Yes, this is what I was thinking as I read the article. It’s not just women - if a strong middle-aged woman has issues with the strength required, what about an elderly man? What about a man with a shoulder or back injury or chronic condition?
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Interesting article! I am also on the small side – 5’3". Thankfully I have long arms and am relatively strong. I also try to work smarter not harder and it usually works. But some stuff is just impossible to get around. For example, the pull cord on our snowblower (non-farm use) is just literally 2 inches too long for me to use without really wrenching my shoulder.
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I am in the you have to learn to work smarter not harder - I sit the attachments on pallets so they can slide, use a big crow bar as a lever, bungy cords are an extra hand and make sure they are well maintained. We have had to disable the safety switch in the seat on a few pieces of equipment due to me being too light though!
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i run a fairly sizable animal farm. (sheep/cattle/horses). I bought a used 55@PTO HP Kubota 20 years ago and it’s served me well. Though…the seat does not get close enough to the clutch pedal, i’ve learned how to deal with it. Putting a PTO must get greased before trying to put it on…all the way along the shaft, not just the rotary attachment. What i learned to do when hooking up our 6’ brushhog is a) park it on a level when taking it off, and shim with a stone or two before letting it all the way off. b) when hooking up, hook one side first then back up/pull forward, raise lower bar to get other side. It then doesn’t take muscle, just a whole lot of gettin up and down to check.
I had a quick-hitch installed on the front loader. Makes it really easy to exchange bucket for forks.
My biggest source of anger and man-hate comes in when i have to start up any power tool requiring a pull start. They make those damn ropes TOO LONG! They’re manufactured for ape-length man arms, not 5’0 woman arms. What i have to do is put the chain saw (or weedwhacker) on the ground and step on it do hold it in place then pull. grrrrrrrrrr
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[quote=“eightpondfarm, post:24, topic:752134, full:true”]My biggest source of anger and man-hate comes in when i have to start up any power tool requiring a pull start. They make those damn ropes TOO LONG! They’re manufactured for ape-length man arms, not 5’0 woman arms. What i have to do is put the chain saw (or weedwhacker) on the ground and step on it do hold it in place then pull. grrrrrrrrrr
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Ha! I am a 5’7” woman with ape arms but pull-starts are also my nemesis. I don’t know why but I am terrible at starting them. It’s the one thing I really can’t seem to do without DH’s help and it’s very frustrating!
The only equipment that has ever been an issue for me is a chain saw. To my credit, I have seen men much bigger than me also have trouble.
I’ve never had the same issue with JD and swapping attachments. I would not say I have more body strength than others, either. The only thing that is genuinely hard for me is getting the battery into the excavator - that thing is HEAVY.
Interesting article, but I also would not want to see this spark a “ladies” versus “men” gear where the ladies’ is weak and… effeminate. I already find that is the case when you are browsing for things like shovels, axes, and chainsaws.
We used to have a wide front massie with no power steering (hobby farm, old equipment…) I HATED that tractor. Not only was it a b**** to turn unless it was moving pretty fast but the clutch was vertical - not forward at a slant. I always had to stand up to be able to get the leverage to push in the clutch. The old farmalls and our old JDs are much easier to drive than that thing… (still cursing at it)
Yes pullcords are my nemesis also. I am 5’3 with short arms. I HATE anything with a pullcord! The best piece of equipment I own is a $30 hydraulic jack from Walmart. If I can’t lift something the jack can. It has saved my butt numerable times.
I have never used the PTO on my tractor. I pay somebody with a 15 foot bush hog to mow my pasture because of the hills I don’t feel comfortable driving on. So I don’t know if I would have a problem with it or not. I also try to keep all my equipment under a roof so it doesn’t get rusty. My tractor is easy to drive otherwise but I sure wish I had bought a size larger to handle 3x3x8 hay bales and bundled bales. How do people handle hay bales when they can’t hold up a 5 gallon can of fuel??? Jeez - if you can’t do that they make smaller gas cans. I don’t need a smaller “lady tractor” I need a heftier one.
Great topic! I’m 5’1" barely, age 63, and 103 lbs and have a 50hp John Deere 5103 utility tractor. I TOTALLY get the hooking up the shredder (bush hog) to the tractor, but I just never take it off as a solution. And since I need to shred stuff a lot, it’s fine. When I send the tractor and/or shredder to the dealer for maintenance yearly, those guys take it off and put it back on if needed. My other implements—front end loader and round bale hay spear—are simple so that’s not an issue. I agree with what was said earlier about the fact that when you have heavy work to do, you need a heavy tool to do it. It’s FAR more frustrating—not to mention expensive— to have a lightweight tool that can’t do the job. I just have to find a way to get around the brute strength ways of doing things that men do. I have a step stool to raise the diesel can. Now—if someone can invent a better fuel can—I’m all for that !!! But I love men—I just can outwork most that know me even if I do things in a way that they roll their eyes at :). Pulling starting cords for chain saws and the weed wacker—if they don’t start well, have them serviced and make sure the carbureters are in good order. You have to maintain stuff too to make it work. There’s the other thing—hard work is good for the body (unless of course you have a medical condition that prohibits certain kinds of activity) and there are no gym fees and I don’t know another woman my age as strong from doing what I do to support the things I love.
