Farm Tools, Machinery and Equipment: Use and Calibration
Farm Tools, Machinery and Equipment tests identification, use, adjustment, calibration, maintenance and safety for hand tools, animal-drawn implements and tractor-mounted equipment.
Core rules
- Hand tools each do one job: hoe (weeding, ridging), rake (levelling, trash), fork (manure), sickle or slasher (grass), knapsack sprayer (pesticide), wheelbarrow (transport). Sharp, clean, oiled tools work faster and injure fewer workers.
- Animal-drawn implements: mouldboard plough (primary tillage, buries residues), disc plough (hard, stony or trashy land), harrow (breaking clods, levelling), ridger, cultivator, planter.
- Tractor hitching: the three-point linkage carries mounted implements, the drawbar pulls trailed ones, and the PTO drives implements at 540 rpm. Stabilisers stop sway; the top link sets the implement level.
- Maintenance: grease nipples, oil chains, correct tyre pressure, replace worn shares, store under cover, keep guards fitted.
- Calibration is the mark-earning skill: measure output, measure the area covered, then adjust.
Worked example: field capacity
A 2 m-wide implement is pulled at 6 km/h with 80% field efficiency. Theoretical capacity = (width × speed) ÷ 10 = (2 × 6) ÷ 10 = 1.2 ha/h. Effective capacity = 1.2 × 0.80 = 0.96 ha/h. Time to cover 5 ha = 5 ÷ 0.96 = 5.2 hours, so plan a full day and allow for turns and overlaps.
Traps
- Confusing theoretical with effective field capacity.
- Hitching to the wrong point and bending the linkage.
- Spraying without calibrating, giving under- or over-dosing.
- Removing PTO guards or parking implements on bare soil.