asked could we get more vintage tractors to the local ploughing matches and then came the question, ‘Who has a tractor with a two-sod plough?’ The following year it gathered pace until we had several vintage tractors ploughing.
“In 2005, I was approached by the Tinahely Show Society secretary asking me would I run the vintage in Tinahely Show. I called a meeting with my friend in the Valley Hotel. We had 20 people turn up at that meeting. After a long discussion, it became known as Wicklow Vintage Club.
“We’ve run the vintage in the show for a few years, growing year by year. Last year, we were full at half past 11 and I went to the chair looking for more space. This year, we have formed a vintage tractor club and we will take up a small section of the arena.”
“It’s the contact for people, which is brilliant for them,” Joan adds. “You have one man and his dog down the yard, nobody comes in to talk to them and to go to something like this, they can get out and talk to somebody with the same interests as them. It’s so important to have the likes of this.”
Friends of Ferguson
Sammy’s love of Massey Ferguson, in particular, has taken him all over the world, including a trip to the plant in Beauvais, France, which he was invited on as part of his position as a co-ordinator for the Friends of Ferguson organisation.
“This included a gala dinner at which a relative of Harry Ferguson, one of the founders of Massey Ferguson, was present.
"They had some of the archives taken out of the factory in Coventry and they had them on display for us to look at. To get the opportunity to see that was something else.”
Sammy will be at the Tinahely Show on August bank holiday Monday, showcasing his vintage collection.
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