A fleet of British-built classic machinery dating back to the early 1970s was bringing in the spring barley harvest at a farm on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border this week.

Two Ransome Super Cavalier combines, built in 1974 and 1975, and a 52-year-old Ford 5000, in near-pristine condition, were busy at work cutting the 40ha crop.

The harvest idea came about when a group of vintage machinery enthusiasts banded together to help local farmer Lee Winters after rising production costs made it no longer viable for the farm to run its own combine.

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“Lee had sold the farm’s 10-year-old John Deere combine last season and it was proving difficult to get hold of a contractor, so we got everyone’s machines together to bring the harvest in,” says local farmer and engineer Phil Harris.

Take a look at the fleet in action in the video below.

Photos posted online of the machines in action sparked a lot of interest in how agriculture has evolved over the decades, taking many farmers back down memory lane.

A Ransome Super Cavalier and the Ford 5000 © Phil Harris

“We have gone completely full-circle and back to the old-school way of harvesting,” adds Phil.

“Sharing the photos has prompted a lot of memories for people, while others are struggling to understand that this is us working in the fields today as it is more cost-efficient than modern machinery,” he continues.

The two Ransome Super Cavalier combines are operating with a 10ft and 12ft header, with next to zero waste out of the back of the combine.

“Even though they have six-cylinder engines the machines really don’t drink that much fuel, so are quite efficient to run.

“They are harvesting well – we’ve only had one broken fan belt. The machines are hardly throwing anything out of the back compared to a modern combine.”

Straw is coming off well and is being baled into small square bales with a vintage baler.

A group of  local family and friends, aged between 15 and 70, are also pitching in and stacking them onto the back of a flat-bed trailer towed by a Ford 6610.

Bales loaded onto the Ford 6610 © Phil Harris

“It really is great to get everyone back out in the field working together, and as it would have been years ago and, most importantly, all having some fun.”

The Ransome Super Cavalier combines are owned by Luke Phillips. The Ford 5000 is owned by Ned and Paul Parker and the Ford 6610 is owned by Lee Winters. 

The vintage machinery group will assemble back at the farm in a few weekends’ time for their charity ploughing event, which will see 50-plus classic tractors of all makes and ages help establish next year’s crop.