Types Of Farm Equipment

Types Of Farm Equipment

Farming is hard work and farmers rely on a number of machines and implements to help them turn a profit from their land. These machines and tools have made work faster, easier and more productive than manual labor, and most farms nowadays rely heavily on their machines to get all the work done. 

While we can’t cover all the different types of farm equipment here, we’ve made a list of the most common ones. To find out more or to get some quality agricultural equipment, visit Central Arkansas Mahindra in Little Rock. If you’re looking for farm equipment for sale near Conway, Sherwood or Hot Springs, get in touch with us today!

Soil Cultivation Machines

Before you can grow plants in your field, you need to get it ready. Different types of crops and soil types will require different kinds of preparations. There are a number of soil cultivation machines that farmers use:

Cultivator

Cultivators are used to prepare the land before planting. Mostly, they’re used for weed control by incorporating weed and plant residue into the soil. Once the plants start growing, you can adjust the spacing between the tines to remove weeds from around the plants.  

Harrow

These pieces of farm equipment are pulled behind a tractor to level the soil, redistribute crop residue and stop weeds from taking root. These are also handy if you’ve got manure that needs to be broken or ground that needs to be level and smooth. 

Cultipacker

This agricultural equipment crushes packed dirt, removes air pockets and presses down on small stones to create a smooth and firm seedbed. After the seeds have been placed on the soil, the cultipacker gently embeds the seed into the soil, which provides better seed-to-soil contact.  

Plows

There are a number of types of plows, and the one you choose will depend on the type of soil, the terrain and the crop you’re growing. These tools loosen or turn the soil prior to seeding or planting. Different types of plows will give you different results so it’s important to understand the differences between them. 

Planting Machines

There are some pieces of farm equipment that have been designed to plant seeds or saplings across vast tracts of land. Once the soil is prepped, the farmer usually uses one of the following machines to get started with growing crops:

Seed Drills

These drills are attached to the tractor and are used to insert seeds into the soil without disturbing the ground. These pieces of agricultural equipment are often used for row crops, cover crops, and grasses. You’ll have a choice between no-till drills that clear a path for seeding and older models that require tilling. 

Broadcast Seeders

These machines come in a variety of sizes—from backpack versions to industrial-sized ones that need a heavy-duty tractor to pull them. The broadcast area of a seeder is usually adjustable. These seeders work best for planting cover crops, grasses and forages. They’re not ideal for planting row crops or any crop that requires some organization to grow. 

Transplanters

For a long time, these pieces of farm equipment were used mostly by large-scale farmers, but now there are models for small farmers as well. These machines let you place a transplant into the ground without having to repeatedly bend over. When you press the lever, the machine makes a hole in the ground and drops the plant into it.

Harvesting Machines

Once a farmer’s crops have grown, they need to be cut and gathered so they can be sent on the next step of the process. For this, there are again a number of different machines which perform a number of different tasks. Some of these are:

Harvester

Nowadays the most popular harvesters are combine harvesters (simply called combines). These versatile farm machines are built to effectively harvest different kinds of grain crops. They’re called ‘combine harvesters’ because they combine three processes—reaping, threshing and winnowing—into one process.  

Swather

A swather is also known as a windrower. This piece of farm equipment aids the process of harvesting by cutting the crop and forming it into a windrow. These machines speed up the drying process so the moisture content becomes suitable for packing and storing. 

There are so many helpful farm machines than we can mention here, like balers, sprayers, backhoes, tractors and more. To learn more about these or to get yourself some reliable Mahindra equipment, visit us at Central Arkansas Mahindra at our location in Little Rock. We’re proud to serve our friends from Conway, Sherwood or Hot Springs!