Nine Tips to Minimize Field Ruts

Field ruts create a plethora of issues for farmers—they increase wear and tear on equipment, reduce operator comfort, and can indicate soil compaction. Furthermore, water can create channels and result in the erosion of valuable soil. Need another compelling reason to control ruts? A Minnesota State University Extension educator found that ruts led to a 17% decrease in yield in observation fields.

The best way to deal with ruts is to mitigate the issues that cause them in the first place.

Farm Equipment and Dinosaurs Exert a Heavy Toll On Soil 

Over the past century, mechanization has dramatically improved crop production and efficiency; however, the size and weight of farm equipment have also grown alongside yield and productivity. A new study found that the weight of modern farm machinery rivals that of sauropods, the largest animals ever to have ever lived on land.

What is More Fuel-Efficient, Tires or Tracks?

Tractors are the engine of a farm, pulling everything from planting implements like seeders in the spring to hauling carts during harvest in the fall. Because tractors are the primary power source on the farm, the expense of keeping them fueled is significant—most years, fuel accounts for about 5% of a farmer’s overall costs. Given the considerable expense of fuel, even small differences can result in large returns—which begs the question, what is more fuel-efficient: tires or tracks? 

Engineered to Keep You Running 

From floater tires to narrow row crop tires and everything in between, Yokohama Off-Highway Tires America, Inc. is the complete co-op tire supplier. With the wide range of Alliance brand designs and sizes, we have tires for nearly any piece of equipment in your operation—floaters, high-clearance sprayers, anhydrous toolbars, nurse tanks, implements, and more. Here’s what our customers say about our tires.

More Life. Less Cost.

At Crystal Valley in Madelia, Minnesota, Nik Samuelson has put Alliance flotation tires to the test on eight of the 11 TerraGator 9300s he oversees as shop coordinator. The remaining three will be replaced once the current tires of a different brand wear out.
He plans to replace them with either the Alliance 376 Multistar flotation radials he trusts or the new Alliance Agriflex+ 377 VF flotation radials he has been sampling for the past year.

The good news: he figures he won’t have too long to wait.