How to Choose the Right Farm Equipment for Your Small Business: 3 Simple Steps

Your agricultural equipment is a key factor in the success of your small farming business. 

Every farm owner wants to have the best equipment to ensure that they get their job done in a quick and efficient way, but many small farmers aren’t sure of what kinds of equipment they’ll need because they’re on a tight budget.

There are methods that you can follow to help you decide whether or not you need something. There are also plenty of affordable pieces of small business farm equipment that will up your ante while not breaking the bank.

Continue reading to learn about how to choose the right farm equipment for your small business.

1. What Do You Work With?

When you’re starting your farming business or already have one, it’s important to look at what type of farm you work with. Here are a few questions that you need to consider before you go ahead and purchase small farm equipment:

• Will you be working with animals or land?
• If you’re working with animals, what kind?
• If you’re working with the land, how much land is it? What type of work are you doing on the land?

Answering these questions can quickly narrow down the possibilities for you. It makes things much easier for you in the long run and ensures that you don’t waste your time and money buying unnecessary things.

2. What Farm Equipment Do You Need?

After you’ve concluded what exactly you’re working with, you can start looking into farm equipment. 

Tractors

Tractors are very useful and versatile pieces of equipment to farmers cultivate the land for crops. They allow you to attach things like wagons and mount tools that provide a variety of uses. 

The main purpose of a tractor is to remove the physical labor that farming requires. Tractors can be equipped with tools such as tillers, seeders, mowers and more. This saves a ton of time and labor fees.

When choosing a tractor, try to see one that has just the right amount of functionality that you’ll need. Also, try to pick out the attachments that will actually help you get your job done.

Trucks

Truck are important to the lives of farmers because not only is a vehicle needed to travel far distances, they have a plethora of uses just like tractors. They can tow and store equipment, and they let you access the other side of your farm within minutes.

Many farmers transport their goods themselves, so a decent truck gives them the horsepower and space they require.

Before buying, look at how much weight a truck can pull and consider the number of people you plan to regularly have inside. You also need to think about if you’ll be using it for daily transportation so you can consider mileage.

Livestock Equipment

If your farm mainly consists of raising livestock, you need to get some equipment specific to them. There’s a ton of options that vary by animal, so consider every animal you have and ask yourself what you’ll need.

Horses, pigs, and cows all need barns and stalls, chickens need a coop and so on. Consider all of the animals and look into what types of animal housing you’ll require.

Aside from animal housing, you’ll need to consider the tools to maintain your livestock. Thinks like feeders, water systems, hay racks, etc., are important to ensure your animals are receiving proper nutrition.

Adding things like fenced fields and pens will give your animals the freedom to move around and roam while also providing them protection. Look into the material to build fences and cages, but don’t build more than you have to.

Tools

Every small farm implements simple hand tools to handle day-to-day tasks. Here’s a small farm tools list of essentials to get:

• Shovels
• Rakes
• Wheelbarrows
• Buckets
• Hammers
• Crates
• Wrenches
• Toolboxes
• Brooms

You can’t rely on machinery to get the job done all the time. Think about it, how’s a tractor going to give water to your animals? Or sweep up the barn floor? Having hand tools will come in handy.

If you do small gardening on your farm, you can even get gardening tools like pruning shears and soil knives. It all depends on what you do on your farm.

3. Do Your Research

After you’ve figured out what kind of equipment you’ll need to complete your work, the next step is researching several products. You should spend a lot of time on this step because you don’t want to waste money.

Deeply look into various machines, tools, and services to ensure that you get the best out of your money. Read reviews, test small scale farm equipment, ask about some information on products.

Doing research on equipment before you buy it will ensure that you get a long-lasting, high-quality product. As a small business, every dollar is extremely valuable. You need to put money in to get money back, but don’t go overboard.

It’s okay to invest a decent chunk of money into high-quality machinery, but you can cheap out on things like small hand tools. You do not need to spend $100 on that flashy red shovel.

Start Investing In Farm Equipment

After you’ve completed all of the steps, you can start buying farm equipment that you know is reliable and has a place at your farm.

Get out there and start enjoying the perks of small farm equipment that will provide you profit and leisure.