It takes a lot of horsepower to run a farm and since we don’t have horses on our farm (yet), we have to settle for the mechanical kind of horsepower that one finds in equipment. So far we have 8 pieces of equipment on the farm. Why do we need so much equipment? Well, here goes…
The John Deere 50G excavator comes in handy for removing tree stumps from dead trees, or trees that have been blown down on the property (remember the May 15, 2020 line storm?). It’s also necessary for digging a trench for electrical and water to our new barn. We ran into one or two large rocks along the way.
The Deere 317 skid steer (and its 8 attachments) does everything from plucking small trees from the pastures, lifting (with forks) pallets of stone for walkways and hauling trees away once they have fallen. I know I’ve missed multiple applications (or so Mike will tell me).
The JD 65HP (still no horses) backhoe/loader is essential for moving wood chips, compost and manure from point A to point B (usually into our veggie garden). Our llamas are fastidious in that they create latrine areas so the collection of their dung is easy. The sheep however, are good at fertilizing the entire pasture.
The last of our John Deere products is a JD 550 mower/snow blower which is essential for cleaning up the driveways and paths during the winters and for keeping the grass under control (when the sheep aren’t eating it!).
We have 3 more pieces of inconsequential use (gang mowing and moving humans around the property) but the most reliable and most relied upon are our own herd of Deere.