The Warrangong Vintage Harvest Day, to be held at Pleasant Hills on Sunday, February 9, will showcase an array of horse and tractor drawn, and self-propelled harvesting machinery in a once-in-a-life time event celebrating Australia’s rural heritage.

Farmer and vintage header collector Kerry Pietsch wants to give young, old, rural and urban people the chance to see, hear and smell living history.

Kerry and Jan, together with the Warrangong Heritage Collection Inc members, will host the vintage harvest day on their sheep and cropping farm, Warrangong, achieving a long held dream to have one of Australia’s largest private header collections working in the same paddock.

“It will be a scene not witnessed in the Australian bush for generations, and will give a unique insight into how our forefathers farmed a century ago,’’ Mr Pietsch said.

The event will feature an array of restored and working harvesters, winnowers, threshers, strippers, binders, chaff cutters and tractors.

The machines will be used to harvest 15ha of the heritage wheat variety Olympic and a pea crop which were sown by Kerry using a 1950s crawler tractor and 1970s 24-row Massey Ferguson combine.

He has used a Blackstone side delivery hay rake, CLAAS Maximum baler and CLAAS Europa header to prepare the paddock for the working horse teams.

On display during the harvest day will be the Headlie Taylor header while a horse-drawn stripper dating back to the 1890s will be working in the crop.

With gates opening at 8am, the demonstrations will get underway at 9am with scythe cutting and threshing by hand, followed by a swather working in the crop. 

The crop will be cut and sheaves made with a horse-drawn binder.

During the day, a horse-drawn stripper will cut the crop with the grain separated by a winnower.

An array of vintage headers will be working, including horse-drawn Robinson and Sunshine harvesters, a ground-drive tractor-drawn Sunshine header and three self-propelled Sunshine headers.

To help celebrate the 2013 centenary of German farmer machinery manufacturer, CLAAS, a CLAAS 750 TT will be on display.

As a finale, a large, modern header will work alongside its vintage cousin.

Header enthusiast Tom McDonnell will provide talks throughout the vintage harvest day, and visitors can enjoy the stalls, souvenirs, food and drink.

Among the special guests on the day will be NSW Farmers’ Association president Fiona Simson and her husband Ed.

Entry fee is adults $15, pensioners $10, secondary school children $5 and family $40.

For more information contact Jan Pietsch on 0269 296 431 or email janrylah40@gmail.com

For media inquiries contact Kerry and Jan Pietsch on 0269 296 431 or 0447 296 494.

Directions: Warrangong is 90km from Wagga, follow the road to Lockhart, turn left to Albury, travel 23km to Thomas Lane, turn left and follow the signs.

From Albury, go through Jindera to Walbundrie, then another 30km to Thomas Lane, turn right for 4km, follow the signs.

From Henty go to Pleasant Hills, turn right at Hughes Street, turn left at Osborne-Pleasant Hills Road, and follow the signs.