{"id":69,"date":"2020-08-25T01:58:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T01:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carolinacat.com\/construction\/?p=69"},"modified":"2024-10-22T17:00:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T17:00:16","slug":"agricultural-equipment-maintenance-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolinacat.com\/construction\/agricultural-equipment-maintenance-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Agricultural Equipment Maintenance Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keep your Fleet Running Stronger for Longer<\/h2>\n

Operating a successful, profitable and modern farm is a difficult venture, to say the least. Long hours of hard work and dozens of different skillsets are required of today\u2019s farmers, whether they be soil based, dairy producers or cattle raisers.<\/p>\n

Knowledgeable farmers are forward-thinking and proactive business people. Often, farmers have millions of dollars invested in equipment including machinery and tools, not to mention land and livestock. Each year, new technologies make older equipment obsolete or at least less productive. Those who do not keep up with the times and look after their assets are doomed to be left behind and can have catastrophic results.<\/p>\n

Weather is always the wildcard in farming. Owning farming machinery and tools is not; selecting the right equipment is entirely in the farmer\u2019s control, and so is looking after it. Equipment represents a huge investment. Properly purchased and maintained, farming equipment can last indefinitely \u2014 at least as long as it\u2019s intended life or until technology makes it outdated.<\/p>\n

Benefits of a Maintenance Plan for Agriculture and Farm Equipment<\/h2>\n

The key to keeping equipment running and staying at peak performance is no secret. Every successful farmer knows it\u2019s all about maintenance of farm tools and equipment. They know the reasons why farm machines should be maintained and the value in servicing farm equipment.<\/p>\n

\"Proper<\/p>\n

Proper maintenance of farm machineries reduces the expenses needed to keep a farm running at peak efficiency, extends the life of tools and equipment and prevents sudden breakdowns. Spending a lot of time and money maintaining farm equipment might seem unnecessary to an outsider, however, every farmer who\u2019s been in the agriculture business and intends on remaining on a profitable farm knows the cost of maintenance is far less than paying for even more expensive repairs.<\/p>\n

The Virginia Cooperative Extension reported on a Midwest study showing many farmers could\u00a0reduce their overall agricultural equipment repair bills by 25 percent<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>if they improved their ways of maintaining farm machines and tools.<\/p>\n

Another study by the University of Nebraska came to exactly the same\u00a025 percent conclusion<\/a><\/strong>, only they used a specific example. An $80,000 tractor normally requires approximately $24,000 in repairs and maintenance costs during 5,000 hours of operation. With an excellent service management plan, this decreased to $18,000.<\/p>\n

These studies had something else in common about service of farm equipment. Both institutes found that a proper maintenance plan involved two straightforward approaches. One was owner involved equipment maintenance and the second was relying on professional outsourced equipment maintenance. It all comes down to the prevention of problems.<\/p>\n

Although each type of farming has a variety of equipment brands and purposes, there is no universal rule on how to maintain each piece. This simply is an intentional and controlled method of making systematic inspections, adjustments and replacements of components as well as performance analysis and testing.<\/p>\n

\"Benefits<\/p>\n

Planned maintenance<\/a><\/strong>, or PM, takes place before a breakdown occurs. A working PM program extends the life of agricultural equipment. It also reduces the chance of unexpected machinery failure and unscheduled downtime. A proper preventive maintenance program has these benefits:<\/p>\n