List of Agricultural Machinery: Buying Used Tractors

Have you ever gotten stuck in the middle of a snowstorm when everything around you was white and you ran off the road? Guess what machinery will get you out of this trouble? You guessed it right, it’s a tractor that is going to help you get back on the road. Tractors are engineering vehicles designed to fulfil tasks within the construction and agricultural industries. When buying a used tractor, it’s important to know certain facts, such as a little about the history of tractors, as that’s always good to know; the different types of tractors and the best manufacturers, and the age of potential units to purchase. 

When was the first tractor made?

The name John Froelich is undeniably connected with the invention of the first tractor in 1892, as well as with the American agricultural industry at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. However, the word ‘tractor’ wasn’t used that time, as the invention was known as the first gasoline-powered engine ever successfully constructed and able to be driven both forwards and backwards. John Froelich was aware of formerly used steam-powered engines that had been invented years before, but he was not satisfied with their disadvantages and frequent mechanical issues that made working with them almost impossible. 

The invention of the gasoline-powered engine was a success from the start, and opened the door for a new way of doing agricultural work. John Froelich established his own company called Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company. In 1918, the company was purchased by John Deere, whose company is now one of the World’s biggest manufacturers of agricultural, construction, and forestry machinery from that time to the present. 

What does a tractor do?

When considering using a tractor for a project, you should definitely know what tractors are made for and what they are capable of doing Tasks that are done by tractors can be summarized into the following groups: gardening, caring for farm animals, landscaping, foresting, snow removing and light construction work. 

Gardening work was initially the main purpose of the invention of the tractor. Cultivating fields became way easier after the year of 1892. Heavy work had been taken off the shoulders of farmers and put onto the power of new machinery. Agricultural gardening affects the provision of food for livestock and all the work associated with the process of caring for farm animals. 

Tractors are capable of doing both heavy and light landscaping work. They are used on construction sites to mow heavy brushes as well as in gardens to do smaller-scale work to make the ground prettier. Tractors are the perfect fit for helping with cleaning work including lifting, hauling or pulling. Tractors also have a wide range of use in the forestry industry.

With an any-sized construction project, tractors are used for digging holes with the appropriate attachment and drill speed. Besides digging work, tractors are used for moving sand and gravel. If the tractor is equipped with forks, they can be used for loading and moving building material.

The usefulness of tractors is endless. The list above describes the basic tasks which can be performed by the below types of tractors. 

What size tractor do I need?

Identifying the size of a tractor you need is quite easy and straightforward. Let’s group tractors into four main groups to classify the types and the main purposes they were made for. 

Gardening tractors

The power of gardening tractors is up to 25 hp. These tractors are used for gardening work including lawn care. One of the main characteristics of this type of tractor is to minimize footprints on the ground. With this type of small tractors, you can get quite a few pieces of equipment to extend the efficiency of gardening work for example for snow removing, brooming, loading and moving work.

Compact tractors

Compact tractors range between 25 hp and 45 hp in power. These mid-size tractors are known for their easy usability. A hitch is placed close to the ground, making it easy to implement and use attachments and the ground clearance is bigger than with garden tractors. Compactor tractors are capable of doing greater tasks that the previous group including mowing, heavier gardening, landscaping, animal management and snow cleaning work. 

Utility tractors

Utility tractors are even more powerful, as the horsepower is between 45 and 85. Thanks to their power and size, which is even bigger than the size of compact tractors, utility tractors are able to operate with heavier equipment which makes them perfect for using on construction sites. Utility tractors are suitable for handling large amounts of material.

Farm tractors

The power of farm tractors is from 85 hp up to 450 hp. These tractors are designed to carry out big-scale farm work such as commercial agriculture projects. Farm tractors are bigger in power, size and wider with options as they can be equipped with countless attachments that bring many different user features to agricultural work. 

Which tractor is the best?

Now that the types of tractors are clear, let’s have a look at the manufacturers and age. When speaking about age, we should consider the market of used agricultural and construction machinery since it offers many advantages over brand new units as you can read in the article “Why Buy Used Construction Machinery?”. 

Kitmondo offers machinery from sound names of manufacturers in the agriculture industry such as John Deere, New Holland and Caterpillar. The lifetime of units built under world-known brands proves the high-quality of these products and makes them perfect for buying second hand. When deciding to purchase a machine from such a brand, you can be confident that you will never make a mistake because they will not let you down.