I hadn’t been in Frank’s yard in years, but one morning recently I was there to buy a 1970s Farmhand F12 front-end loader. That’s not Farmhand as in the Amazone importer in Castleknock, but rather the unrelated American manufacturer, the original of the species and long absorbed into AGCO. We never had one of these loaders, but I always fancied one.

At my age now it’s time to be ticking the boxes of what you’ve long fancied, otherwise it may not happen.

This loader had come off an IH tractor and my plan was to buy a 1978 IH 784 tractor to mount it on. I’ve a soft spot for one of these as it was the first Q cab tractor with a synchromesh gearbox that I ever drove – I was up and down the gears like you know what. It wasn’t ours, but belonged to neighbours, the Rickards, and we borrowed it because it had rowcrop wheels for spraying.

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Dad was too tight to buy rowcrops and told me to ask Matt Rickard if we could borrow his. Matt said to bring the IH784 and not be flutin’ around swapping wheels over. Happy days.

Fast-forward to the present. I had looked at a couple of IH tractors but they were dolled-up heaps of scrap, so I went back to my original plan which was to mount the Farmhand loader onto our 1976 Ford 7600.

Back in the day, the Ford had a rubbishy Quicke loader instead of the proper Farmhand, so it was high time to match the two together, albeit 50 years later.

But before the big two pair up, I’m having the Ford’s original engine rebuilt and giving her a 50 year/15,000 hour service. I’m not too bothered about cosmetics. I’m excited by this project and it may even get a little use.

Anyhow I had tracked down a Farmhand loader (it was right under my nose for years and I didn’t know it) and went over to Frank in Allenstown to buy it.

Now Frank is one decent fellow and business successfully concluded, I was given a tour of his machinery shed. If Massey Ferguson made it, then Frank has it. He has a big collection of tractors and MF machines and each one is known and cherished.

He’s one of those men who seldom sell a tractor, even if it’s retired, which I think is great. Even though we have had the Ford 7600 from new, I’m not like that but wish I was.

I’ve regretted selling practically everything we’ve ever had in tractors.

Then Frank’s wife arrived into the yard and suggested we come up for the breakfast, which was a hot meal that would pass for a good lunch. But it was much more than that; Sheila Kenny is one of those real farmer’s wives who are now a dying breed. Sheila’s generation fed men like fighting cocks at all hours of the day or night. They rushed off for parts and paid the bills and wages and did a dozen other farm jobs as well.

Now before you bite my head off for saying they are a dying breed, I agree there are many young women doing great work on farms, perhaps juggling an off-farm job with child rearing and all rest of it. This indeed was Mrs P’s lot, but she’s a dinger and they’re scarce too.

But, nowadays, apparently the husband has to change nappies and even do school runs and bring Leonie and Lottie to rugby practise and Liam to ballet. You’d get nothing done.

Me? I’m still blissfully living in a 1970s-timewarp when men were men, chicks were chicks and tractors were tractors.