The well thought through organisation of the Plough & Be Counted event ensured that there was no panic and no overload situations. By lunchtime on Friday, 9th, some 500 tractors had been registered as a result of a well-regulated registration system. Big trucks entering were directed to a large offloading area where a big selection of ramps were available for use by different sized vehicles. The tractors were then parked, typically next to the area where the owner was camping, and at his leisure he could stroll down and register his tractor. He was then given a registration number that was fixed to the tractor, and once again at his leisure he would then drive the tractor through to the secure area that was going to be used for the event. Each participant then received a beautifully embossed cast badge with his own personal participation number on it.

There were two very useful areas to place oneself. Firstly, in the immediate area of the offloading ramps because one could photograph the wonderful selection of trucks of all ages and all sizes, together with the tractors being offloaded. The second area was to position oneself near the entrance to the field where a steady procession of tractors were entering and then being deployed to subgroups. For example, grey Fergies in one row, Fordsons in another, and so on, with rows for miscellaneous. Despite the best efforts of the organisers however, this grouping became slightly mixed as time progressed.

By Saturday morning the number had jumped to 850 tractors but a measurable build-up of numbers and a succession of trucks entering the event pushed this up to over 1200 by mid-afternoon. It was becoming apparent that due to the number of tractors that had still not moved into the works area and had not been registered that the Record would be broken in a very professional and very orderly way. World Records of this type must be accompanied by infinite factual support data. The name of every tractor, every driver, the allocation of a number and a signature of the driver meant that the tractor was a separate entity within a system and left nothing to chance. The offloading and registration outside the work area and the clear distinction between the staging area and the event area was very important. From the relative chaos of the offloading camping environment, which is exciting in itself, and the formal post of the tractor in the way in which it allows one to develop a really good feel for the size and scope of the event.

The placement of the tractors in the field was regimented. In other words, looking at the grey Fergie block, there were tractors parked 5-abreast in a line-up of 20-rows. There was then a gap and the arrangement was repeated so that you knew there were 100 tractors in that block. It must have been relatively easy for helicopters to identify the number of tractors on the ground.

The Australians are to be commended on using best practise and having taken the best of what has happened before in order to set the benchmark by which future events should be arranged and judged. If one was to review the events that have gone before we could say that 106 tractors in a field at Sandstone Estates in 1999 was a picnic and great fun. The response by Australia with 299 tractors in the year 2000 was the first step in a slightly more formal organisational arrangement. The Sandstone event in 2002, namely the Great 400 Working, teetered on the edge of chaos because twice as many tractors pitched up as had been planned for by the organisers, but it worked and many good lessons were learnt which were noted by people interested in putting on these type of events. The Irish event in 2002 appears to have been just that – typically Irish - and it has not been possible to ever obtain a list of the tractors that participated.

The British event in 2003 was very well thought through but unhappily the organisers never received the support of the British tractor collecting fraternity. Some of the credit for the precise organisation of the Australia Plough & Be Counted event in 2004 must go to the credit of the British organisers who were much more formal in their field layout procedures. Plough & Be Counted 2004 was a mature event that really worked. Because it was mature everyone had a good time because the stress levels were within acceptable tolerances. However, at this moment, someone should draw breath and sit down and write the rules. There are enough competent people who have lots of experience with regard to these events to actually document how it should be done. If a South American country decided to enter the fray they can work to a plan, which hopefully will have little room for contradiction.

When one invites the vintage tractor population, particularly to an event like this, one is not always able to predict or in fact dictate what should be allowed to arrive. Since the objective is for people to have fun one does not want to inhibit the man with a gardening tractor, for example, from participating in what is effectively a tillage field event. The age issue is also important. Rather than seek a specific cut-off date, one should simply say the tractors must be, say for example, over 30 years old. The other issue which is of interest is whether modern tractors should be allowed to participate. If they do, then they should preferably be placed adjacent to the vintage tractors because it can be somewhat irritating for a really dedicated vintage tractor collector to photograph tractors without the backdrop of modern machinery, which are dotted throughout the line-up. However, these are the areas which are relatively easy to come to terms with and they should never become issues as such.

There was concern on the Saturday evening as to whether or not enough tractors would arrive on the site to beat the World Record. This situation did not improve particularly overnight, and there was quite a subdued attitude on the Sunday morning. The crowds began to gather early and people were very well organised with their picnic baskets and camp chairs to watch the big event kick off at 14h00. The whole issue seemed to have stalled somewhat at about 10h00 when tractors stopped coming in and the figure appeared to be sitting around about the 1600 mark. However, not to be out done by any other previous Record holder, the organisers sent people into the crowds to urge them to go home and fetch a tractor. Vehicles were driven around the inside of the perimeter fence and people with tractors at home were asked to leap aboard, go to a central point where there was some amazingly efficient organisation, and big trucks with low bed trailers were then allocated to a number of individuals. The trucks left the site hurriedly and it was not long before they were coming back in again delivering a whole variety of tractors, garden tractors, both new and old, to the site. This quickly boosted the title, and the mood in the field, both amongst the crowd and amongst the participants, visibly improved. Eventually Vic Muscat announced to the assembled group of drivers who were waiting near the registration point that the magic total of 1833 had been surpassed and that they could get on and arrange to start the event.

The new start time was arranged for 16h00, but to be fair to Vic who had to go down and physically coordinate the start himself, he had no idea of how many tractors there were on the field. They subsequently recorded a total of 1901 tractors that participated in the event after having removed a number of non-starters who could not get moving. In fact only four tractors out of the grand total of 1905 were unable to get going, leaving a net total of 1901.

The start was a little tricky because the Fire Department used flashing lights and sirens to indicate the start. Many people had their backs to the fire engines and did not see what was happening but the field moved off and due to the sheer number of tractors there one inevitably had to wait before one could start rolling. Nonetheless, after a few minutes the whole momentum got going and the tillage continued for nearly an hour before people started heading for the gates. Quite a number of tractors fell by the way but they more than met the requirements for the record attempt. The Sandstone Estates South African trio, namely a John Deere Hi-Crop 60, an Emerson Brantingham Big 4-30 and the General Ordnance tractor worked for over an hour until the drivers parked them to one side and staggered towards the beer tent. It was dry, dusty, thirsty and rewarding work that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

This whole event was a real roller coaster of emotional experiences, particularly for the organisers, Vic Muscat and Brian Sainsbury. The mood on the dusty field was one of great comradeship, and undoubtedly this event has done much to boost the popularity of vintage tractor collecting and restoring in Australia in much the same way as it did in South Africa and probably the other countries in which the event has been held.

Due to the amount of organisation that went into this event it is probably appropriate to raise the question of a set of rules, and an initiative has been started whereby a set of rules will shortly be published that everyone can abide by. There is a difference between the total number of tractors working in one field at one time and the total number of vintage tractors working in one field at one time. The vintage tractor fraternity welcome their colleagues using more modern machines because at the end of the day this is a people event and not a machinery event, but for the sake of good order when comparing records it is probably appropriate to benchmark certain issues so that organisers of events like this in this future have a very good idea of what their objectives are.
The Australian event was unique in the sense that it was well supported by the public, it was well organised, the participants were disciplined and had fun, and there was strong international linkage due to the high profile presence of the three tractors from South Africa, which did much to cement relationships and improve international goodwill.