George Likes His Chips

Massey Ferguson’s 3000 Series is an array of cult classic models and one of the first ranges to use microchip technology. George Cook from Kelso owns a superb example of a 3070 – Bob Weir went along to take a look.

Kelso is a thriving market town in the Scottish Borders, and sits next to the River Tweed. The area is well-known for its classic tractor collectors and hosts the popular Border Vintage Agricultural Association (BVAA) show every May. The town also has a reputation for its keenly-contested ploughing matches.

George Cook was born and raised in the Scottish Borders, and has lived in Kelso for 15 years. “I was brought up on a farm near Bonchester Bridge, just south of Hawick,” he recalls. “When I left school I followed in my father’s footsteps and worked on the farm for several years until I moved to Kelso in 1968. I got a job with an agricultural contractor, and worked on local farms.

“The tractors were very different back then. The first machine I drove was an FE 35 ‘Golden Grey’. I was only 12 years old at the time, but this was fairly typical for the 1950s. Most boys living on smallholdings would have learned to drive tractors long before they left school. Jobs around the farm were labour intensive, as implements were few and far between. As I recall, there was certainly plenty of manual work. The biggest tractor we had was a Fordson Diesel Major, which was considered a large machine back in those days.”

George also recalls that Borders farms were a lot smaller than they are today. He said: “We were farming around 1,000 acres. The holding was a stock farm, with mainly cattle and sheep. We also used to grow 100 acres of hay, as there were a lot of mouths to feed. This carried on for a number of years, until I followed my elder brother, Dick, on to the diggers.

“This involved mainly land drainage and excavations. I then returned to the farm contract jobs. I am currently involved with Springwood farm doing a spot of agricultural work, and looking after their holiday caravan park.”