Old Pond publishing days

New John Deere Tractors DVD from Tractor Barn advance information

John Deere Tractors: a power on the land since 1918, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD, approx 100 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-78-2. Now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95 inc VAT.

John Deere has remained independent throughout its existence. Today it produces a huge range of farm machinery including forage harvesters, combines and of course, tractors, which are built and sold all over the world.

This programme is the story of the John Deere tractor from the Waterloo Boy of 1918 to the latest R Series models, from two-cylinder engines to microchips! Ninety-five years of tractor development is showcased in this overview of the various tractors built in both the USA and Germany during this time.

John Deere tractors have of course become the best-selling marque in most of the world. The Tractor Barn duo tell the story from the original two-cylinder petrol-powered tractors including the famous letter series with such iconic machines as the Model D and R. They go on to deal with the classic lines of the New Generation models of the 1960s and the power of the big 40 and 50 Series tractors of the 1980s.

The story builds to a climax with the 6000, 7000 and 8000 Series tractors of the 1990s and the later 10, 20 and 30 Series versions that set the pattern for the sophisticated, comfortable and world-beating R Series machines of today.

Suffolk-based Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam have been involved in making tractor programmes for nearly twenty years.

Maize Harvest new DVD by Jörn & Tammo Gläser advance information

Maize Harvest: the most powerful forage harvesters in the world, Jörn & Tammo Gläser(landtechnik videos). DVD, approx 90 minutes plus extra. ISBN 978-1-98397-80-5. Now in stock at Old Pond at £24.95 inc VAT.

In their latest programme the Gläser brothers have recorded the world’s largest forage harvesters at work in Germany. Included are the John Deere 7950i, New Holland FR9090, Claas Jaguar 980 and Fendt Katana 65, as well as three Krone BigX 1100s lined up in one field.

Their 'John Deere Special' is an additional feature about a JD S690 combine on tracks.

There is an English voice-over as well as an informative 16-page booklet.

Jörn & Tammo Gläser have made a string of popular programmes on agriculture in the United States, Germany and Russia. Their fans know what to expect – interesting locations and insights, exciting machines and a deep appreciation of modern farming methods.

The back cover of their DVD gives a flavour of what to expect.

Country Calendar: the Best of 2012 DVD advance information

Country Calendar: the Best of 2012, TVNZ. DVD, approx 4½ hours. ISBN 978-1-908397-72-0. Now in stock at Old Pond at £17.95 inc. VAT.

New Zealand’s long-running television series Country Calendar keeps making well-told stories about strong characters doing interesting things in great rural locations. Each of the stories is told in depth.

The twelve episodes chosen as the best of 2012 feature a wide range of farming and outdoors activities. There are musters of cattle and sheep on remote farms, a highly successful shearing partnership, contrasting accounts of fishing, a forestry enterprise and hunting. There are novel approaches to farming from small-acreage lavender cultivation to new developments in cattle feeding. There are plenty of horses, too.

Most of these family-run enterprises use direct marketing to achieve commercial success. Their owners pay close attention to the environment in some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes.

DISC ONE
Precious Catch: A Westland family catch whitebait in an unspoiled spot.
Remote Run: A family copes with remoteness on their mountain station.
Horse Heaven: Youngsters at camp learn adventurous horse riding.
Fare Game: Callum Hughes hunts wild deer in spectacular scenery.
Healthy Harvest: How Rex gets a living from a ‘lifestyle’ block of 1 hectare.
Slice of Paradise: Raising cattle and running a campsite in a conservation area.

DISC TWO
Paddock Poet: A family that reclaimed eroded land for sheep, cattle and poetry.
Fishing Wild Waters: A fisherman who braves the wild waters of Cook Strait.
Girl in the Bush: ‘Stormy’ is a 21-year-old girl who works with men as a logger.
Son of the Soil: A dairy farmer who has adapted to more sustainable agriculture.
The Last Ride: Veteran stockmen ride with wild horses and check their condition.
Shear Hard Slog: Meet Emily and Sam – both champion shearers.

Old Pond has previously licensed two other Country Calendar programmes from TVNZ.See here for Country Calendar: Director's Pick.

One Farm One Year new DVDs by Chris Lockwood advance information

One Farm, One Year January–August, Chris Lockwood, DVD approx 125 minutes, £17.95, see here.
One Farm, One Year August–December, Chris Lockwood, DVD approx 117 minutes, £17.95, see here.
To save money on the set of 2 DVDs at £29.95 see the Old Pond Offers page.

 

This pair of DVDs constitute the most detailed programmes ever released about the farming year on a large arable enterprise. We say ‘enterprise’ because Loose Hall Farm Ltd runs to 3,600 acres on eight farms stretching over eight miles.

The manager is Kevin Easey who for 48 years has worked the heavy clay soils in the heart of Suffolk. In 2012 – the year of filming – his main crops were winter wheat, winter and spring barley, oilseed rape and sugar beet. A few beef cattle were also kept.

