Small Farm Tractors: Choose Wisely

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If you don't intend to do any multi-acre rowcrop farming, a utility tractor can be a good investment. However, even though the machines can be used for plowing and cultivating fields, they certainly don't make such jobs easy. The towed-behind attachments necessary to tend row crops with a utility tractor will force you to drive with one eye on the cultivators (for instance) and the other on the row ahead. You'll find that such a setup will sometimes cause you to plow up more peas than weeds ... and give you a backache, to boot.

The general-purpose tractor, on the other hand, can perform almost every job that a utility machine is capable of tackling, yet it's designed to care for row crops. Such tractors have greater ground clearance than do the utility models, a feature that allows them to straddle rows of crops — while cultivating the field — without disturbing the plants beneath them. General purpose tractors also usually carry their attachments between the front and rear wheels, and frequently have their engines set off slightly to the left ... allowing a driver to look down and make sure the cultivator or other implement is exactly where he or she wants it.

In addition, the distances between the left and right wheels of row-croppers can often be adjusted ... allowing the machines to be used to tend crops that require a variety of row width settings, and enabling you to get the maximum use out of your property and your tractor.

General-purpose tractors are either single-row or multiple-row (the latter are always designated in even numbers) machines. The one-row models, of course, are smaller and usually have the front pair of wheels in line with the rear set. Multiple-row tractors sometimes use a "tricycle" arrangement in which the front tires are placed close together. The larger machines can make short work of big level fields but are also relatively cumbersome and difficult lc maneuver ... while the tricycle wheel arrangement is somewhat less stable than is the "four-square" pattern common on single-row models.

A FEW FARMING FUELS

Almost all tractors available today are powered by either gasoline or diesel engines. (You will occasionally see tractors for sale that are fueled by LP — liquid propane — gas, often at very low prices. But unless you can be sure such machines are in prime condition, be wary of them. Parts are scarce, and, after buying one, you could well find yourself stuck with an inoperative "classic".)

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