"My association with their products suggests the statement has a strong element of truth," says Neil Houghton.
Neil and Shirley Houghton have been on their 137ha farm at Ngarua for 40 years and "everything you can see we have put here," says Neil.
His long association with tractors and machinery dates back to age ten, when he drove a Farmall F20 towing a two furrow Reid and Gray trailer plough.
Neil is from Manawatu and Shirley from Waikato. They sharemilked before settling at Ngarua.
In those days he had a standing order with a salesman – not John Deere – to buy, each March, his company's latest model, trading the old one.
"Those days tractors came with a two year unconditional guarantee and the tax system for new machinery enabled farmers to write off 40% in the first year."
When the franchise changed hands he bought his first John Deere a 2040S 4WD and the rest is history. He has updated his farm tractors, meanwhile collecting vintage models. Now he has 35, most restored and working, a few 'in progress'.
With the tractors are 40 John Deere and other stationary engines as small as 3hp – a Lister programmed to instantly start and drive a generator to supply all the farm's electric motors in case of power failure.
"I've always had a hankering for the vintage models and over the years acquiring and restoring them has given me a lot of enjoyment." Many visiting groups and individuals have also enjoyed them.
He bought his first vintage machine from Athenree – a John Deere model "G" 2-cyl. in 1976.
His latest acquisition from Opunake is a model JD 2120, 79hp 4cyl, made in 1968.
"The ageing owner told me that he had used it to pull the mortgage off his farm and now that was gone he had decided to sell it."