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We just bought one that’s worlds better than what we had before, let me find a link…
It’s this one here:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/fuelworx-diesel-gas-can-5-gal-47906-c1-1358303?
I think it’s awesome. Nothing comes out the spout until you hook the loop thing over the edge of the gas tank, there’s a pressure release button so air can flow in as diesel is flowing out, and there’s a handle on the back, so there’s actually something to hold as you’re tipping it.
Highly recommend!
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My favorite tool for switching out implements on my tractor is a crowbar (and hammer if I need to wack something in place), I usually back my tractor up to whatever implement and use the crowbar to wiggle it into place and leverage it on the 3-point. There’s probably even easier ways but it’s what I’ve got.
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We have a JD 3320 and I’m strong but really struggle to release the parking brake and lift the ROPS. There must be a difference from the smaller tractors.
I want the ROPS up for safety reasons BUT it doesn’t clear the garage door where we keep it. After forgetting about it being up and driving in and hitting our brand new door and causing terrible damage, we’ll now be keeping elsewhere because not worth that. Maybe that’s why she’s putting it up and down. Too much work.
Will check out the quick hitch and battery powered gas suction device. Keep the ideas coming. Great thread.
We have a 350 gal raised diesel tank, so i don’t have the problem of lifting fuel cans. I have two Kubota tractors. One is a L32oo other is a larger M54oo. The smaller one just keeps the bucket on all the time and i use it to move rock and dirt, clean out the large open barn where the sheep loiter. Little stuff. It cannot lift a roundbale without a LOT of counterweight, but it can shove one around. I’ll move a roundbale to the barn with the 5400, then get the little tractor (that can fit under the shedroof), and push it into the barn into place. The large tractor, with a double spike attachment can easily handle hay bundles (the kind of bundles that have twenty-one 50lb bales). I just bought a new diesel gator (old one had 3000 hours-only got $3,000 on trade-in for it). So between my two tractors and the gator, and a F150 farm truck and a F250 road truck, we’re good. I do daily everything myself and i like it that way, i’ve tried over the years to have regular hourly help, but it has never been helpful enough to outweigh the frustration. Nowdays, i hire professional companies to do fencing, construction work here, but generally try to avoid independant workers. They’re called ‘independant’ for a reason!
I can easily handle hay bales, bags of grain, and even heavier items that require lifting and carrying at chest level or below. But there’s no way I could hoist them over my head, especially not for prolonged periods of time. As another poster mentioned, a lot of the issues with equipment and tools have to do with the height and weight of the user, more so than actual strength.
I’m 5’1" with a 27" inseam. I CANNOT drive a manual transmission vehicle (well, maybe I could in a sports car, but those aren’t super useful on the farm…) because I can’t fully depress both the brake and the clutch at the same time without standing up. Even some older automatic transmission trucks are impossible for me to drive - if they have bench seats, I can’t get close enough to reach the pedals because the center console hits the dash first. Sigh. I moved into my current house in March and STILL haven’t been able to bring my antique dresser up from my detached garage to the house, because to walk it up the hill, I’d have to lift my end above my shoulders, and the thing weighs like 300 pounds. So until I can find TWO taller friends to come help me, it sits uselessly in the garage.
I hate being short. I won’t even start in on buying pants (okay, well, one gripe - the designers at Wrangler must be mutant giants. WHY are their “short” inseams 32" long?!?!).
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First thing I did with my new MF tractor was disconnect that stupid seat-cutoff.
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I think this may have been mentioned but one of my favorite implements is my PATS easy change 3-point quick hitch. It makes switching from the arena drag to the bale spear to the bush hog a breeze (now that I’ve finally gotten competent attaching the PTO). The only thing it struggles with is the chain harrow, which is on a 3-point frame. The harrow’s attachment points are just about as wide as the arms can handle so sometimes they get stuck and it’s hard to unhook the thing without brute strength.
http://www.pats3pointhitchsystem.com/page/7229
One thing I want this winter is a good versatile handcart to move a bale of two or hay from the nearby storage shed to the dry lot Any suggestions?
Maybe a dolly with bigger wheels to handle uneven ground.
I use one similar to this one:
When I bought my tractor recently, I made sure it had a quick hitch. That is a lifesaver. Back up to the brush hog, boom, it’s on. I’m looking at getting a rotary broadcaster to fertilize and weed control the property but am making sure it’s quick hitch comparable.
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I also posted a thread about “girl friendly” chainsaws and a 36v Makita was suggested so I bought it and I love that thing! I did not want to struggle with a pull start. I bought a 14" but could easily handle the 16". I may get that for my husband (wink wink) for Christmas!
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My new Kubota as long as the PTO isn’t engaged, it will stay running.