January–August, the first programme, follows Kevin and his staff through the spring drilling of barley and beet, spraying for crop protection, fertilising, hoeing the young beet, mowing grass and baling. Battling against very wet conditions, Kevin combines the winter barley and the rape and by mid-August is once again drilling rape.

August–September starts with the wheat harvest, close on the heels of which are cultivations for next year’s crops. The new rape crop is already coming through – and so are the slugs. After a very variable summer the wheat harvest finally ends in early September and a week later Kevin starts drilling next year’s cereals. Drilling, fertilising and spraying are the order of the day until beet lifting from the end of October, during what turned out to be one of the wettest autumns for a hundred years.

Chris Lockwood’s clear script describes over 160 sequences during the course of these programmes which together run for four hours. There are interviews with Kevin Easey who is to be seen in the centre of the Loose Hall Farm team photograph here. The others, left to right, are Graham, Annie, Stuart and Mike.

Many ancillary activities are on view including truck-loading, crop-drying, drilling maize for game cover, hedge-cutting, ditching and demonstrations of new machinery. Enthusiasts will appreciate the wide variety of different tractors and equipment seen at work.

Suffolk-based Chris Lockwood, a freelance agricultural journalist, is the author of three books and creator of a growing list of programmes on farming and farm machinery.

Some photographs taken by Chris Lockwood during filming are here.

Absolutely Appleby new book by Heidi M Sands about the Appleby Horse fair advance information

Absolutely Appleby, Heidi M Sands. Paperback, 147 x 210 mm, 128 pages inc. 134 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-59-1. Now available from Old Pond at £9.95.

The Eden valley is a beautiful yet little-known area of Cumbria except, that is, for one week in June each year when thousands of people flock to Appleby, the old county town of Westmorland.

Appleby plays host to the largest horse fair of its kind in the UK, and possibly the world. As far as spectacles go Appleby Fair is unrivalled: horses are paraded for sale, allowed to run loose in groups, graze the grass verges and almost move at will. For a few short days it is as though the clock has been turned back to a time when horse power ruled the road.

With over a hundred photographs of horses and people on the move, action shots in the ‘flashing lane’, handlers and their horses enjoying the river and some of those quiet and peaceful moments in between, this book provides the reader with an insight into the experience of the fair and all that is ‘Absolutely Appleby’. 

Accompanied by introductions and captions, the photos show that Appleby Fair is as much about community and tradition as it is about horses. Beautiful bow-top caravans abound, life takes on a slower pace and friendships are re-kindled.

Heidi M. Sands is an award-winning writer and regular contributor to several rural publications, as well as a professional photographer of countryside subjects. Born and bred in the rural north-west, Heidi lives on the family farm with her Fell ponies and a flock of Herdwick sheep. This is her second book for Old Pond Publishing.

Volvo F10 & F12 1977-83 new book by Patrick W Dyer advance information

Volvo F10 and F12 at Work 1977-83,  Patrick W Dyer. Hardback, 210 x 265 mm (landscape), 144 pages inc. approx 210 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-61-4. Now available from Old Pond at £19.95.

Advance orders and further information: [email protected].

Volvo F10 & F12 1977–83 at Work follows the development of the highly successful F10 and F12 trucks, beginning with the N-series and ending with the legendary Globetrotters. The book is full of evocative photographs supplied by enthusiasts and drawn from the Volvo archive.

Patrick Dyer’s first book on Volvo, dealing with the F88 and F89, took the reader up to the F88 290 – a truck intended as a stop gap during the development of the F10 and F12. In 1977, the F10 and F12 with their dramatic new cabs were revealed to the world at the Frankfurt show. However, Volvo was never a company to rest on its laurels and in 1979 it delighted drivers and confounded the competition by introducing an entirely new concept to the market – the raised roof sleeper. The Globetrotter was born.

A fine selection of over 200 photographs sourced from the Volvo archive and trucking enthusiasts shows UK operators as well as continental ones. This collection of images, accompanied by informative text, will evoke a host of memories from people in the trucking world. Volvo F10 & F12 1977–83 at Work is a must-have for every Volvo enthusiast.

This is the seventh book by Patrick W Dyer published by Old Pond Publishing. He lives in Essex where his day job is in motor sport. He holds a Class One licence and drives whenever possible. He is the proud owner of a 1983 Volvo F12, finished in the livery of Edwin Shirley Trucking.

 

Australian Heavy Metal new trucking DVD from CP Productions advance information

Australian Heavy Metal, Pete Connock and Martin Phippard (CP Productions). DVD approx 75 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-71-3. Now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95.

Here you will see some superb examples of the haulage needed to support the continuing expansion of the iron-ore business on Australia’s north-west coast. Pete Connock has filmed some of the most exciting trucks in the world, operating between Perth and the Pilbara to supply the mining communities with their essential goods and to move iron ore.

So, besides filming ‘standard’ two- and three-trailer road trains, Pete was able to record monster lifts of heavy mining equipment up to several hundred tonnes as well as some of the world’s largest mining trucks in action. Two-engined equipment from Powertrans working off-road provides a particularly thrilling feature in this absorbing programme.

