Butting out means a hoe lot of savings

John Broeren stands by a Planet Jr two-wheel tractor, one of the first with steering, that will be heading to the A&P show. Photo / Lynda Feringa

Reformed smoker John Broeren has used all the money he would have spent on tobacco to collect vintage farm machinery from around the country.

Mr Broeren, a pig farmer in Dalefield, has collected more than 50 pieces of machinery since giving up smoking three years ago and says it's nice to see progress made not only in his collection but also in his health.

"There's always going to be temptation to start smoking again," he said. "You have to be ready to give up and the longer you do give up, the less desire there is to start again."

The one thing that made all the difference in his smoking habits was something that a nurse told him a few years ago.

"She said to me at the doctor's that if I put the money I saved from not smoking into treating myself with something, the chances of staying smoke-free were increased heaps.

"So I started to collect the rotary hoes and now I can see what I've collected instead of seeing my money go up in smoke."

Mr Broeren's collection contains items from 100 years ago, including tractors, hoes and ploughs. He says he particularly likes items that show "how the beasts have evolved".

"What draws me to a piece of machinery is the unusual, the changes," he said.

"There'll be a certain point when a piece of machinery will change from doing something one way to doing it a different way and they're the ones of interest.

"During the war, the way machinery was made changed. Some of them have wooden handles, cast iron, and some even had tin identification plates instead of brass, because of the shortages of aluminium and brass."

In Mr Broeren's collection at his Dalefield residence, the models of the same machine from different eras are placed next to each other which further demonstrates this evolution.

Mr Broeren will be taking four of his machines to this year's Wairarapa A&P Show in Clareville on October 30.

"There'll be a lot of machinery on display at the A&P show coming up at the end of the month," he said.

"It's enthusiasts like me that save this stuff from going to scrap, and I think it's good that the A&P shows happen, and that we get to show off this stuff."