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Show Millard County Progress Annual Farm Supplement, Friday, April 20, 1979 Page 6 -- -- TRACTOR CLINICS HELP SAVE FUEL by Cleon M. Hotter Extension Information Utah State University "You may be getting only 60 horsepower from a tractor designed to give 80. It will use the same amount of fuel, but won't put out the work that it should." Dr. Von H. Jarrett, extension agricultural engineer, Utah State University, has put across this idea to farmers and ranchers over the state in a tractor testing program conducted under grant from the Utah State Energy Office. In tractor clinics he has conducted throughout Utah since the fall of 1976 Dr. Jarrett has tested nearly 1000 of the farmers and ranchers tractors using a dynamo- - f meter that connects to the power take-ofHe pulls the wheel- mounted dynamometer behind his pickup to clinics arranged by the local county extension agents. He says it has not been uncommon for a farmer to bring his tractor from the field for the LaMar Monroe of Scipio watches Dr. Von Jarrett, checkup, then after the tune-uin are back made, go dynometer. adjustments f. p USU Specialist of Logan, test his tractor on the the field on the same implement and find that he could travel two gears higher than before. That means a big savings in both time and fuel. Where records were kept at one time period, an average .25 horsepower increase of output per tractor was gained on 273 tractors. Dr. Jarrett notes that according to the Nebraska Fuel Consumption Test Report, an average 50 HP diesel tractor will develop 14.6 horsepower hours per gallon of fuel under full load. Multiplying the gain in horsepower by the number of hours the tractor is used in a year and dividing by 14.6 gives the owner an idea of the annual fuel do it . savings achieved from testing his tractor. Farmers and ranchers soon see another value. At present prices in purchasing a tractor, the cost per Some tay it's best to plant horsepower well exceeds $200. potatoes on starry nights. With 10 horsepower restored to the 1 Lee Monroe, East Millard Young Farmers vice president, along with Vic Monroe, Keith Robison, and Merlin Monroe take a look at the digital tractor, the owner has saved - you might say gained - over $2000 in power value. Farmers and ranchers have been keenly interested in seeing and discussing the tests and adjustments needed on their own tractors Where to improve performance. more extensive mechanical work has been needed, Dr. Jarrett has suggested that they take their tractors to their dealers' repair shops at an early date. Those in the more remote areas of the state who must travel a hundred miles or so for tractor repair service especially appreciate it when adjustments can be made at a local clinic. When the trip is necessary, they appreciate knowing in advance what repairs are needed. Dr. Jarretts aim is not so much to provide the testing service as to take advantage of the teaching to moment to get farmers understand and take better care of their tractors. Frequently at the clinic localities he conducts an evening school for the tractor owners and operators. There he stresses that the best assurance of saving money and fuel on tractors is to keep them tuned up and properly serviced and to use good quality, dean fuel and lubricants. Through slides, displays, and discussions in the meetings he puts across the idea that the only way to get full value out of this expensive equipment is to work it more at peak efficiency. Then in the tractor testing clinics scheduled in the fall and before spring work begins, he shows tractor users the power performance they can rightfully expect from their machines. Tractor owners are becoming highly sensitive to the increasing costs of equipment and fuel. They feel the necessity of getting more work for the dollars spent. The tractor clinics are helping them to tachometer on the dynometer during tractor testing clinic in Millard County last summer. What machinne trims grass iwotthsftrnng? Now, give yotii y.irtl th. it hc.uililullv gloomed, piolession,il l.mdsL.ipcr look...wiih Ihc Green Machine? Specially loimnl.iicd rylon strings aie totaled al rMienuly high speed bv an elliiienl peim aneni magnet electric niotoi . I hese schilling, llexible strings cut easily ihnuigh glass and weeds, reaching into and mound locks, tices, lenecs and walkways. I he Gieen Machine acts as a even sweeps up after the job trimmer and edger as well as a small area mower. is done1 ( nine in today and sec Ihc new wav to heaulilul lawns and yards. The Green Machine Main St., Co, Fillmore JOrnbcdh & 1 FEDERAL LAND GRAB ON SEVERAL FRONTS, CLAIMS NATIONAL SPEAKER The federal governments continuing move to gain control over the use and management of prieven ownership in vate land-- or some cases-- is surfacing in several programs, according to a national agricultural authority. Richard W. Owens, chief administrator and secretary of the American Farm Bureau Federation, listed as examples of the federal land grab the current RARE II wilderness study by the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service move to oust families who own private land within national parks, and the Department of the Interior's revival of a badly outmoded, limit on farm size. Owens spoke to nearly 400 farmers and ranchers at a recent Utah d Farm Bureau annual convention in Salt Lake City. The RARE Review and II (Roadless Areas Evaluation) study threatens livestock grazing, timber harvest, and mining on more than 52 million acres of Forest Service land, he said, pointing out that 470 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land are about to undergo the same type of review.If Congress designates an area as wilderness, the land can no longer be entered by motor vehicles, nor can power tools be used on the land. This would thwart the original intent of Congress to set aside only high, almost inaccessible areas for their Alpine beauty. 45 N. Though loybeani were being cultivated in Chine before 3500 B.C., they were virtually unknown in Europe and America until 1900. |