Information Sheet info@lewco-equip.com.au • telephone 08 8268 3428
New Developments in Specialised Tractors for Orchard and Vineyard Work Working in a vineyard or orchard is specialised work, and so ideally you should be using a specialised tractor that has been designed to suit the job. Leading agricultural machinery manufacturers have been refining and improving the ranges and models they offer, and there have been some significant leaps forward in utility tractor design in recent years. Top of the range machines now feature a number of noteworthy enhancements, so if you are in the market for a specialised tractor, it is useful to know what features you can now expect to find on the best models available. For instance, as a utility tractor very often needs to provide high power output in a compact package, top of the range machines now have outputs of up to 106hp, which marks quite an advance on the capabilities of previous tractors in this class (usually at around 97hp). This should be accompanied by a torque rise of at least of 30%, which is especially needed if you are pulling a heavy load or climbing a steep incline. As working in orchards and vineyards does often mean operating on steep or
uneven ground, there have also been many improvements to the quality of the transmission locks on utility tractors. The best models now feature a 100% mechanical park lock which will keep a machine completely still when it’s parked, essential when you are parking on a hill or incline when towing a spray tank, for example.
A utility tractor, as the name suggests, needs to be versatile, as it may be required to fulfil any number of functions. In this case, when you are using the tractor with high load applications, you don’t want the effort required to use the application to hinder its overall performance, and so the quality and
www.lewco-equip.com.au