Seven Must Have Tractor Attachments
Kevin Felts 03.07.17
Over the past century the tractor has revolutionized farming. What use to take all day with a horse and plow, now only takes a few hours with a tractor.
Along with the tractor also came a wide assortment of attachments.
Whether it is a small homestead or a large farm, there are certain tractor attachments that just about every farmer will need at some time or another. If the farm is just a few acres, or several hundred acres, must of us use some of the same tools.
Brush hog – When you need to cut a field, nothing does the job like a brush hog. If you do not know what a brush hog is, picture a large lawnmower that attaches to the back of a tractor. The blades are powered by the tractor.
Not only are brush hogs good for cutting hay or high grass, they are excellent for small brush. Some of the larger brush hogs are able to cut trees up to three inches in diameter.
Disk – A disk is a metal frame with several “disk” around 14-16 inches in diameter attached to the bottom of it. The frame will sometimes have weights on it to help the disk dig into the ground.
What is a disk used for? It is used to break the ground up.
The round disk can be moved and aligned to help make garden rows
Middle buster – Also called a plow. There is also a “turning plow” that is used to turn the soil over. Plows have been used for several thousand years. Their main purpose it to break the soil open so seeds can be planted.
After the field has been cut with the brush hog, the soil broke up with the disk, the middle buster is used to open the ground for the rows to plant seeds. Finally comes the row maker.
Row maker – also called “hiller.” If someone wants to take the time, they can arrange a disk so that it can be a hiller. This can be a little time consuming as you have to take the disk loose, move them around, maybe take some off, then put everything back on once you are done.
To save time, some people will buy a row maker.
Grapple – When it comes to moving stuff like tree limbs, nothing beats a grapple. What it would take someone days to do by hand, a tractor with a grapple can do in a few hours.
Then there is the stuff that is just too heavy to move by hand. Large rocks, fallen trees, tree limbs–a good grapple is the only way to go.
Bucket – These are usually called front end loaders. However, there are loaders that mount to the back of the tractor. To keep the confusion down, let’s talk about bucket attachments that are hydraulic and non-hydraulic.
Hydraulic powered buckets can be front or rear mounted and use a hydraulic pump for operation. These have a wide range of articulation and can lift high enough to load a truck or trailer.
Non-hydraulic usually work off the the three point hitch. These are designed to back into a mound of dirt, lift the bucket, then go dump it where you want it. These rear mounted buckets are usually about the size of a wheel barrel and can only lift loads a couple of feet off the ground.
Auger – When it comes to building a fence, nothing beats a good auger. This could save someone days of manual labor when setting fence post.
Other Tractor Attachments
There are so many tractor attachments we have not mentioned, such as a seed spread, box blade, backhoe, fence stretcher, etc.
I tried to touch on the basic tractor attachments that would have common uses around the farm.
Hopefully you enjoyed the article. If you did, be sure to comment and share.
