Archive Article: 2002/05/03

3 May 2002

Is tackle getting too big for its boots?

Is there no end to the inexorable rise in tractor power and implement size? Some drills need more than 400hp to pull them.

What effect do drills with working widths of 12m and beyond and weighing more than a fully- loaded grain trailer have on soil compaction?

Admittedly, high outputs are important and wide implements and powerful tractors play important roles. But as Howard Hughes discovered in the 1940s with his monster, eight-engine flying boat, Spruce Goose, it can all get too big to be practical.