CHICAGO, 11. How much More hydraulic and electronic changes are likely in the next few
power will you need? What kind of options. And to confuse matters years,
drive will fit your operation best? even more, major changes in The Horsepower Race
Fam power experts tackle these tillage, weed control, fertilizers “The next era for tractors inmv
tough questions... and others. and management practices are in judgment, is going to have to be
*™ es th ® se > the future is the works. something other than just raw
truly a moving target - and no To help farmers get a handle on power,” says Dr. Howard Doster
ones more aware of it than a things, IH Farm Forum contacted Purdue University farm
farmer trying to plan his farm several leading farm power ex- management specialist In hi«
power/machmery mix for the next perts to get their views on where view, the excitement will come
fewyears, we’re headed; in general, from fine tuning tillage systems to
There s more horsepower to guidelines for planning your farm make more efficient use nf
choose from. More drive systems, power needs and what major available horsepower.
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That’s a view shared by Dr.
Leonard Bashford, University of
Nebraska ag engineer. “I’m not
sure the horse-power is going to
increase as fast as we may have
thought several years ago,”
Bashford says. “There’s just so
much power you can get out of
these machines, and we may be
reaching some of these practical
limits.”
In fact, Bashford goes one step
further: “even with what’s
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Most manufacturers’ attention,
in Stover’s view, likely will focus
on three key areas of tractor
design: 1) improved reliability and
durability, 2) comfort and con
venience features, and 3) making
more effective use of horsepower
from a dollars-and-cents stand
point to the farmer. “The area of
improving fuel consumption and
overall cost/performance will get
a lot of attention, for sure,” says
Stover.
Purdue’s Doster basically
agrees. “The real opportunities in
tractor design seem -to be in
electronics, hydraulics and the
overall subject of measuring
performance,” he says. “Making
your tractors fit with your overall
management system will be a lot
more important from now on. ”
Farm Tractor Reliability
But Dr. Tom Colvin, ag engineer
with USDA’s Research Service at
lowa State University, questions
how much more reliable farm
tractors need to be. “In terms of
mechanical systems, U.S. tractors
have been extremely reliable over
the years,” notes Colvin, also a
farmer himself. “Their reliability
now is at that top-end percent
which takes a lot of input cost to
make even a little improvement.”
Dr. John Siemens, University of
Illinois ag engineer, is in a good
position to observe tractor
reliability, and he’s noticed an
improvement in recent years. “We
used to have quite a tractor
maintenance program here with a
lot of participation,” he says. “Not
so, anymore. The way tractors are
designed and built anymore, there
just isn’t much that goes wrong
with them on a large scale. Our
maintenance program has been
pretty well phased out.”
Even though engineer/farmer
Colvin seems happy enough with
U.S. tractors’ reliability, he’s not
convinced everything is being done
in the way of basic design which
might be. “When you look at what
available now, I think there’s little
doubt but what many farmers are
over-powered,” he suggests.
Washington, lowa, farmer Bill
Vittetoe puts it even more bluntly:
‘‘The way tillage is changing, I
think the days are numbered for
some of these really big, expensive
monsters.”
There’s some agreement on this
point from the manufacturing
industry. “In our view, the hor
sepower race has pretty well
peaked,” says Bill Stover, m
market planning manager for
farm tractors. “We don’t forsee
anything too drastic going on in
this area because of several major
trends in the ag sector.”
(Turn to Page *26)