Growing Crops

Early Irish farmers grew crops such as wheat, barley and oats. This is known as tillage farming. They did this using a wooden one-handled plough, which was pulled along by an ox. Horses were not used for this work until many centuries later.

Early Farmer Ploughing
Courtsey of Stephanie Rowe

First of all the plough broke the soil at the top and then created long gaps called furrows for the seeds to be put into. The seed was then placed onto the soil by hand from large bags. The final step was to cover the seeds with the turned up soil so that it could not be eaten by birds. The farmer then took care of the crops until it was time to harvest them at the end of the summer.

This basic way of sowing crops has remained the same since farming began. However the tools used to plough and sow have changed over the years.

Horse-Drawn Machinery

This photograph shows a man and a woman working with horse-drawn machinery. In our grandparents' time most farmers used horses to draw machinery such as hay mowers. Today large machinery such as tractors are used on farms.

Courtesy of Jim Rogers

Horse-Drawn Machinery
Courtesy of Jim Rogers

Horse-Drawn Machinery

This photograph shows a man and a woman working with horse-drawn machinery. In our grandparents' time most farmers used horses to draw machinery such as hay mowers. Today large machinery such as tractors are used on farms.

Courtesy of Jim Rogers

Enlarge image

Ploughing and planting

This photograph shows some farm machinery ploughing and planting a field. The green tractor on the left is pulling along a plough. This is making long ridges in the soil for the seeds to be placed in. The red machine on the right is spreading the seed whch will soon grow into crops.

Irish Farmers' Journal

Ploughing and planting
Irish Farmers' Journal

Ploughing and planting

This photograph shows some farm machinery ploughing and planting a field. The green tractor on the left is pulling along a plough. This is making long ridges in the soil for the seeds to be placed in. The red machine on the right is spreading the seed whch will soon grow into crops.

Irish Farmers' Journal

Enlarge image

In our grandparent's time horses were used to pull farm machinery such as ploughs and hay mowers instead of the cattle which were used in ancient times.








Nowadays large pieces of farm machinery do most of the work while the farmer drives along in his tractor.