Of giants

although that too was shrouded in a thick mist.

It was there that I met horseman Kevin Doran, who introduced me to Tom and Womble. “I used to have Tom and Jerry, but Jerry retired,” he said.

Kevin decided it was time to learn the ploughing and, assuring me I wouldn’t find any calmer horses, he handed over the reins.

We started off, Kevin calling instructions (not sure if this was to the horses or to me). Kevin’s team-mates Donal O’Keeffe and Martin Austin did look worried about the furrows, and there were curious onlookers keeping an eye on things.

But it was a wonderful feeling trailing through the wet soil, and it was then I understood why so many city folk have now become weekend plough people, tinkering with vintage tractors and trying to get back to their roots at the end of a busy working week.

The plough being pulled by Tom and Womble had been passed through three generations. It originally belonged to Mick Redmond of Kilmuckridge in Co Wexford. He won an All-Ireland with it and then Kevin’s grandfather and father ploughed with it, so Kevin said he’d give it a go too.

There is so much to the ploughing, the horses, the tractors, the loy ploughing and even the horses that live double lives, pulling tourists around in horse-drawn caravans in the summer and back ploughing in the winter.

Anna May McHugh and JJ Bergin (right) at the 1956 Ploughing

Then there’s the farmerettes, a unique group of feisty women who have been competing at the ploughing since 1955, when the first Queen of the Plough was Anna Mai Donegan from County Kerry.

Of course women had always worked on the farm but it was really the sharp eye of the tractor salesmen for promoting their products that enticed women into competitive ploughing. In Anna Mai’s case it was Martin Slattery, the salesman from Benner’s Garage in Tralee, who came up with the idea.

Anna Mai remembered how Martin came to see her in an era when very few women could be spotted driving tractors. “I laughed at him,” she said. “I grew up on a 30-acre farm with animals, tillage, everything.

“He said he’d seen me on the tractor and eventually I agreed to compete. Martin became my coach and, in 1955, drove me to the first championships in Athy, Co Kildare in a Ford car. And I won!

“I was thrilled of course, although I don’t remember actually getting a prize for it. I was very excited and dying to tell my parents my great news. But there were no telephones and I had to wait till I got home to tell them I’d won!’

Valerie Cox is the author of A Ploughing People: The Farming Life Celebrated. Stories. Traditions. The Championships. Hachette Books Ireland