Sitting in the front room chatting while waiting for more family members to assemble, Gary Simms’s son Harry brings in his toy tractor to show Irish Country Living.
“What’s that?” his father asks.
“John Deere,” the little boy answers, rolling the (relatively) small green tractor along the wooden floor. Next in the procession is a John Deere combine harvester, Harry now ready for some serious work.
Gary Simms from Milford, Co Donegal at the Fermanagh and Tyrone Ploughing Society's Annual Match in Omagh.
Harry, who has just started junior infants, is taking after his father with his penchant for John Deere machinery. Gary will compete at the National Ploughing Championships next week in a John Deere tractor, a life size one that is.
For the Simms, ploughing is very much a family affair. Six of the Simms brothers (Harry’s father and uncles) will plough in Carlow next week; Gary, Matthew, Andrew, Alan, Ivan and Lee. They will compete in both conventional and reversible classes, which are different jobs entirely.
They’re from a family with 10 children – eight boys and two girls. Their father Norman was a founding member of the local Lennon Ploughing Association.
Norman, Gary, Andrew and Alan sit down to discuss their ploughing pedigree.
Of a certain vintage
Nestled in the hills of Donegal just outside Milford, the Simms’s home farm overlooks Lough Fern, a mist hanging over the lake on this damp day. Gary is a dairy farmer on this land and also a contractor, as his father was before him.
In his youth, Norman garnered a name as a skilled ploughman, which naturally led to his involvement in establishing the local ploughing group.
“When I was younger I ploughed the fields that nobody else was able to plough. I probably had a better tractor than some of the neighbours,” he remembers.
Alan, twin to Andrew, will plough in the vintage class at the Ploughing. In 2012 and 2014 he won the European Classic Ploughing Championships.
Alan started competitive ploughing at a very young age, before the rule came in that you had to hold a tractor licence to contest a match. Both he and his eldest brother Richard – who is now Usain Bolt’s agent – started ploughing aged eight.
“I started when I was eight and I ploughed for four years. Then I had to stop for four years [when the rule came in] to get the licence and go back again,” Alan recalls.
Alan Simms at the Lennon Ploughing Competition in Letterkenny. \ Clive Wasson
“I was in America for a few years, so I didn’t start competition ploughing again until after I came home from there. My first All-Ireland would have been in 2007 and I’ve been at them all since.”
When asked why he ploughs vintage as opposed to anything else – well, the answer is pretty simple.
“My brothers had all the other classes gone,” he laughs. “I would have a few vintage tractors, so the passion was with vintage machinery first. Then I found an avenue to use it and show it off.”
Vintage machinery is not just an interest of Alan’s, but also very much for his father too. “Suits the old boy,” Norman quips with a smile. “That’s what I was brought up with. When you grow up with it, it brings back a lot of memories.”
Proper plots
It seems there was most definitely healthy competition among the brothers in their youth. “Ah there was a bit of rivalry,” Gary muses. “It keeps the craic, keeps the competition up.” He has only missed one All-Ireland (aside from the cancellation in 2001) since 1996.
Explaining competition ploughing to someone who has no knowledge of a match setup isn’t easy, says Gary. But all the same, he outlines what they are striving for when ploughing.
Gary Simms from makes adjustments to his plough before his next cut during the Ballycastle and District Annual Ploughing Match held near Portballintrae.
“The plot has to look nice, tidy and straight. You are trying to leave a good seedbed to grow a crop, that’s what ploughing is all about.
“You want all the grass or stubbles turned down. You want to leave it nice and firm, no holes.”
Before a match, the brothers usually do a couple of practice plots, but wouldn’t have the land to do too many, explains Andrew, who has competed at the National Ploughing around five times.
“This isn’t a big tillage area, so there wouldn’t be a lot of ground for practice.”
When it’s asked of the Simms, do they do their ploughing at home to match standard? Gary responds that they do it as best they can. “You want it looking well over the hedge when the neighbours drive by,” he jokes.
Carlow to Donegal
Travelling to Carlow next week, the Simms will undoubtedly have one of the longest commutes in this country, which doesn’t seem to faze any of them in the slightest.
They’re bringing down five tractors. Ivan and Lee will share a Case. Norman, although he ploughed in the vintage class last year, is staying at home to milk the cows.
