Harvest Horsepower

By Ashlyn Brooks

Walk onto any dealer lot in midsummer and you’ ll feel it: rows of gleaming tractors lined up like draft horses waiting for their next assignment. Some are compact enough to slip through orchard rows; others look ready to pull a freight train. The choices can be thrilling— and overwhelming.

A tractor isn’ t just another purchase, it’ s a long-term partner that determines how efficiently you seed, mow, haul and harvest for years to come. Buy too small and you’ ll wrestle with underpowered equipment every season. Buy too big and you’ ll spend thousands on horsepower you never use, along with the fuel to feed it.

This guide cuts through the shine and spec sheets to help you match a tractor to the realities of your acreage, crop plans and day-to-day tasks. From compact utility models to highhorsepower machines with GPS steering and telematics, we’ ll look at what delivers real value— and what just adds cost and complexity.

Begin With the Ground You Farm

Your land— and the jobs you ask of it— should drive every decision. Use these ranges as a starting point:

Farm Size

Recommended Horsepower

1 to 5 acres 20 hp to 25 hp

5 to 20 acres 25 hp to 50 hp

20 to 100 acres 50 hp to100 hp

100-plus acres 100-plus hp

Typical Workload

Mowing, light loader work, garden tillage

Loader work, pasture care, small hay operations

Tillage, baling, medium crop production

Deep tillage, large-planter row crops, heavy hauling

Numbers such as these aren’ t marketing fluff; they translate directly into capability.

A 35-hp compact can run a five-foot rotary cutter and pull a single-bottom plow without strain— perfect for a 10- acre hayfield. Step up to 75-hp and you can handle a 10-foot mower or a square baler turning out 40 to 60 bales an hour. Push beyond what your acreage demands and you’ re paying thousands more upfront and burning extra diesel( expect roughly 0.05 gallons of fuel per horsepower per hour under load) for power you may never tap.

10 | 515-574-2206 | 515-574-2189 | October 2025