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About This Quiz
Do you know the difference between a cultivator and a tedder? Know when to use a hoe versus a shovel, or what that scary thing with the metal teeth is that hooks to the back of the tractor? Any idea why anyone would want to own a manure spreader? If you can answer these questions, you might have what it takes to ace this farm equipment quiz!
It's easy to see what draws people to pursue a career in agriculture: plenty of fresh air, the satisfaction of working the earth with your own hands, time spent with animals and not a cubicle in sight. Yet those dreaming of drafting a resignation letter and strapping on a pair of overalls should also take time to consider the other side of the equation — heavy workloads, early mornings and the knowledge that weather, pests or bad luck can wipe out an entire season's crop.
The good news is that modern farmers have plenty of equipment at their fingertips to make the job go more smoothly. Sure, you still have to till the land, but tractors and combines get the job done way faster than the team of horses your ancestors would have used. And yes, cows still need to be milked multiple times a day, but machinery and technology mean you can do the job in a fraction of the time that it would have taken a farmer in the 1800s.
Think you're ready for a life on the farm? Take our quiz to prove your farm equipment IQ!
Baler
Tractor
A tractor really is the jack-of-all-trades on the farm. This ride-on machine ranges from compact to mega-sized and uses a variety of attachments and implements to till, plant and harvest all kinds of crops. This machine is so vital to farm operation that it's hard to believe gas-powered tractors have only been around since the 1890s.
Headgate
Seeder
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Baler
Tedder
ATV
Cultivator
Cultivators are designed to refine soil after it has already been tilled. They are typically dragged behind a tractor and use either rotary disks or a series of metal teeth to work the soil. The cultivator breaks up clumps and is helpful at aerating and removing weeds.
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Seed drill
A seed drill precisely places seeds into the soil at specific depth and spacing. After placing each seed, the machine gently covers it with dirt so it won't blow away or end up as bird seed.
Hoe
Front-end loader
Spade
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Pickup truck
Harrow
Baler
Can you imagine how tough it would be to wrangled loose piles of hay? A baler is a machine that compresses the cut hay into square or round units called bales, which can then be wrapped in plastic or twine for easy handling and storage.
Trowel
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Manure spreader
Feeding trough
Plow
A plow is used for preliminary tilling and earth preparation before cultivation and planting. This machine, which is towed by a tractor, uses disks or spikes to turn and break up tough soil, loosening it up for further preparation with other devices.
Milking machine
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Harrow
Sprayer
Sprayers are used to apply liquids like pesticides or herbicides to crops. They range from simple backpack models to units that can be towed by a plow or ATV to treat a large area all at once.
Sickle
Cultipacker
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Wheelbarrow
Wheelbarrows are a must-have for any size farm. Perfect for carting around loose items like dirt, manure, wood chips or gravel, they can also be used to transport a heavy bag of feed or fertilizer.
Pickup truck
Combine
Headgate
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Cattle loader
Backhoe
Pitchfork
Headgate
Examining a sick cow or trying to give medicine to a sheep can be pretty tricky, even for experienced farmers. Headgates are designed to safely hold livestock in one place so you can adequately care for them without worrying about injury to yourself or the animal.
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Broadcast seeder
Manure spreader
Shovel
A shovel is a must-have for farmers. It allows you to do everything from shoveling snow to digging a hole for a new fence post. Use rounded shovels for digging or choose a square shovel for scooping tasks, like spreading mulch.
Sprayer
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Cultivator
ATV
Even small farms can include a lot of acres. Try to walk everywhere, and you won't have energy left to tend crops or care for animals! An ATV can make travel easier and help you reach an emergency in the far fields more quickly.
Spade
Transplanter
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Backhoe
Farmers spend a lot of time digging and preparing new acres for planting. A backhoe uses an articulated arm to draw a heavy metal bucket toward a cab to dig through tough dirt. This machine can be used for everything from trenching to building a foundation to removing a large boulder from a potential planting area.
