The first tractor to offer a serious challenge to the horse for draught purposes in this country was the Ford, which was introduced from America in 1917. After the 1914-18 War there was a temporary loss of interest in tractors in this country, one reason being the bad experience of many farmers with unreliable and badly serviced machines during the food production campaign. From the mid thirties the small tractor with direct coupled implements began to appear. A complete range of equipment designed for the tractor enabled many American families to eliminate the need for horses. Nowadays machines are generally larger, covering more ground at each pass.
Many machines have sophisticated electronics.
The pressure on the farmer is to reduce costs per acre and this often means having equipment on the front as well as the back of the tractor to perform more than one operation in one pass. Probably the basic principles have not changed greatly but the scale and complexity of machines have changed dramatically. Gavin then proceeded to give technical details of many of the sophisticated machines used in farming at the present time and concluded with the view that there were more changes to come in the future for farmers and the industry that supports them. It was appropriate that the vote of thanks was proposed by Aubin Roger who had spent many years in farming. Lunchtime Meeting on 18th July 2001 Club President Brian Bayne welcomed Members to the third meeting of the new Rotary Year at Rathcluan Country House Hotel.