Automatic features for compact tractors

Listen to this radio story (MP3 download) or read below.

Radio interview source: Ronald Parrish, market development manager, Kioti Tractors

The first tractor I drove as a teenager was an old Allis-Chalmers of Dad's. It was a monster. All the gears stuck together and it seemed to take brute force to even turn the steering wheel. I had to remember which levers moved which way, and try not to stall the machine in the process.

These days, the trend for compact and large tractor manufacturers is to make models that are "get on and go". More automatic features make it easier to learn a machine quickly and get right to work.

For example, driving a compact tractor with a hydrostatic transmission means you don't have to be an octopus to get the machine to move. Ronald Parrish, the marketing development manager for a tractor manufacturer, says hydrostatic drives are simple to use because they operate very much like an automatic transmission in a car.

"Unlike a gear tractor or a traditional tractor, you do not have to clutch," Parrish says. "You select from a range of speeds -- low, medium or high -- and then you have infinite speeds in forward and reverse. Once you go into forward, there is no changing gears. It's very smooth, you're not having to constantly use your hands and/or your feet to control the tractor."