HandMowers Meet – My WordPress

Hand Mowers Meet

By Steve Taylor
July 1982

CAN you handle a scythe and lay down a smooth, neat swath of tall grass without exhausting yourself?

If so, you might consider entering the annual hand mowing competition sponsored by the Sullivan County Dairy Herd Improvement Association in New Hampshire.

For more than 30 years, Sullivan County farmers and some from other parts of New England have turned out for the DHIA’s scything contest held in late July as part of its Summer field day.

The competition isn’t all that serious–you’ll hear plenty of laughter and good natured kidding as the contestants take their turns on the mowing course. But it’s still quite a sight to watch skilled hands make a scythe lay down a pretty swath of hay.

Scoring for the competition takes into consideration speed, over the 50-foot course, width of cut, neatness of stubble and arrangement of the windrow. Penalty points are deducted for spitting tobacco juice on the course or giving unneccessary lip to the judges.

The competition is divided into two divisions, one called the Old Bucks for those who have handled a scythe for years, and a novice class for those who are beginners at the craft. The Old Bucks class often includes men well into their 70’s, such as Elwin Smith, herdsman at the Eccardt Farm in East Washington, who has won first place off and on for more than a generation.

The champion hand mower in the Old Bucks class wins a golden scythe, while the novice champ wins a scythe painted green, as in greenhorn.

Not just any scythe will win the Sullivan County hand mowing race, either. Most of the top competitors, men such as Stan Colby of Cornish, Gordon Gowen of Acworth, Fred Hall of West Unity and Sid Clarke of Claremont, use scythes handed down through their families for generations.

Hans Eccardt, a frequent first-place finisher, uses a scythe he brought with him from his native Switzerland. It has a straight snath and a short, wide blade.

Chances are the winning scythes will be slender from years of grinding and whetting, and the snaths (handles) will be of rugged but light wood such as cherry. The kind of scythe commonly sold by feed and hardware stores today will probably land a racer well toward the bottom of the final standings.

While the top racers are usually older men, some younger people have been practicing their technique in recent years and may well move toward the top of the field as time goes on. Last year’s competition had women entered for the first time.

Every competitor has a personal strategy for success, but all share one thing: The need to have a sharp edge on the scythe, and that’s why they’ll spend an hour or more before the competition begins with their sharpening stones, putting on the finest possible edge.

The best handmowers have a definite rhythm to their movements, and every swing of the tool produces a smooth, even cut. Raw novices are apt to whack at the grass, leaving unsightly manes and hay lying every whichways.

Each year, the DHIA field day and hand mowing contest is held at a different Sullivan County farm. This year’s will be at the Shugah Vale Farm in Claremont on July 29, hosted by the Don and Sid Clarke families.

The host farmers try to leave a piece of their best second cutting of mixed legumes and grass for the race course. Judges are drawn from the ranks of the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service.

The Sullivan County DHIA hand mowing contest has drawn considerable attention in the news media over the past few years. It has been. written up in such publications as the Boston Globe and been featured on television.

In 1980, CBS News sent Charles Kuralt and his “On the Road” mobile studio to cover the event when it was held at the Albert Read farm in West Claremont. A five minute segment on the event and the competitors aired on the Walter Cronkite news show a few days later.

The Sullivan County competition is open to anyone wishing to claim the title of “Best Hand Mower East of the Mississippi” but would-be contestants from afar should be warned that they’ll have quite a task beating the Old Bucks who seem to win the competition every year.

The last year Elwin Smith won, he was spurred to victory by a cold bottle of beer waiting at the end of the course, put there by his boss, Hans Eccardt, who was the defending champion that year.

Whether you can handle a scythe or not, the annual Sullivan County DHIA hand mowing contest offers a glimpse of a skill that has practically disappeared from the New England farm scene, practiced by men who haven’t forgotten what they learned from their fathers and grandfathers about cutting hay by hand, fast and neatly. ■