Getting started with competition ploughing

Sue Frith from the Society of Ploughmen explains how you can get involved

- Sue Frith

Ploughing matches originally started as a challenge from one landowner to another, each keen to see who had the best ploughman who could plough the straightest furrow with their horses.

As competitions grew, more landowners joined in, and a champion ploughman could even earn higher wages than his workmates. Matches evolved from horse ploughing competitions to the ones we see today, which will have a range of different classes for different styles of tractor ploughing and there are many for to read] still many for horses. Ploughing matches are very much social occasions and although competing against each other on the field, almost every ploughman and woman will be happy to give help and advice before or after the competition.

HOW DOES A BEGINNER LEARN THE ART AND SKILL OF COMPETITIVE PLOUGHING?

The first step is to decide which class you would like to take part in and make sure you have the right equipment. There are classes at some matches for commercial ploughing, so you could take the big farm tractor and a multi-furrow plough but most novices opt to start with something smaller. A step down size-wise, from the commercial class is the ‘European’ Reversible ploughing class or the ‘World Style’ Conventional. Most use two furrow ploughs but quite often have been modified with various gadgets which can increase the cost and can also make it more complex for novices to use.