Planning is under way for the Mid Canterbury Vintage Machinery Club’s Wheat and Wheels Rally.
It is timed to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Massey.
It may be two years away but for host arable farmer Anthony Hampton it is going to take rotation planning.
Members from the club visited the planned rally site recently to view its location and check out what was needed with centre ring, static display area, food area, wheat harvesting paddocks and car parking a few of the things to be considered.
Mr Hampton, a third generation farmer, runs a cropping operation with wife Julie, on their 570 hectare farm midway between Lauriston and Barrhill, at the northern side of Mid Canterbury.
Mr Hampton, who is the first of his generation on the farm; has two sons and a daughter. He has been involved in cropping all his life.
Before irrigation was available on the farm, he also had a crop and sheep operation, now there were more crops and up to 6500 store lambs.
He is planning his crop rotations of wheat and grass seed on two 30 hectare paddocks to coincide with the rally on April 1 to 3, 2022.
It will also mean delaying the planting of up to 8ha of wheat in a patch that can be harvested during the rally as part of a display event.
Mr Hampton said the size of the wheat field will depend on the interest from members who want to run their headers at the rally.
There were newer headers with bigger capacity which will need more to harvest, he said.
Mr Hampton offered to host the 2022 rally to coincide with 175 years of Massey as he has a handful of farm machines and a collection of Massey’s on farm that he will show.
His Massey collection will be joined by others owned by club members and "not just Massey" — there will be hundreds of machinery entries on show.