Tractor
Cultivator
Harrow
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Tedder
A tedder is a tractor attachment used to help dry hay more quickly. It lifts and spreads the cut hay to reduce moisture, resulting in better-quality feed than if the hay were left to dry unassisted.
Harrow
Rake
Picker
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Backhoe
Manure spreader
A manure spreader is a piece of equipment designed to be pulled behind a tractor. It spreads a thin layer of manure across the soil for fertilization. And trust us — this is a way better way than spreading manure with your hands.
Rake
Mattock
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Transplanter
Hoe
Farmers have been using hoes to tend the fields for hundreds of years. The hoe consists of a long handle with a thin metal blade at one end and is used to remove weeds and break up soil for planting over a small area.
Cultipacker
Tedder
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Pitchfork
Incubator
Livestock trailer
Milking machine
Lactating cows need to be milked twice a day. What once took hours to do by hand can now be accomplished in a fraction of the time using a milking machine. The most common type is a cluster milker, which comes with four cups — one for each teat on the cow.
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Grain cart
Wheelbarrow
Threshing machine
Cultipacker
Despite its similar name, a cultipacker is different from a cultivator. The cultipacker consists of a heavy roller with cleats or spikes on the surface. When pulled behind a tractor, it crushes dirt clumps, flattens out air pockets and presses lightweight seeds into the soil where birds can't get them.
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Scythe
Sickle
Broadcast seeder
When precision seed placement isn't required, a broadcast seeder is the perfect piece of equipment for spreading seeds rapidly over an area. This device ranges from handheld to units so large they must be towed by a tractor and is designed to fling seeds from a hopper onto the ground quickly.
Milking machine
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Mattock
Pick axe
Sickle
Farmers have long used sickles — long blades attached to wooden handles — to quickly chop wheat and other grains. A scythe is a similar tool which is much longer and designed for use with two hands, rather than the one hand required to swing a sickle.
High-clearance tractor
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ATV
Mattock
The mattock, a pick-ax-like tool used in farming, consists of a heavy steel blade attached to a short handle. One end is blade shaped while the other is pointed, making this tool idea for everything from chopping up wood to picking rocks out of tough soil.
Chipper
Silo
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Transplanter
Once seedlings have started to sprout, it often makes sense to transplant them to new parcels of land where they have more space to spread their roots. A transplanter is designed to make quick work of removing these plants from the earth and eliminates painful crouching or kneeling in the dirt.
Picker
Sprayer
Pickup truck
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Feeding trough
Front-end loader
Pick axe
Mower
If you thought mowing your backyard was bad, imagine the upkeep when you own hundreds or thousands of acres! A good mower, whether it's a ride-on or a larger tractor attachment, is a worthwhile investment for any farmer.
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Thresher
Irrigation system
Corn head
This equipment might look intimidating, but it's critical to the work of corn farmers. This attachment, known as a corn head, uses giant fingers to fit between rows of corn and pluck each ear from its stalk.
Stump grinder
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Chainsaw
Farmers are forever maintaining fields and clearing new land for planting. A chainsaw makes quick work of unwanted trees and is also useful for things like cutting lumber or performing minor demo and site work.
Router
Rake
Post-hole digger
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Incubator
Forklift
Many barns have lofts which are ideal for storing bales of hay or pallets of goods — but how to get stuff up to that second story. A forklift is a simple machine that makes it easy to lift heavy loads without breaking your back — or trying to climb a ladder with a giant bale of hay under one arm!
Bale wrapper
Sprayer
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Incubator
Grain cart
Draper head
A draper head tractor attachment is an alternative to the traditional auger harvester. Instead of using spinning augers to cuts and collect grains, it relies on a conveyor belt to catch crops after they have been cut. This allows for faster harvest and less time spent in the fields.
Bale wrapper
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Rake
Post driver
Chipper
A chipper makes quick work of fallen or cut trees. Feeding the wood through the chipper produces mulch, which can then be spread over the soil to conserve moisture or keep weeds at bay.
