No one knows John Deere tractors better than Peter Etheridge. Son of Drummond & Etheridge founder Arthur Etheridge, Peter has been immersed in the world of John Deere since he was a boy.
John Deere had already gained a reputation as a robust alternative to the British tractors on the New Zealand market when Drummond & Etheridge took over the franchise in 1973.
“Deere were reliable, and they were well priced, they didn’t break down,” Peter Etheridge said.
“We wouldn’t have an ag business today if it wasn’t for John Deere.”
The Drummond & Etheridge story began with cars, not tractors, when the business was formed in 1933 as a partnership between Bob Drummond and Arthur Etheridge.
The pair set up shop, initially selling and servicing cars in the agricultural service town of Ashburton, in the heart of New Zealand’s grain bowl, Mid Canterbury.
In 1937, the business opened Servrite in the main street, and it became the official AA service station.
In 1939, World War II caused the temporary closure of the station as staff were enlisted for the war effort.
With farming at the region’s heart, Drummond & Etheridge branched out into agricultural machinery after the war, obtaining the Nuffield tractor franchise in 1949, followed by New Holland in 1951.
When the company added the John Deere brand to its stables in 1973, Drummond & Etheridge became almost as iconic in Canterbury as the John Deere brand itself.
John Deere had already dipped its toes in New Zealand soil, being sold by Goffs and later Cable Price before Drummond & Etheridge obtained the John Deere franchise.
A natural salesman
Etheridge, now a sprightly 79-year-old, began as an apprentice mechanic in his father’s business in 1959, but found fixing machinery was not his forte.
“I was the most useless bugger they employed.
“My father said you’re bloody hopeless.
“You’d better see if you can sell a tractor.”
As it turned out, Etheridge was a natural salesman, and his career selling John Deere tractors spanned 40 years until his retirement in 2003, when his son, Mark, and son-in-law Ashley Gordon took over the business.
The JD4040 was produced in John Deere’s Waterloo factory in Iowa, in the American Midwest, from 1978-82.
Equipped with a 6.6-litre, six-cylinder diesel engine and power steering, and available in either two or four-wheel drive, the 4040 was from John Deere’s Iron Horses Series.
Nelson farmer Andrew Fry’s John Deere story
Nelson farmer and contractor Andrew Fry has 20 John Deere tractors that showcase the brand’s evolution.
Five tractors are newer models, which Fry uses in his contracting business; the rest are vintage two cylinders, some of which have been in his family since new.
“One of the tractors was my grandfather’s that he used on his tobacco farm. My dad remembers picking that up when he was 16.”
Tragedy struck early for Deere when he lost his father in a maritime incident when he was just 4.
Raised by his mother, Deere took up a career as a blacksmith and soon gained a reputation for his quality of workmanship.
He moved to Illinois in the Midwest in the late 1830s after the collapse of the New England economy, and started a blacksmith business in Grand Detour.
The business soon became an empire because of his innovative solution to farmers’ difficulties ploughing the sticky Midwestern soil.
Farmers were using cast-iron ploughs, and the rough surface of the implement meant soil would stick to the bottom of the plough, so farmers had to stop to clear the blades frequently.
Deere developed a “self-scouring” plough fashioned from steel with a smooth surface that shed the soil as it moved through the ground.
The plough was an instant success, and Deere upscaled his operation, moving the business to Moline.
The new factory was on the east bank of the Mississippi River, allowing the factory to be hydro-powered and providing an efficient way to ship supplies and move stock.
John Deere went on to become the mayor of Moline before he died in 1886.
The company was continued and expanded by his heirs.
In 1912, John Deere introduced planters, buggies and grain drills to its line-up of agricultural machinery.
