Other Agriculture & Forestry Equipment

Other Agriculture and Forestry Equipment

Successful forest management and farming practices require the right tools for the job. Here are some of the essential tools you need, whether you are a farmer, gardener, tree lover, or property owner.

Hobby farmers, organic gardeners, and family farmers purchase a variety of different task-specific agriculture equipment. Agriculture equipment is designed to increase productivity and crop yield by taking on specific agricultural duties. Some examples of these tools include:

• Booms and sprayers: These pieces of agricultural equipment are used to evenly dispense pesticides, insecticides, and other liquids.
• Cultivators: These tools work the soil. Many cultivation and tillage tools are handheld, like hoes, rakes, and shovels. Others are mechanized.
• Harrows: These tools feature rows of blades that create harrows. You can choose the number of rows and types of blades that are well-suited for your crop and growing area.
• Tractors: These essential farm tools are not task-specific. Instead, haul task-specific equipment. Harrows, cultivators, large sprayers, and other pieces of equipment are attached to tractors and hauled across the landscape.

Homeowners clear fire fodder from their yard using the same types of tools that forestry professionals use to clear tracts of forest land and to harvest timber from tree farms. Chainsaws, axes, and Pulaskis are general names that don't adequately reveal the highly adaptable nature of most forestry equipment. Here are a few of the most useful forestry tools and detailed information about their many uses.

• Axes: Forestry axes differ from carpentry axes and logging axes. Carpentry and logging axes work wood and timber after it has been felled. Forestry axes are used on trees that are still standing. Felling axes, perhaps the most common forestry ax, has a thin-blade head with a 28- to 36-inch handle. The second kind of forestry ax is the Hudson-Bay-type ax, which is also called a 3/4 ax. This ax is used to cut back undergrowth and to build and maintain trails.
• Chainsaws: These mechanized tools are also used to fell trees, prune branches, and cut underbrush. Since these tools are mechanized, users are advised to wear chainsaw chaps and safety goggles.
• Pulaskis: These tools are part ax and part grubber. The ax end is useful for chopping, while the flat end is used to dig fire lines but are also used for trail construction.
• Fire rakes: These rakes have serrated edges that cut back grass, small trees, and brush. They are used on fire lines to remove debris or soil that can combust.
• Tree planters: Tree planting hoes and related tools like the pointy-edged tree planting bar, penetrate tough soils. They leave behind a slot that is suitable for planting tree seedlings.