Friday, May 7, 2021

All You Need to Know About Tractor Horsepower


The power of a tractor is cached in the level of horsepower it is built with. This power may differ according to the farmer needs and hence it isn't a single constant measure for all tractors.

This makes it important to understand the basic and essential facts about horsepower which we have attempted to discuss in detail in this article. As tractors are primarily used for farming, this article's approach would be considering the farm tractors in particular.

What is Horsepower?

Horsepower is the power that an engine generates to operate various functions efficiently. 

When it comes to tractors, the energy or power needed to perform various farm operations like planting, sowing, harvesting, tilling, etc, with consistent efficiency is produced by the engine's horsepower. 

The tractor has two types of horsepower:

Engine horsepower

It indicates the power produced by the engine

Power-take-off (PTO) horsepower

Indicates the quantity of power available to run the machine operations.

Though there are variations such as the metric horsepower, which is about 10 watts less in general according to modern standards, one horsepower = 746 watts of power

The horsepower rating of a given tractor usually refers to the "engine horsepower," which is separate from the horsepower offered by the power take-off, a number that is smaller than the rating for the engine; therefore, engine horsepower is a suitable measurement.


What is the calculation method of horsepower?

Horsepower is directly proportional to the RPM and torque; hence, the horsepower is calculated through the watt equation, including torque and RPM. The more the torque, more is the RPM, which ultimately produces high horsepower.

The formula is:

HP = torque x RPM ÷ 5252

Where "5252" is a common constant if the speed is in RPM and torque is ft-lbf.


Different horsepower’s and their significance

A range of different horsepower’s determine various other functions and play different roles in the farm accordingly.


15 to 20 HP range 

Horsepower in this range is usually designed according to a bare lawn or garden tractor. This range is sufficient for typical lawn-related tasks such as mowing the earth, pulling carts or small trailers full of debris or supplies, etc. The fuel consumption is less and is safe to handle for a small farm. 

These tractors are specially designed for Potato, Cotton, Paddy, Rice, Onion, Apple, Mango, cultivation.


25 to 35 HP range

A bigger step to the garden, this range is adequate for the subcompact or mini utility tractors. Their extra power organises for a front-end loader and a backhoe attachment. This is specifically for the small-scale field cultivation. These tractors have a PTO HP for the implements to work out.  Its spinning driveshaft enables tools like mowers, loaders, or backhoe to reach energy from the engine to run. Most tractors come with a standard rear-mounted PTO, but midpoint PTOs are also available with some models. This HP range is perfect for a small-scale field cultivation.

These tractors are ideal for crops like Paddy, Rice, Vegetables, Fruits like Mango, Chickko, Oranges, Watermelon, Grapes cultivation.  


40 to 50 HP range

This range fills the space between compact utility tractors and regular utility tractors. It is a bigger step than compact tractors with an extra capability to improve the increased number of farming functions compared to the earlier two. This tractor is perfect choice for an occasional farmer or anyone who is willing to work with a slow speed and perform the functions on small levels.

Functions such as ploughing fields and baling small square hay bales are possible with this horsepower range. It is best suited for challenging conditions like working in clay soil or pulling a wagon behind the hay baler. They are excellent with work efficiency in clay soil, or muddy terrain, and the superb tyre grip of the tractors efficiently manages the functions.

These tractors are great to work with bigger and commercial crops like Wheat, Maize, in addition to  Vegetables, Flowers, and Fruits  


60 to 90 HP range

This horsepower range better handles everything needed in a farm or regular farming on a large scale. The added power makes the tractor more stable on challenging jobs. Large farm ploughing, tilling, baling hay work with larger and wider implements faster than other tractors and are considered the more advanced technologically built machines for heavy loads of work in a field. These tractors' durability is very high and has a higher loading capacity, suitable for transportation.

The crops that are usually cultivated with this range of tractors are the bigger commercial crops like Sugarcane, Wheat, Jowar, Bajra, Cotton, etc.


100 to 150 HP range

As you may have guessed by now, yes, this range is incredibly the strongest and can perform most extreme levels of farming activities efficiently and can be used for a complete commercial level of farming. Of course, the tractors are a bit costlier as compared to the other range tractors.

They are perfect for heavy functions like forage harvesting, construction, and large-scale plantations. These tractors are capable of performing all the heavy tasks like harvesting, ploughing, tilling, transportation, etc.

Hence if buying this tractor doesn’t feel possible, you can always settle for the 60 to 90 HP range, which, may not be this advanced but is sufficient for a large farm and to perform the heavy functions like the 100 to 150 ranged horsepower.

To sum up, it's unnecessary to purchase a bigger tractor, instead you can choose the other smaller tractors depending on your needs.

How to decide which HP range is suitable for you?

As we have seen, a horsepower of a tractor indicates its engine's work potential; it becomes utmost importance to look out when you are buying any tractor.

Selecting the correct horsepower depends on the size of land and farm applications.

For a small land, you need a low horsepower tractor, whereas you can choose a large horsepower tractor for large land and to work with heavy farm applications. 

So, which HP tractor is best for your farm? Comment below 


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