Memories of Christmas

Ralph Denton

Some of us have memories of Christmas that are different to those most people usually have. One such that I remember refers to an era, now past, when heavy horses were used on farms.

One Christmas Eve, I think it was 1935, I made an inspection of our crop of oats to see if it would require cutting over the Christmas/Boxing Day period. Having decided it would stand over quite safely, I was looking forward to relaxing on Christmas Day, as work on a mixed farm in the Awatere kept us quite busy during the summer months. Shearing, haymaking and getting fat lambs away to freezing works were jobs done before the grain crops were ripe for harvesting.

On the morning of the 25th, I arose and fed the ten heavy horses, which we kept to do the agricultural work before tractors were improved sufficiently to replace the reliable Clydesdales. I then returned to the house for breakfast and the usual season's greetings. Soon after eight one of our neighbours, Bill, rang on the old manual party telephone. In those days the telephone exchange didn't open until 9am on Sundays and holidays. Bill asked if I could take a three-horse team and our binder over to their place and help his brother Jack cut a large paddock of oats. They were worried that if the northwest wind got up, it might shake the grain out of the crop.

As it is the practice, or tradition, for one farmer to help another at such times, this meant the end of my relaxing day. The horses, having been fed their morning feed of oaten chaff, were rather reluctant to come into the stable so that I could tie up three of them for the job. Grooming and harnessing took a while, and also turning out the rest of the horses to graze. Another necessary preparation was to check over the equipment for the binder, such as oil in the oilcan. I should explain that what a farmer calls a binder, the encyclopaedia calls a self-binding reaper and the manufacturer's catalogue calls a reaper and binder, to distinguish it from other varieties of reapers.

With not a cloud in the sky and little puffs of hot air from north-west, the prospect was that the mercury would steadily go up to over ninety degrees fahrenheit during the day. I arrived at the neighbour's at about 9.30, and Bill came out to greet me with a glass of Christmas cheer and a few instructions on how to reach the field of oats. By the time I had taken off the transport wheels and set the binder ready for cutting the crop, Bill had arrived with a welcome cup of tea and tomato sandwiches.

Jack had already opened up the paddock the evening before, so there was nothing to hold us up from going straight ahead with the reaping of the crop. We stopped only to put in some more twine, for tying the sheaves and to oil some of the fast moving parts on our machines. Bill was kept busy during the rest of the day, preparing fresh teams of three horses for each binder, as they were changed every two to three hours.

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After Bill had his Christmas Dinner, some what more hurriedly than usual, he brought down a team and jack and I took the horses we had been driving to the steading, to water and feed them. We then had dinner, helped down with a glass of Christmas cheer. Picking up three horses from the stable, we then returned to the harvest field, with the sun still blazing down and heat reflecting off the straw. Bill had oiled and checked over both binders and cut a round or two of the crop while we were away.

The afternoon wore on, with Jack and I cutting round after round of the crop until a little after four o'clock, when two or three of the guests arrived with a small delivery full of children and a welcome cup of tea. In fact, a good deal more than one cup of tea, as we had lost a lot of moisture from our systems since lunch. By sunset we had just about finished the paddock, and were starting to get in one another's way. Jack pulled out and went to another field to open it out, while I finished off. The second field was still not quite ready for cutting, so we called it a day and tok the horses to the stable andsteading. Christmas Day closed with some more Christmas cheer and a large hot meal with another slice of Christmas cake.