In surprisingly good weather for February, thousands of interested visitors congregated in Ulting, near Maldon in Essex, to visit this popular three-day show – the country’s largest agricultural, construction, groundcare, fruit and viticulture and specialist vegetable machinery dealer show. By 10 o’clock on the first day, the main car park was nearly full, writes Richard Shepherd-Barron.

A first at the Show was the new Case IH AF10 combine with its 775Hp engine and the industry’s largest grain tank, plus a whole host of automation, connectivity and harvesting technology. Not to be outdone was the highest output combine in the world – the New Holland CR11 with a Macdon FD3245 header.

Angus Doe, managing director, said: “The tax year end is looming and, with some amazing 0% finance deals on offer, this is the perfect time to invest in machinery. We’ve a broad range of new, used and ex-hire machinery, priced to sell.” An example was the huge display of lightly used New Holland combines with the slogan: “Harvest for free – pay nothing until Sept ’25.”

Ernest Doe has been expanding its activities recently and now includes two of the Burden depots at Sutterton and North Kyme in Lincolnshire, taking the business’s total number of branches across the south and east of the UK to 21.

The specialist vegetable machinery section now includes such well-known names as Ecorobotix, Agriplanter, Tumoba, Verhoest, Sieger, Tong Engineering and Tong Swift. Andy Willson, who was previously with Burdens, commented: “There is a lot of interest in this equipment from growers in the South East.”

No Doe Show would be complete without demonstrations of ploughing by historic tractors, ably organised as usual by Paul Wylie. Naturally, the Doe Triple D was well to the fore, with a well-presented example greeting visitors at the main entrance.

A highlight this year was the visit from Shaun Garrod, the 2024 British Ploughing Champion, to demonstrate oat seed (high cut) ploughing. Tractors in operation included a 1922 Fordson Model F, 1938 Allis Chalmers WF, 1941 Oliver 80 Standard, 1974 Ford 50DD and a County 1174 – plus the 1916 and 1965 Doe Triple Ds.

Modern Case IH and New Holland tractors were demonstrating a variety of implements nearby, which made a most interesting contrast in operations (and sound). Another dynamic demonstration was the Hyundai excavator moving large quantities of Essex clay and, in complete contrast, the autonomous Husqvarna mowers, busy polishing a grassy area. The larger of the two was a “ride-on”, but without a driver catching many an eye and highlighting the fact that the future is here.

Graham Parker, Doe’s sales director, said after the show: “This year’s show had a greater footfall than previously; we ran out of catalogues on Thursday.

“The order intake at the show was higher than last year, which was the second highest level in the show’s history. We sold more than half of the ex-hire tractors and nearly all the ex-hire combines, too.”

In addition to the wide range of tractors and machinery, there was a plethora of stands displaying spares, tools, clothing, tyres, small lawn mowers, lubricants, fire safety equipment, prints, paintings and more. Doe’s own permanent shop with tools, small garden equipment and countryside clothing was also open, offering some special ‘show discounts’.

Whatever your need – a combine or a mower, a tractor or a sprayer, a trailer or a wheelbarrow, an excavator or a shovel, it was here. Next year’s Show is on 3, 4 and 5 February.

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