Unlike most who attend the event, these Donegal men would welcome a little bit of rain – an element they’re well used to working in.
“We would rather it a wee bit damper, we’re used to the damp weather,” says Gary. “Of course down the country they’re used to the dry ground, but we don’t mind a wee bit of damp.”
Both Gary and Alan in particular have had a good run of luck in recent years’ poor weather. In 2017, Gary came second in the senior conventional and Alan won the vintage during storm Ali last year.
“When we get a plough running nicely up here sometimes it doesn’t sit when we get down the country, so there’s some minor adjustments,” Alan explains. “Last year, I would have ploughed on the Wednesday in the middle of the hurricane and won. The previous year it was flooded out. I was second or third that year.
“Wet conditions suit people that are set up for it. We would compete all winter when it’s wet to qualify for the following year, we kind of have things running for the wet.”
So, would the Simms like to see others coming up to try their hand at ploughing the wetter ground?
Regardless, they can’t see Donegal’s infrastructure meeting the needs.
Gary Simms competing in the world style class at the Ballycastle and District Annual Ploughing Match held near Portballintrae.
Andrew says the roads are the biggest problem. “Where you drove up today, all that traffic having to come up that one road. In Donegal we probably have a site that would be capable of running it, but the road network wouldn’t be there to support it.”
“It’s gotten too big,” Gary reasons. “It can’t leave those motorway junctions around the M7, M8 and M9. Louth would probably be the only other option, it wouldn’t come above it.
The scarcity of sites and the road network in Ulster are the biggest barricades Alan sees.
“Once you get into Monaghan and Cavan the sites would be very scarce. You’re looking for good arable land to work on and a motorway network. So when you try and combine them it’s tough,” he explains.
“I think the exhibition has as much say now as the ploughing does as to where it’s going, because that’s where the traffic comes from.”
Donegal’s Ploughing dreams aside, the Simms brothers are hoping for a successful run in Carlow next week. After all, they have to set a good example for the next generation, who won’t be long progressing from small John Deeres on the front room floor to the real deal out in the fields.
Read more
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Sitting in the front room chatting while waiting for more family members to assemble, Gary Simms’s son Harry brings in his toy tractor to show Irish Country Living.
“What’s that?” his father asks.
“John Deere,” the little boy answers, rolling the (relatively) small green tractor along the wooden floor. Next in the procession is a John Deere combine harvester, Harry now ready for some serious work.
Gary Simms from Milford, Co Donegal at the Fermanagh and Tyrone Ploughing Society's Annual Match in Omagh.
Harry, who has just started junior infants, is taking after his father with his penchant for John Deere machinery. Gary will compete at the National Ploughing Championships next week in a John Deere tractor, a life size one that is.
For the Simms, ploughing is very much a family affair. Six of the Simms brothers (Harry’s father and uncles) will plough in Carlow next week; Gary, Matthew, Andrew, Alan, Ivan and Lee. They will compete in both conventional and reversible classes, which are different jobs entirely.
They’re from a family with 10 children – eight boys and two girls. Their father Norman was a founding member of the local Lennon Ploughing Association.
Norman, Gary, Andrew and Alan sit down to discuss their ploughing pedigree.
Of a certain vintage
Nestled in the hills of Donegal just outside Milford, the Simms’s home farm overlooks Lough Fern, a mist hanging over the lake on this damp day. Gary is a dairy farmer on this land and also a contractor, as his father was before him.
In his youth, Norman garnered a name as a skilled ploughman, which naturally led to his involvement in establishing the local ploughing group.
“When I was younger I ploughed the fields that nobody else was able to plough. I probably had a better tractor than some of the neighbours,” he remembers.
Alan, twin to Andrew, will plough in the vintage class at the Ploughing. In 2012 and 2014 he won the European Classic Ploughing Championships.
Alan started competitive ploughing at a very young age, before the rule came in that you had to hold a tractor licence to contest a match. Both he and his eldest brother Richard – who is now Usain Bolt’s agent – started ploughing aged eight.
“I started when I was eight and I ploughed for four years. Then I had to stop for four years [when the rule came in] to get the licence and go back again,” Alan recalls.
