STORY 7
We’re going to need wider gates…
Do you remember that classic deadpan line from the movie, Jaws: “You’re going to need a bigger boat”?
Well at Ramsey Bros, that quote has been tweaked a little and is now used to describe what happens when farmers bring home a shiny, new piece of farm machinery only to discover a slight issue regarding access.
Picture this… 30 years ago, a decent sized tractor and 12-foot header would easily fit through a standard gateway so a farmer could drive out to the paddock without too much fuss.
Five years on, and it would be time for an upgrade. So, back to Ramsey Bros for a trade in and a new model.
The farmer would then proudly bring the larger header to the farm and out to the paddock, often with a son, wife or daughter in tow.
He’d stop just before the gate, jump down from the cabin, carefully inspect the opening between the posts and scratch his head: now how to get it into the paddock?
“We’re going to need wider gates…,” he’d mutter to his family watching on in amusement.
Grab a pair of wire cutters, pull out the star droppers and carefully wind back the strands or gridlock to create a new “cocky gate”.
All done. The new header breezes through the wider opening.
More years and more harvests follow and soon it’s time to upgrade again.
Off to town to Ramsey Bros.
A new, wider header – with the same, old problem at the paddock. After all, who can be bothered taking off the header every time!
“We’re going to need wider gates…”
Bring out the wire cutters, move the star droppers as the fence line shrinks and the cocky gate grows bigger.
Another few years pass, and so the gates expand until it’s hard to tell where the original gate post stood.
Today, it’s not uncommon to squeeze a header of 45 feet (nearly 14 metres) through a gate opening, says Ramsey Bros (Wudinna) Service Manager, Craig ‘Radish’ Furnell.
“And when it comes time to upgrade, we always hear the old story of the need to widen the wretched gates,” he laughs.
“And build a bigger shed!”
