He could have sold straw to a tillage farmer or slurry to a dairy farmer - simply one of best salesmen I ever met.

I was at the 1986 Ploughing Championships and had just bought a 4M Accord DL seed drill (a drill I went on to love). Anyhow, all pleased with myself and grinning foolishly from ear to ear, I wandered on around the site. Shortly after I stumbled upon the Moore Uni-Drill stand.

Very soon I was in deep conversation with Sam Moore and in no time at all, he had me convinced that I’d bought the wrong drill and should have gone for System Moore. It’s difficult to argue against a north Antrim man and I conceded. If ever a man was convinced of the merits of his machine, it was Sam Moore. His enthusiasm was infectious.

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To be a top-class salesman, you need to know your product extremely well. Sam Moore certainly hit that spot, because he designed the Moore direct drill in 1974, based on an incredible knowledge of soil and seeding mechanics. He had cut his teeth in the 1960s working with ICI on direct drill development for grass reseeding.

ICI’s chief interest was the promotion of its total herbicide Gramoxone for sward burn-off in the same way as Monsanto promoted eco-till (now min-till) to drive Roundup sales. Gramoxone (paraquat) is long withdrawn and the much superior glyphosate took its place.

Sam Moore was not just a pioneer in direct drill development – he was the pioneer.

I was aware of the Northern Ireland-built Uni-Drill before I met Sam. While he sold machines all over the world, he also sold quite a few into the Irish market. And the list of Moore drill owners reads like a who’s who of progressive tillage farmers in the 1980s.

Eminent farming names like the Wilkinson brothers, Michael McBennett, Charlie Angel, David Gallagher (South Sloblands), Michael Gabbett, Will Warham and others. Also a very discerning German farmer, Walter Hemmelman, had one local to us.

Walter was so fastidious in his work, he even begrudged the sparrows eating his ripe grain in the fields. Such a man would sow very precisely indeed.

While he sold machines all over the world, he also sold quite a few into the Irish market. And the list of Moore drill owners reads like a who’s who of progressive tillage farmers in the 1980s

The Moore Uni-Drill was also versatile; it could be used directly on pressed ploughing with its disc coulters creating tilth. Moore questioned why waste diesel creating a traditional seedbed when a Uni-Drill with its press wheels could sow very accurately at a constant depth.

Interestingly many years later, in 2003, I heard another seed drill supremo make the same point about his drill coulters. Michael Horsch took to the stage with an Accord coulter spring, threw it down and declared it obsolete. His message was the same as Moore’s; buy a drill that can hold the seeding depth irrespective of the tilth.

Once again, I was impressed and did indeed buy a Horsch CO4 drill and 10 years later, a Sprinter. I’ve remained with them since.

We did actually buy a new Moore drill in 2003 a couple of years before the Horsch CO4. But ho, ho ho, it was a developmental machine that didn’t work out and was sent back. The Moore Uni-Drill is still on the market today. They’re probably the number one direct drill for grassland reseeding. Forty years later and despite my experience of it, I still like the Moore not least because they use an Accord metering unit.

Last year I bought an additional, secondhand 6M Kverneland Accord TS for difficult conditions, which I’m excited about.

In August 2025, Sam Moore slipped away at the age of 93. The buried seed sinks to sleep in darkness, but to rise again.