Alan Simms at the Lennon Ploughing Competition in Letterkenny. \ Clive Wasson
“I was in America for a few years, so I didn’t start competition ploughing again until after I came home from there. My first All-Ireland would have been in 2007 and I’ve been at them all since.”
When asked why he ploughs vintage as opposed to anything else – well, the answer is pretty simple.
“My brothers had all the other classes gone,” he laughs. “I would have a few vintage tractors, so the passion was with vintage machinery first. Then I found an avenue to use it and show it off.”
Vintage machinery is not just an interest of Alan’s, but also very much for his father too. “Suits the old boy,” Norman quips with a smile. “That’s what I was brought up with. When you grow up with it, it brings back a lot of memories.”
Proper plots
It seems there was most definitely healthy competition among the brothers in their youth. “Ah there was a bit of rivalry,” Gary muses. “It keeps the craic, keeps the competition up.” He has only missed one All-Ireland (aside from the cancellation in 2001) since 1996.
Explaining competition ploughing to someone who has no knowledge of a match setup isn’t easy, says Gary. But all the same, he outlines what they are striving for when ploughing.
Gary Simms from makes adjustments to his plough before his next cut during the Ballycastle and District Annual Ploughing Match held near Portballintrae.
“The plot has to look nice, tidy and straight. You are trying to leave a good seedbed to grow a crop, that’s what ploughing is all about.
“You want all the grass or stubbles turned down. You want to leave it nice and firm, no holes.”
Before a match, the brothers usually do a couple of practice plots, but wouldn’t have the land to do too many, explains Andrew, who has competed at the National Ploughing around five times.
“This isn’t a big tillage area, so there wouldn’t be a lot of ground for practice.”
When it’s asked of the Simms, do they do their ploughing at home to match standard? Gary responds that they do it as best they can. “You want it looking well over the hedge when the neighbours drive by,” he jokes.
Carlow to Donegal
Travelling to Carlow next week, the Simms will undoubtedly have one of the longest commutes in this country, which doesn’t seem to faze any of them in the slightest.
They’re bringing down five tractors. Ivan and Lee will share a Case. Norman, although he ploughed in the vintage class last year, is staying at home to milk the cows.
Unlike most who attend the event, these Donegal men would welcome a little bit of rain – an element they’re well used to working in.
“We would rather it a wee bit damper, we’re used to the damp weather,” says Gary. “Of course down the country they’re used to the dry ground, but we don’t mind a wee bit of damp.”
Both Gary and Alan in particular have had a good run of luck in recent years’ poor weather. In 2017, Gary came second in the senior conventional and Alan won the vintage during storm Ali last year.
“When we get a plough running nicely up here sometimes it doesn’t sit when we get down the country, so there’s some minor adjustments,” Alan explains. “Last year, I would have ploughed on the Wednesday in the middle of the hurricane and won. The previous year it was flooded out. I was second or third that year.
“Wet conditions suit people that are set up for it. We would compete all winter when it’s wet to qualify for the following year, we kind of have things running for the wet.”
So, would the Simms like to see others coming up to try their hand at ploughing the wetter ground?
Regardless, they can’t see Donegal’s infrastructure meeting the needs.
Gary Simms competing in the world style class at the Ballycastle and District Annual Ploughing Match held near Portballintrae.
Andrew says the roads are the biggest problem. “Where you drove up today, all that traffic having to come up that one road. In Donegal we probably have a site that would be capable of running it, but the road network wouldn’t be there to support it.”
“It’s gotten too big,” Gary reasons. “It can’t leave those motorway junctions around the M7, M8 and M9. Louth would probably be the only other option, it wouldn’t come above it.
The scarcity of sites and the road network in Ulster are the biggest barricades Alan sees.
“Once you get into Monaghan and Cavan the sites would be very scarce. You’re looking for good arable land to work on and a motorway network. So when you try and combine them it’s tough,” he explains.
“I think the exhibition has as much say now as the ploughing does as to where it’s going, because that’s where the traffic comes from.”
Donegal’s Ploughing dreams aside, the Simms brothers are hoping for a successful run in Carlow next week. After all, they have to set a good example for the next generation, who won’t be long progressing from small John Deeres on the front room floor to the real deal out in the fields.
Read more
Ploughing on with Liam O'Driscoll
Ploughing her own furrow: meet Rachel O'Driscoll
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