The script is by Martin Phippard, Pete Connock’s partner in the specialist company, CP Productions, which for over twenty years has been making films for trucking enthusiasts. For more DVDs by Martin and Pete see here.

Extreme Earthmovers at Work new DVD by Eric Orlemann and Keith Haddock advance information

Extreme Earthmovers at Work, Eric Orlemann and Keith Haddock. DVD, approx 67 minutes plus 10-minute Extra. ISBN 978-1-908397-48-5. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95 inc VAT.

Extreme Earthmovers at Work is a compilation of film recorded by Eric Orlemann in 2005-8 at surface mines in the United States.

You will see that he has focused on some of the largest and most impressive machines of their classes. ‘The Silver Spade’, a Bucyrus-Erie 1950-B, was one of the biggest stripping shovels ever constructed, weighing in at 7,200 tons. Eric captured its 200ft boom and 80 cu m bucket at work before it was stood down in 2006.

You will also watch examples of the world’s largest production bulldozer, the Komatsu 575-A, at work as well as the LeTourneau L-2350, the world’s largest wheel loader.

Other truly big machines, including scrapers from Caterpillar and a hydraulic shovel from Liebherr, will add to your excitement.

In his script, Keith Haddock gives you the full context of the machines and the surface mining operation in which they are involved. The running time of the main programme is just over an hour. This is followed by a ten-minute Extra of more (un-narrated) footage of The Silver Spade.

The following are the principal machines in the film are:
Bucyrus-Erie 1950-B Stripping Shovel, ‘The Silver Spade’
Komatsu D575A Super Ripper
Komatsu D575A Super Dozer
LeTourneau L-1850 Wheel Loader
LeTourneau L-2350 Wheel Loader
Caterpillar 994F Wheel Loader
Caterpillar D11R Bulldozer
Caterpillar 657E Scraper
Liebherr R995 Hydraulic Shovel.

Eric Orlemann, based in Decatur, Illinois, has written many articles and books on earthmoving topics. He was co-founder, with Keith Haddock, of the Historical Contruction Equipment association (HCEA) that now has 5,000 members.

Keith Haddock, a British mining engineer now resident in Canada, prepared the first two programmes in Old Pond’s successful 'Massive Earthmoving Machines' series of DVDs. He is the author of earthmoving books and contributes to earthmoving magazines in the UK and United States.

Ransomes and their Tractor Share Ploughs book reprint information

Ransomes and the Tractor Share Ploughs, Anthony Clare. Hardback book 246 x 189 mm, 100 pages inc.120 photographs. ISBN 978-1-903366-12-7. Now available from Old Pond at £15.95.

Aimed at tractor and ploughing enthusiasts, this is the first book to classify, describe and show the wide range of ploughs produced by Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies. It is ‘a requirement for every Ransomes library’, in the words of Old Glory magazine.

After a brief introduction to the company’s history, Tony Clare gives an account of the ploughs which dominated the horse era of farming and were then adapted to be trailed behind tractors and mounted on them. He covers in detail the development of tractor plough design as well as ploughs for special purposes, market-garden use and export.

He deals with Ford-Ransomes manufacturing as well as the rationalisations of the 1960s and the final links with Dowdeswells.

Analyses of plough identification codes, the ‘TS’ classifications and a glossary complete a comprehensive and very usable book for the many people who value their Ransomes ploughs for matches and at work.

Ransomes and their Tractor Share Ploughs was first published in 2001. This 2013 reprint includes a number of minor amendments.

Tractor and farm machinery enthusiast Tony Clare is also the author of The Nuffield Tractor Story Volume One.

Farming Diaries Volume Three new DVD from Tractor Barn advance information

Farming Diaries Volume Three: the last harvest, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD, approx 90 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-73-7. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

In their third Farming Diaries programme Tractor Barn duo Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam introduce us to tenant farmer Ted Fenner. Ted has spent a lifetime tending the fields of Bullfinches Farm in East Sussex.

Taking over from his father on the family tenancy, Ted carried on growing a mixture of crops including wheat, oats, barley and, until recently, hops.

We see him tending his crops with his fleet of Massey Ferguson tractors: a 35X, 135, 590 and 390, all two-wheel drive and all used with very traditional classic farm implements.

The programme reaches a climax when Ted gets out his venerable MF 525 to harvest his barley and oat crops. With small three-ton trailers and classic tractors, this scene is right out of the early 1980s. It is completed by a neighbour following the combine with a Ford TW15 and Claas Quadrant square baler.

However, with Ted now in his seventies, this turns out to be his very last harvest. In the rest of the programme we see how a nearby estate takes over the farm and amalgamates it with its own, much larger operation. Ted is able to carry on just long enough to sell his last crop off the farm the following May.

So, life on the land enjoyed by three generations of tenant farmers comes to an end, a poignant story, one of many in which large farming enterprises are replacing smaller family-run operations. It is a fitting tribute to tenant farmers everywhere.

For other programmes by Tractor Barn see here.