Spade
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Post-hole digger
Drive past almost any farm and you'll see uninterrupted stretches of fences used to mark property lines and contain cattle, horses and livestock. A post-hole digger is a must-have for fence building and breaking through tough ground to create the holes required to accommodate support posts.
Transplanter
Milking machine
Mattock
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Threshing machine
Grape harvester
Winemakers have long harvested grapes by hand, but the newest grape-harvesting equipment is able to collect the fruit from the vines without bruising or crushing the grapes. These machines use finger-like rods to break the grapes free, de-stem and sort them with ease. Some are designed for towing behind a tractor, while others have a cab and drive system built right in.
Incubator
Harrow
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Pitchfork
Chainsaw
Stump grinder
Bale wrapper
Wrapping bales of hay in plastic helps to ferment the grain, creating a product called silage that can be fed to livestock. A bale wrapper makes it easy to get the wrapping done quickly. These machines can be designed to wrap a single bale or to wrap multiple bales in an in-line wrapping technique.
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Grape harvester
Front-end loader
Threshing machine
On large farms, combines are designed to both harvest and thresh grain all at once. Smaller farms may use a separate threshing machine, which removes the seeds from the stalk and husk of the grain after it has been cut.
Post-hole digger
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Stump grinder
Sure, you can cut down trees with a chainsaw, but you're still left with stumps that can be truly challenging to deal with. A stump grinder is a piece of equipment that pulverizes these stumps to get them out of the way, clearing the land for planting or other needs.
Forklift
Plow
Wheelbarrow
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Threshing machine
Picker
Bale wrapper
Silo
Those tall towers you see casting shadows across a farm field are called silo. Ideal for storing grain, they are found on all farms in some form of another. While traditional cylinders are most common, you can also find bunker versions and even temporary plastic tube silos.
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Forklist
Potato harvester
Potatoes grow underground, so harvesting them is no easy task. A potato harvester can be attached to a tractor and uses finger-like appendages to free the potatoes from their stems, lift them out of the dirt and collect them in a hopper — just in time to make some French fries.
Backhoe
Headgate
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Draper head
Hoe
Irrigation system
Farmers used to be at the complete mercy of the weather. Today, farmers have the option to make their own rain when the weather refuses to cooperate. Irrigation systems range from traditional sprinklers to drip irrigation, canals and tow-able wheel lines.
Chainsaw
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Plow
Incubator
Eggs require surprisingly specific temperature and humidity levels if they are to hatch properly and produce new chicks. An incubator ensures perfect conditions for hatching, resulting in greater poultry numbers. It takes about 21 days for a chicken egg to hatch in this equipment, while eggs from other birds can take a month or more.
Picker
Tedder
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Picker
Picking cotton is difficult, back-breaking work. Cotton pickers attach to a tractor, using a series of spindles and drums to pick and de-seed the cotton to get it ready for sale.
Backhoe
Cultipacker
Corn header
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Cultipacker
Combine
Plow
Front-end loader
A front-end loader is a compact machine with a large bucket installed on the front. The machine makes quick work of moving everything from dirt to gravel or even snow. It's useful for digging, building or even clearing new fields for planting.
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Grain Dryer
Milking machine
High-clearance tractor
Some crops are too difficult to harvest with a regular tractor. When you're growing things like delicate berries or valuable tobacco, a high-clearance tractor, which sits further off the ground than traditional models, can help you complete the harvest and tend to crops without doing any major damage.
Trowel
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Pickup truck
A pickup truck is a jack-of-all-trades on the farm. It can save time and energy if you need to travel to far-flung fields or outbuildings and is also helpful for hauling everything from tools to bags of feed to a crew of helpers ready to assist with the harvest.
Draper head
Headgate
Chainsaw
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Silo
Chipper
Harrow
A harrow is a metal-spiked implement designed to drag behind a tractor. It's used for tilling but doesn't work the ground as deeply as a plow. The harrow's role is to refine rough surfaces left after plowing, removing any weeds and covering seeds with a fine layer of dirt.
Post-hole digger
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