Kerry Pietsch has one of Australia’s largest private collections of headers and he will have 27 of them working in a wheat crop on Saturday 11 January 2025, at the Warrangong Vintage Harvest Day at Pleasant Hills. Photo: Supplied.
Pleasant Hills 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.
He will hold the Warrangong Vintage Harvest Day on Saturday 11 January and in a scene reminiscent of the 1920s and 1930s, the working display of 27 tractor drawn vintage headers harvesting wheat will be a sight current generations may have never witnessed.
“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,” he said.
“This day will be very special as 95 per cent of young people have never seen any of these headers operating,’’ Kerry said.
“They only ever see modern machinery with air-conditioned cabins – on these old machines you are sitting out in the dust, chaff and hot sun.
“Most of these old headers will only ever sit in machinery sheds – it is rare to see them operating and it will be a once-in-a-lifetime event to have so many together in the one crop.’’
Kerry’s obsession with vintage machinery started at a young age. He remembers as a lad being drawn to an abandoned 1917 Rubenstock tractor on the bank of a dam next to a machinery dealer in Walla Walla whilst his father was there doing business.
“Dad always had to come and find me; I was always at the tractor fiddling with things and when he wanted to go home he knew where I’d be.”
At 18, he bought that tractor.
One of Kerry’s favourites, a fully restored US manufactured Cockshutt once belonging to his uncle. Kerry concedes he was born in the wrong era and enjoys nothing more than harvesting on a machine open to the elements. Photo: Supplied.
“To cut a long story short the agent rang Dad one day and said, ‘Your son was pretty interested in that tractor and they want to sell it because the town is building a swimming pool there’.
“I can’t tell you what I paid for it because I can’t remember but it wouldn’t have been much. There was so much wrong with it; it was just a heap of junk really!”
Needless to say, with a father who was a “great engineer” the pair persisted where other mechanics had given up and with some ingenious intervention the tractor was brought back to life.
“I have found interest from there on and it just got bigger and better,” said Kerry.
Now semi-retired from sheep and grain growing, he can devote more time to his passion of restoring historic farm machinery.
The vintage harvest day will feature an array of restored and working harvesters, winnowers, strippers, chaff cutters and tractors, harvesting a 15-ha crop of the heritage wheat variety Ford.
Kerry’s collection spans a stripper, headers and harvesters, including horse-drawn, PTO and self-propelled machines – of every make and model, jockeying for space in an ever-increasing number of sheds.
The collection ranges from a horse-drawn 1902 David Shearer Maker’s Mannum stripper to a 1980 John Deere 1051 PTO header and includes Kerry’s favourite, a fully restored US manufactured Cockshutt once belonging to his uncle. Kerry concedes he was born in the wrong era and enjoys nothing more than harvesting on a machine open to the elements.
The collection also includes a homemade header comprising a Gleaner crawler tractor converted to a harvester with planks of wood on the tracks to help with traction in wet conditions.
It featured two gear boxes – one to drive the tractor and one to operate the harvester.
A centrepiece of the vintage harvest day will be a restored 1925 Sunshine Auto Header which was designed by Henty’s own Headlie Shipard Taylor and marked its centenary in 2024 at the Henty Machinery Field Days.
Kerry’s collection spans a stripper, headers and harvesters, including horse-drawn, PTO and self-propelled machines – of every make and model, jockeying for space in an ever-increasing number of sheds. Photo: Supplied.
Kerry revealed he felt his collection was complete and said there was no particular piece he needed to make it complete.
“I’m not on the lookout anymore,” he said.
But like any good collector would know, resistance is futile. He confessed he was given another header a month ago which hadn’t been going for 20 years but awaited his solicitous attention after the vintage event.
“Well, yes, if someone gives me something I haven’t got I’ll take it,” he said.
“But I’m not really looking for anything because I’ve got enough here to fix up to see me out!”
With gates opening at 8 am, the demonstrations will get underway at 9 am.
Vintage machinery enthusiast Kevin Elphick will provide talks throughout the vintage harvest day, while lunch and refreshments will be for sale.
The Warrangong Vintage Harvest Day will be held on Saturday, 11 January. The entry fee is adults $22, concession $18, children 12 to 16 years $10 and under 12 free. Tickets are available online or at the gate via card only.
For more information contact Kerry Pietsch on 0480 143 398 or email [email protected]
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