The Right Machine For The Job
Transferring water using pallet forks on tractor
The Do-it-all Tractor
When you first start dreaming of starting your own small farm, what is the first vehicle that comes to mind? I’m guessing, a tractor. And for good reason! Tractors are extremely useful and versatile machines. You can do almost any farm task from the comfort of a fully enclosed, climate controlled, 100 hp diesel tractor. Moving dirt? Mowing grass? Planting crops? Powering your home with a PTO driven generator? A tractor can do it all.
“When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
If a tractor can do it all, why would you want any other machine? One machine is easier to store and simpler to maintain than 5 machines so a tractor is all I need, right? I used to think so but Greg Judy got me thinking about things differently.
Judy suggests that farmers should use the least expensive machinery for the job. You can use a tractor to get you from one side of the property to the other but you could do that in a tenth of the time on a dirt bike that is a tenth of the cost. You are probably thinking, “But Farmer Matt, isn’t that just another expense and machine that I have to maintain?” And you would be right; however, let me ask you this: Which machine costs less to operate per hour, a tractor or a dirt bike?
Tractor vs. Dirt Bike
The upfront costs of a mid-size tractor is roughly 20-30 thousand dollars. While a dirt bike can be had for 2-3 thousand dollars. Now ask yourself how much it would cost to fix a problem with your tractor. For better or for worse, tractors have become more and more complicated forcing many farmers to bring their tractors to the dealership for maintenance and repairs. Do you already own a $50,000 diesel truck capable of towing 10,000 lb tractor and trailer to the dealership? Do you already own a $3000 trailer capable of carrying that tractor? If not, you will have to pay someone else to tow your all-important machine to the dealer for repairs. That can take time. You know what else can take time? The actual repairs at the dealership. Then you have to wait and pay more for somebody to tow it back. Better yet, when Old Faithful fails to fire up just when you need her the most, it’s often the same time that other farmers are trying to get their tractors serviced. Now how much money have you spent? How many tasks are you now behind on because you chose one machine to do all of your farm chores?
On the other hand, dirt bikes are fast, simple, and cheap. You can put fewer hours on the engine getting around the farm and can probably do most of the maintenance yourself. Even if you have to bring it somewhere for repairs, you have more shop options and can throw it in the back of any basic pickup.
Two More Wheels
“But Farmer Matt! Other than simple ‘gettin’ around’, I can’t do many farm tasks with a dirt bike!” Right again, you clever son-of-a-gun! That’s why I don’t own a dirt bike, I own an ATV (or as many folks in these here-parts call a 4-wheeler). A 4-wheeler is essentially a dirt bike with 2 extra wheels (hence the name HA!). These two extra wheels provide a LOT of additional capability.
With a 4-wheeler, you can now easily hall a couple hundred pounds of feed, fertilizer, seed, water, dead bodies, and more! The real magic is that 4-wheelers have a trailer hitch. There exists a large variety of bumper-pull attachments that perform the same job as a more expensive, 3-point attachment for tractor. Instead of a PTO (Power Take-Off), these attachments use the turning of a wheel to power the attachment. A short list of attachments includes:
spreaders
aerators
sprayers
cultipackers
cultivators
trailers
mowers
This is a lot of hours you can take off of your expensive tractor. In a pinch, you could probably use the same equipment to perform the task with your truck or lawnmower if your 4-wheeler breaks down. You can’t say that about your fancy 3-point tractor attachments!
Apply this logic to other farm machinery. I have made this mistake of thinking I can do everything with just a tractor. Be smarter than me.
