Near Austin, MB – Volunteers at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum have smashed world records by assembling and using a 77 foot wide agricultural plow, the world’s largest. Held Aug. 1, at the Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede, the event was the highlight of the feature attraction, the Rumely Product Collectors Expo.
Organizers assembled a larger than planned 66 bottom plow, built completely from Canadian made Cockshutt plows manufactured in Brantford, Ontario. Bill Cockshutt, the last CEO of the iconic Canadian company before it was purchased by another machinery manufacturer, was on hand to drop the ceremonial first plow shear into the ground.
The first plowing pass was by one-hundred-year-old 30-60 E Rumely OilPull tractors. The event originally called for 4 E Rumely OilPulls to pull the plow but rain earlier in the week degraded plowing conditions and a fifth tractor was needed.
“We were excited to break the record for the World’s largest usable plow with 30-60 E Rumely OilPull tractors as they created this record in 1911” explains Erron Leafloor, the plow’s Chief Engineer. “Case steam engines bettered the original Rumely 50 bottom record in 2005 and we thought it was fitting to recapture this record for Rumely OilPulls on their 100th Birthday.”
As an encore, a single 535 HP New Holland 4 wheel drive tractor with ATI tracks pulled the plow to see if modern agriculture could compete with century old technology. Despite being only one tractor, it pulled the plow admirably with 65 plow bottoms in the ground. Both records are to be authenticated by the World Records Academy.
Expo Co-Chair Elliot Sims believes this year’s Rumely tractor feature and World Record
breaking successes has made the 2010 Threshermen’s Reunion a grand success. “People came from across North America, Europe and Australia to witness this once in-a-lifetime event” says Sims, “We can be very proud that the Manitoba Agricultural Museum is the holder of both world class records.”
Official photos and a professional video outlining the process of design and assembly
will be available in 2011. For more information, please contact Erron Leafloor at
erron.leafloor@gmail.com or Elliot Sims at elliot.sims.25@gmail.com or 734-845-4802.
