How to Use Your ATV for Harvesting Soybeans
ATVs are a versatile tool that have become a valuable addition to many farming operations. Harvesting season is a time of year when it’s critical to maximize every resource available for smooth operations. While combines remain the main heavy hitter out in the field, off-road utility vehicles offer support for tricky tasks like scouting, hauling, and fine-tuning harvest operations. Here are a few ways that you can use your ATV during the soybean harvest to make for quick, easy work.
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Preparation and Maintenance: Getting Your ATV Ready for Field Work
Your ATV needs to be up for the challenge of harvesting season, so regular maintenance is essential to ensure your machine remains in top condition. Make sure you are on top of preparing and maintaining your ATV:
- Inspect your ATV before field work. Check belts, chains, tires, fluid levels, and the electrical systems, and clean dirt and crop debris afterward to prevent rust, corrosion, and wear.
- Quickly repair any damage to extend your ATV’s life. Stay ahead of small issues, especially under heavy workload, to avoid costly repairs down the road.
- Properly clean and store your machine in a dry, sheltered space to help avoid rust and keep your ATV reliable for many harvesting seasons.
Select the Right ATV or UTV for You
Choosing between a nimble ATV and a bigger work UTV depends on your field needs. A few things to consider:
- ATV Benefits: ATVs are more useful in tight, narrow field entries where they can move quickly around obstacles. They are also more fuel-efficient for smaller tasks.
- UTV Benefits: UTVs are better equipped for heavy hauling, towing grain carts or equipment, and offering cargo bed capacity from 700–1,000 lbs. Consider adding farm attachments like winches, plows, or drag harrows to expand your machine’s farming capabilities.
Ways to Use Your ATV for Soybean Harvesting
Scouting and Assessing Field Conditions
Before and during the soybean harvest, ATVs offer an easy way to scout fields. They allow you to quickly and safely monitor crop moisture levels and inspect them for early signs of disease or bug infestations.
Additionally, timely adjustments to combine settings based on what you find during ATV scouting can help you reduce losses and avoid reworking fields. Time is money, and ATVs allow you to save both.
Assisting with Harvest Logistics
Your ATV or UTV can allow you to streamline equipment management and reduce downtime by getting much-needed equipment to the field while quickly removing cargo from the worksite.
A couple of leading ways ATVs can help with harvesting logistics include towing grain heads or other tools to and from the field using a vehicle with suitable towing capacity. If you need something that can do even more heavy lifting, a UTV with dump boxes can be used to transport rocks, tools, or field debris.
Supporting Combine Efficiency and Safety
ATVs can be an asset for combine operators to achieve smoother operations and better harvest outcomes. A couple ways ATVs are essential to combine efficiency and safety:
- With fine-tuning, operators can adjust combines proactively based on conditions while scouting, like lodging or uneven crop maturity.
- ATVs can be used to quickly move tools for field repairs, and they can help clear debris that create obstacles for operators.
Harvest Transport and Temporary Storage
ATVs help close logistical gaps between the combine and soybean storage units. Using your ATV to cart grain samples, you can check moisture content with a moisture meter and determine whether drying is needed.
Additionally, you can keep green-stem or green-pod loads separated and watch as these packs may ferment or heat if mixed with drier loads. Further, an ATV or UTV will allow you to keep crops separated to avoid costly crop damage.
Prioritize Safety and Reduce Damage
Safety is essential for both operators and equipment. A few ways ATVs can aid in prioritizing safety and reduce damage:
- Ensure that all ATV drivers are trained in safe handling, especially when towing or working near heavy equipment.
- Make sure that your ATV has proper lighting and visibility features for early morning or late afternoon field work so visibility measures are being met.
- Avoid ATV-related accidents by maintaining clear communication, and coordinate routes to prevent confusion during harvest operations. Effective communication will allow you to avoid accidents, injury, and equipment damage.
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While combines do much of the heavy lifting during the soybean harvest, ATVs and UTVs are efficient tools that allow for versatility in support of farming operations. From tasks like pre-harvest scouting and combine fine-tuning to towing, sampling, and aiding in safety, these machines are essential to agriculture, especially when properly maintained and used effectively.
Anna Cecilia Tozzi
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