There’s more to agricultural machinery than the tractor – the king of the farm. Soil prep, planting and harvesting are indeed at the backbone of farming, be it for homesteading or farmsteading, but they all lead to one common issue – naturally occurring waste. Miss out on properly handling and using it, and you miss out on great potential.
And, it’s not just animal waste like slurry and manure; there’s leftover from cultivation and pruning too. This is where specialised waste machinery proves to be of the essence in transforming this from a challenge into an advantage in the form of sustainable and organic farming.
Reasons/Benefits of Natural Waste Machinery
Some of the reasons/benefits are too big to ignore, which can even reduce your fear of the initial investment in reliable farm machinery for sale being yet another expense you could perhaps do without. Don’t think you could afford to splurge on new machines?
There’s an easy solution: used farm machinery from trusted retailers. A third option would be to hire instead of purchasing. The reason you should make this move, regardless of whether you opt for new or used, has to do with the economic savings you can expect to get in the long run.
Yes, spending on the machines now can reduce your costs years from now because by minimising the waste you maximise the productivity, optimise the use of resources and protect the environment at that. What is most agricultural organic waste used for? Simple, it’s compost.
Creating your own farm’s organic waste into compost that’s full of nutrients can reduce your need to rely on chemical fertilisers. As a result, you also get to cut down on the water and energy use. Better for the crops, better for the environment.
Machinery to Invest In
While the market is full of options, it’s great to start with the most basic and helpful additions of farm machinery for sale for your arsenal. Then, as you get to experience the benefits of compost making, you could move on to machines for turning waste into biofuel and bioenergy like anaerobic digesters and incinerators.
A High-Capacity Mower
Every farmer knows how crucial healthy grass is for overall farming; from being a nutrient-rich food source for livestock to improving soil health and preventing erosion, it’s a component that can reduce the need for investment in both feed and fertilisers.
Healthy grass clippings are also perfect for creating quality compost. To ensure your property has optimal grass, a high-capacity mower can be of help, especially with land maintenance. From clean cuts and efficient mowing to a reduction in the time and labour required for maintenance, this type of machine makes a sound investment, especially if you have a large piece of land to take care of.
A Bush Cutter
What do you do when you have areas of vegetation to trim and cut, but your mower can’t get access to? You move on to the next agri machinery piece – the bush cutter. It’s worth the investment because it can benefit both composting and farming in general.
From tending to crop residues to pruning dense vegetation, it’s safe to say it’s an addition to your arsenal that boosts land productivity. The versatile tool it is, it’s useful for all kinds of terrains. It can further clear and maintain the land to make it easier to use other machinery, e.g. for harvesting, being helpful with efficiently cutting through overgrown fields and pastures.
Moreover, this efficient cutting of waste, crops and vegetation makes for easier and quality compost as there’s speeding up of the decomposition, i.e. composting process. This nutrient-rich compost you get in the end is great for improving the soil’s fertility and health in general, and getting quality crops. And, at the end of the day, you can count on a bit of fun putting this equipment to the test for all it can offer performance-wise in the style of Jeremy Clarkson.
A Wood Chipper
Grass clippings with their nitrogen-rich composition are a key component of compost, but mixing the clippings with browns like wood chips is the balance you need, as they contain the crucial carbon. This is where the wood chipper comes to play. This agricultural machinery for sale does more than clear areas with fallen trees – it turns branches and sticks into wood mulch.
This is an ingredient that not only supports soil health, but also improves aeration, soil structure and stability, maintains soil temperature, conserves moisture and reduces the runoff after rain. Besides mulch, the wood chipper, versatile as it is, is a machine that can help you create leaf litter, which offers the same benefits of wood chips but decomposes quickly.
And, of course, there’s the compost. When you’ve got this kind of equipment at your farm, it even reduces your need for additional investment in tools like compost bins because it can do it all, such as handle garden and kitchen scraps so you can compost them directly between the rows. This is a solution that helps you avoid attracting unwanted visits from pests with compost bin smells.
A Grain Auger
When it comes to farms and farm machinery, a grain auger is one of those handy pieces of equipment that make moving and storing grains a streamlined process. Versatile, much like the wood chippers, augers can be used for so much more than grain, and this includes composting, too, especially in large-scale applications.
While it’s not something you would instantly think of using this machine for, it’s made for handling bulk material with ease, and this is something you can use to your advantage with the aeration, turning and transport of the composting mix. Just be aware that it may clog up with long clippings, and it isn’t that great if you’re using worm populations.
A Compost Turner
Looking to make the composting more efficient? Then look no further than the compost turner. It may come up among the more expensive alternatives, as opposed to the use of bulldozers and front-end loaders, for example, but it’s the cost effectiveness in the long ru,n with the focus on its efficiency, that proves it makes a sound investment.
From crop and pruning residues to organic materials like manure, turners like these are made to handle various loads of waste, and this versatility, topped up with efficient aeration and faster decomposition, is a recipe for high-quality natural fertilisers. Lastly, in addition to the successful waste management at a reduction of the labour and time you’d invest with other methods, it helps with soil health – the ultimate benefit.