A FARMER who turned his back on modern farming methods has been forced to harvest with a combine after thieves stole all his horse tack.

Steve Newlove, 31, of Thorpe Hill Farm, Thorpe Underwood, near Boroughbridge, recently opened the farm to the public as a working heritage attraction.

He auctioned off all his modern equipment and bought two shire horses to pull vintage machinery, and he planned to use horse-drawn equipment to bring in this year’s harvest.

However, his plans were wrecked when burglars broke in and stole a huge amount of equipment, including a full set of tack for carriage and farm work.

He said stolen items included a chrome and leather carriage harness and an agricultural harness, together worth between £10,000 and £15,000, and hand tools worth another £3,000.

He said police were investigating the theft, which happened in the middle of the night just over a week ago, but they had not yet caught the thieves.

He said he could not use any horse drawn equipment, including the reaper binder, and because all the tack was fitted especially for his horses he could not simply borrow replacements. Having auctioned off all his modern equipment, he also had no back-up plan.

However, he accepted an offer from Eastern Harvesters to use a modern combine this year, and neighbours also rallied round to help out. Steve said while he might harvest two acres a day with his reaper binder, the combine could do between 70 and 100 acres in a day.

He said the stolen equipment, which was insured, would be replaced and he would revert to traditional methods for next year’s harvest. He said security had been stepped up since the theft.