We look at which machine is commonly used in agriculture. Find out more about agricultural machinery & their uses in agriculture.
Which farming equipment is most used?
Over the last few hundred years, farming has come along a very far way. Machinery and equipment now have a massive role in the ways that the industry operates, and these changes are not going to stop any time soon.
Even recently, farming has continued to experience a variety of new changes that include more sustainable work practices and technology that is incredibly sophisticated. Although, there are still pieces of farming machinery that remain to be a staple on almost all farms. This equipment is reliable and likely never to go away.
Below is a discussion on some of the most highly used farming equipment:
Tractor
For the majority of people, when they think about the world of farming and agricultural equipment, the first thing that will come to mind is a tractor.
Tractors are highly versatile pieces of machinery, and they can be used for a range of different tasks, including landscape maintenance, ploughing, fertilising, and much more. Tractors come in many sizes and will vary in their amount of power depending on the farming needs that the machine was built for.
There are tractors built for small tasks and tractors designed for big tasks. Over hundreds of years, tractors have only become more and more powerful and are now commonly seen as the backbone of the farm.There are not too many jobs on the farm where a tractor cannot be used.
The undeniable power of a tractor means that the time taken to complete tasks can be reduced massively. Tractors are highly versatile machines, and without them, farmers around the world would need to buy machinery that is specialised for each task.
Harvester
Harvesting is the job done by a farmer where ripe produce is collected. This produce includes carrots, potatoes, and grains.
On farms with very large fields, this task would take many hard days of work to have it done just by hand. We can all agree that this is not an efficient use of time.
Harvesters are very large motorised vehicles that are capable of gathering ripe crops in less than half of the time than it would take to do it by hand.
As you can imagine, this completely changed the way that farms are managed. The very first harvesters that were self-propelled were introduced to Europe around 1950.
Before this time, there were almost 1000 years with no changes to harvesting technology.
You might have heard of combine harvesters. These harvesters go one step further and do an extra job that normal harvesters don't do.
Combine harvesters are capable of cutting and threshing wheat while it is being gathered, meaning that the crops are ready almost immediately in just a matter of seconds.
Field sprayers
The worst enemy of farmers is weeds and insects, if they appear on the farm without notice then they can completely destroy crops, and unfortunately, there is no saving them. In order to combat this, sprayers were invented.
They are a type of machinery that allows for herbicides and pesticides to be dispersed all over the fields and the crops in order to prevent any contamination from taking place. The field sprayer unit is usually hauled along by a tractor with a sprayer on the front, which will coat all the crops as the tractor drives through the field.
If you want a successful harvest, then spray applications are one of the most vital steps.
Cultivator
The main purpose of using a cultivator is to ensure that the farm's soil is fully prepared before any planting can take place.
Cultivators are also used for the controlled disturbance of topsoil once the field's crops have been planted. There are two main benefits to this.
Firstly, if you turn over soil then the area will have a much more smooth bed which is better for growth when it comes to planting crops.
Also, if you use a cultivator after the planting process has taken place, then the machine is capable of removing weeds that can easily ruin the growth of crops.
Cultivators are commonly just a small singular self propelled machine, but they can also be attached to the back of a tractor too.
They are easily one of the most common pieces of technology used on a farm because they help to ensure that crops grow healthily, as well as boosting the produce's quality.
Agricultural Machinery & Their Uses in Agriculture
Rotavator or Rotary Tiller
A rotavator or rotary tiller is a highly versatile piece of tilling equipment. The design is made up of many series of blades which are used for turning up the soil. You may have seen a rotary tiller before because they are very popular among farmers.
This is because they allow for the very easy preparation of seedbeds on farms. The primary use for rotary tillers is the breaking of soil in farms, lawns, and gardens.
Over the years, the rotary tiller has only become more and more popular when it comes to agricultural operations because the machine's simple design and incredible efficiency create results that cannot be replicated by much else.
Plough
A plough is a primary piece of tillage equipment. The plough is used through being attached to a tractor and then helping to efficiently and effectively till the farm's land.
Plough's were absolutely revolutionary when they were first introduced because they allowed for the preparation of land in the planting season to be done at a much faster rate.
Ploughs can be used to either turn entirely new land into ground that is perfect for growing crops, or it can be used for the preparation of already existing farmland in order to sow seeds.
Some of the various types of ploughs include the disc plough, the reversible plough, and the mould-board plough.
These ploughs allow for farmers all around the world to turn their soil into highly rich in nutrient seedbed for all of their plant growth.
Disc Harrow
The disc harrow is one of the most vital pieces of tilling equipment that farmers can invest their money into. Disc harrows are excellent for increasing the amount of production done on a farm. This piece of tilling equipment is used as part of the secondary tilling process, the disc harrow is used for breaking up any lumps that have been formed in the soil.
The disc harrow does this at very high speeds and exceedingly efficiently. This process leads to the soil having a much richer finish when it comes time to prepare the final seedbed. Farmers can also use the disc harrow to control weeds that may gather around their crops once they have been grown and planted.
Leveler
This tool that can be attached to a tractor, as the name may suggest, is used for making the soil much more level and smooth.
This is helpful as it allows for a much more moist environment for the crops, as well as a reduced amount of fertilisers, seeds, chemicals and the fuel used overall.
Backhoe
Backhoes are ideal for the digging of fencepost holes, or they can be used for very minor excavation jobs, for example, digging up ground for water features or a pond.
Backhoes are also available as their own separate independent farming implement that can simply be attached to various different types of tractors, and they hauled along.
Mower
The mower is the machine used on a farm to cut or mow, grass and all other plants that grow in the ground. Commonly, mowing is considered to be a separate activity from reaping.
Although they use very similar implements, reaping is actually the process of harvesting grain crops.
There are plenty of different mowers to pick from when looking at which piece of equipment to purchase. There are push-behind mowers, zero-turn mowers, riding mowers, belly-mounted mowers, and pull-behind mowers.
All the previously mentioned mowers are perfect for keeping up with the strict maintenance of your lawn and your pastures.
If you are planning to mak hay then the mower you may want to invest in is the sickle-bar mower. Although a drum mower or a disc mower could also be used.
If you work in the agricultural industry in Scotland, you can find a range of agricultural machinery for hire. For agricultural machine hire in Aberdeenshire and North Scotland follow this link to find out more.