Tractor selection for the first time? First, choose the best horsepower!

This is the article translated from TSUCHIKAU blog.
You can find the original post (in Japanese) here: はじめてのトラクター選び。 まずは最適な馬力を選びましょう！ | 農業メディア TSUCHIKAU（ツチカウ）

Tractor which can be used for various works by changing working machine (attachment). It depends on what you cultivate, so some people may find it difficult to choose. This time, I would like you to learn a simple and basic way to choose horse power and use it as a reference for purchasing. 

1. What Tractors Can Do

First, let’s take a look at what tractors can do with attachments.

• Rotary: Soil plowing in fields (digging with nails)
• Drive Hello: Field Podging
• Saisenuri machine: Saisenuri
• Feeding machine: Feeding machine
• Roll balers: Hay or straw that has been cut and gathered is compressed and packed and bound
• Disc rotary: Inverting (deep) the soil in the field
• Suki: Turn-over the soil in the field
• multi-drawing: multi-molding
• a mooring machine: to harvest potatoes
• boom sprayer: spraying chemicals
• Frame More: Mowing
• Carriage trailer: Carriage

I think it is just one example, but it is a wonderful agricultural machine that can do various things.

2. Decide what to cultivate and what to do with tractors

Let’s start with What are you going to use a tractor for? Is it rice? Is it a vegetable? Do you want to use it for dairy farming? Would you like to use an attachment? One of the points is to think about the future, such as the attachment is likely to be installed because we want to cultivate vegetables in the future although we only have rice now.

3. If you want to use an attachment, I recommend the 3-point link specification … That means 16 horsepower or more.

There are two attachment mounting methods, “three-point link” and “two-point link.” The three-point link consists of the attachment supported at three points by the left and right lower links and the top link in the upper center. A two-point link is one that is supported only by the left and right lower links.

Why would you recommend the three-Point Link?

・A wide range of attachments can be attached.
・It is easy to find used work machines.

Attachments for “2 point link” are often found in tractors with 15 hp or less, and there is little distribution, so it is difficult to buy them secondhand. At first, I was cultivating only rice, but when I say “Why don’t we cultivate something even when we don’t grow rice?”, would it be helpful if I could find an attachment first?

< Summary of this chapter >
If no attachment is required: minimum horsepower
Where attachment may be fitted: between 16 horsepower and

4. Required horsepower from the soil

After that, you check the soil to cultivate and choose the necessary horse power. Clay is the soil that needs horsepower. If the horsepower is low, it may cause engine stall, so I choose the one with 25 horsepower or more to work smoothly.

[Rice Fields/Fields]

(*) When installing a boom sprayer, it starts from 25 horsepower, but since it carries a tank of 500 KG minimum, it needs to be heavy as well as horsepower, so it is set to 30 horsepower or more.

5. 25 to 35 horsepower is great if you don’t want to fail!

What are you doing here! But do you know the reason why a farm equipment store recommends 25 – 35 horsepower?

It’s not just because I want to sell big horsepower.
First, please take a look at each manufacturer’s 25 ~ 35 horsepower tractor in Japan. From the variety that covers this horsepower, we can see that it is the horsepower that we put the most effort into.
That’s true, because it’s the most horsepower used by professionals. Another reason is that automatic functions such as tilt control are almost fully equipped.
Mitsubishi Motors Tractors http://www.mam.co.jp/showroom/tractor.html

6. Summary

Once you know what you’re going to grow, what attachments you’re going to need, and what soil quality you’re going to need, all you have to do is pick a grade that fits your budget. In that case, let’s tell the details and consult with a farm equipment store! They will give you appropriate advice, whether you have a good second-hand product or a new one!

*There are various settings depending on the manufacturer and the machine, so this is not all. Please refer to it when you purchase it.