Grey Fergie army rolls across Goulburn Valley

More than 70 years after the first Massey Ferguson TE20 rolled off the production line, these iconic tractors are still in high demand in Australia and not just as collectors’ items.

WITH technology advancing at such a rapid rate that autonomous machinery is edging closer to being the norm in Australian paddocks, it may surprise some that a 70-year-old tractor is still in demand.

In the Goulburn Valley, the legendary Ferguson TE20, better known as a Grey Fergie, is still working in orchards across the region. And not just one or two, but dozens of the trusted workhorses towing fruit bins for pickers to fill.

Aussie Ag Supplies’ Daryl Gorman on a reconditioned TE20 “Grey Fergie” tractor. Picture: Dannika Bonser

Daryl Gorman, from Aussie Ag Supplies at Shepparton, is facing constant demand for reconditioned models to supply the region, which is home to about 600 of these iconic post-war machines.

What started as a hobby 47 years ago soon grew into a business that turns over 45 tractors a year.

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“I started in 1972 — it was always just my weekend hobby to play around with them,” Daryl says.

“It just became a hobby that got out of control.”

Daryl, who grew up in the region, says he recalls the change in 1957 from the use of original horse power on farms to tractors as drovers moved through the area buying all the Clydesdales as they were replaced by Grey Fergies.

The historic Greg Fergies are exempt from rollover protection requirements so they can operate under low-hanging branches. Picture: Dannika Bonser

“They started up in Murchison and came through buying up all the horse for the meat market in Melbourne,” Daryl says.

“They had 120 horses by the time they got to our gate at Dhurringile, and that was half way into Tatura.

“All these poor horses were getting shipped out, and everywhere where there used to be horses there were Grey Fergies — and they were doing the job of three or four horses.

“They were everywhere — they were like ants.”

At 72, Daryl shows no signs of slowing down with his spare parts business a seven-day-a-week operation as well as repairing and reconditioning the Grey Fergies.

With his wife, Bernadette, helping him, Daryl is “always on the lookout” for Grey Fergies to rebuild for resale.

He says he buys them for about $1100 and after an average of 14 hours of work fixing them he will sell them for about $3500, with orchardists his biggest customers.

“If they (tractors) come into the workshop, normally they need a clutch. Some we take the heads off and get them all done up. Not every one’s the same – they’ve all got different problems,” Daryl says.

There are about 600 reconditioned Greg Fergies operating on orchards in the Goulburn Valley. Picture: Dannika Bonser

“We take the generators off and put alternators on and good on-and-off switches so they’re not mucking around trying to start it.

“Then we put them on the stands and take the wheels off, and thoroughly clean them and then thoroughly paint them.”

Daryl says he now looks after large-scale orchardists in the area, plus the occasional hobby farmer, importing a steady supply of spare parts from England.

Apart from being a reliable workhorse, the orchardists prefer the Grey Fergies for their simplicity, which means fruit pickers can jump in the driver’s seat and operate them with ease. The tractors are exempt from rollover protection so they can operate under low-hanging branches.

Daryl says orchardists used to grow fruit to send straight to the cannery to preserve, but now consumers want fresh fruit, which has changed the landscape.

“I deal with all the orchardists with their bigger tractors. They did try diesel tractors but they were too costly to repair, so they all went back to using Fergusons,” he says.

“The whole system changed here and they started growing fresh fruit so they needed more tractors with bin trailers, because the acreage grew and demand for everything grew.

“One of my main customers has 96 of them across 14 orchards, another has 68, others have 40 and 42 — then another grower who already owns 40 has just ordered a further 20,” Daryl says.

“They’re a legend around here.”

The simple-yet-reliable steering column on a Greg Fergie. Picture: Dannika Bonser

HISTORY OF THE GREY FERGIE

The Ferguson TE20 — better known as the little grey Fergie — was the brainchild of engineer and inventor Harry Ferguson, who was one of the founders of the modern global brand Massey Ferguson.

The first TE (Tractor England) 20 model rolled off the assembly line at its former Banner Lane manufacturing plant in Coventry in the UK on July 6, 1946.

More than half a million of these diminutive tractors were built at the plant between 1946 and 1956 and many of them are still working on farms. They are still a prized collector’s item.

Key to its success was the TE20’s unique three-point linkage implement attachment system controlled by the tractor’s hydraulics.

The Ferguson System effectively turned the tractor and implement into a single working unit replacing the previous cumbersome trailed method of implement operation.

In doing so, it achieved Harry Ferguson’s lifelong ambition of helping farmers afford to mechanise all aspects of crop production to better and more economically feed the world.

This pioneering automatic control technology allowed farmers to approach their work with a higher level of competency.

Rated at only 20hp (15kW) the TE20 was incredibly light and small, yet it outperformed bigger units, and with lower running costs.

It provided the breakthrough upon which agricultural mechanisation techniques came to be based throughout the world.