Authored by: Tractor tyre expert | 08 January 2024
When it comes to saving money, choosing a suitable agricultural tyre is crucial, especially when work in the farm courtyard is involved. Often standard tyres or supple models such as low-pressure tyres are used on a multipurpose basis, which will inevitably shorten their wear life faced with work that is inappropriate or too harsh.
However, certain agricultural tyres have been specially developed to resist harsher working conditions than crop farming. These tyre models have been designed for the management of livestock farming, storage of fodder and straw, civil engineering projects, or all jobs that you might have to do in the farm courtyard.
They are suitable for use on vehicles such as loaders or telescopic handlers, and offer versatility and greater resistance. They allow for efficient management of repeated manoeuvres on hard surfaces, both inside and outside the buildings, while ensuring that your machine remains perfectly stable and highly resistant to aggressive tasks, even with heavy loads.
Although for a long time old obsolete tractors were used in the farm courtyard, this is not the best solution today, because the diversity and quantity of activities has become too great to work with an inefficient machine.
Just like in the fields, having good equipment for handling, work in the livestock building, cleaning out the stalls, loading or unloading and the different landscaping projects requires efficient, dedicated machines that are well equipped, especially at the level of the tyres.
This requires a different approach from work in the fields in terms of the quality and inflation pressure in the tyres. Unlike a tractor working in the fields, there is no reason to work with supple tyres at low pressure when you are on hard ground, whether concrete, asphalt or compacted earth in the farmyard.
If you work with standard tyres, the tyres on the front axle will wear rapidly due to the strain linked to the load transfer to the front.
A high inflation pressure in your tyres will allow you to carry more weight and ensure optimal stability during repeated loading and unloading manoeuvres.
Therefore, for the court farmyard, it is essential to choose tyres with a reinforced casing to cope with the high pressure and the load during these manoeuvres.
If you use tyres that are too supple, which have not been developed for harsh work on abrasive surfaces, the tyre will wear much faster than expected, above all if the load index and pressure settings are not suitable for major variations in load.
In this case, you run the risk of damaging the casing rapidly and possibly ending up by breaking it.
Like for any other activity, you will save more by using tyres that were designed using materials and rubber that are more wear resistant.
Activities in the farm courtyard are both demanding and exerting, placing a severe strain on the agricultural tyres: Moving heavy materials, loading and unloading farm products, storage, cleaning…., all these operations require the use of tyres which offer good manoeuvrability and great stability during the lifting of the front implement.
Handling work is much more intense and repetitive than driving in rows in the fields.
It often requires repeated back and forth manoeuvres, very tight turning circles in livestock buildings, frequent scuffing or on-the-spot turning which cause serious damage to the rubber and the lugs.
The tyres’ capacity to react instantly during manoeuvres is of critical importance; they must be capable of maintaining their structural integrity, avoiding crushing or excessive deflection when working and must be able to resist a pressure of more than 3 or 4 bar to remain rigid and reactive during manoeuvres.
Radial tyres, with their flat tread, offer better stability, particularly in the presence of heavy loads at the end of the lifting arm when the risk of overturning is high.
However, it is crucial to opt for reinforced radial tyres, specifically designed to resist heavy load transfer during lifting operations.
These specific tyres offer greater stability and minimise the lateral strain during manoeuvres with heavy loads, thus improving safety considerably and limiting the risks of overturning during delicate lifting operations.
An agricultural tyre for field cropping has a tread with deep, wide lugs to grip into the earth and optimise traction on loose soil.
This will be of no use in the farm courtyard where flat, square lugs positioned close together are much more useful to increase stability, resist load and improve adherence.
Duraforce Utility tyres, with their block tread, have a large contact patch with the ground, thus optimising the stability of the agricultural vehicle, even on irregular surfaces.
Whether for transporting heavy loads or for manoeuvres, the Duraforce Utility’s flat tread guarantees very good road handling qualities.
Agricultural tyres designed for work on hard or abrasive ground or transport by road have specific features to cope with the challenges of these environments.
On the road, they are exposed to intense abrasion due to road aggregate such as gravel, which acts like sandpaper on the rubber.
For work requiring frequent trips by road at high speed, it is crucial to adjust the pressure in the tyres to avoid wearing them down too rapidly.
In addition, these working conditions increase vibrations and the slip ratio, accelerating overheating and damage to the tyres.
In farm courtyards, the tyres face similar strain due to repeated manoeuvres and sharp cornering, requiring tyres that are suitable for intensive activities.
The use of telescopic handlers or loaders equipped with tyres specifically designed for these tasks is therefore recommended if you wish to extend the wear life of your tyres and maintain optimal efficiency.
The context for work on the farm, in livestock buildings or for civil engineering projects, will place your tyres under strain on a daily basis and therefore requires tyres that are more sturdy and resistant than models designed for crop farming.
Thanks to its specific design and its superior performance capacities, the Duraforce Utility tyre is the obvious choice for loaders and telescopic handlers for work in the farm courtyard.
All these operations are repetitive and require tyres that combine adherence, stability, resistance and durability to cope with the challenges of activities in the farm courtyard.
Firestone’s Duraforce Utility tyres offer optimal efficiency in these demanding conditions.
Work in the farm courtyard requires suitable tyres, capable of coping with the challenges of hard surfaces, lifting heavy loads on the front of the machines, and maintaining the stability necessary with a heavy load at the end of the boom arm.
In these circumstances, Firestone’s Duraforce Utility tyre is clearly the best choice of tyre.
With its reinforced casing, it offers exceptional manoeuvrability and optimal stability during handling operations.
Its block tread guarantees stable driving on irregular surfaces, thus ensuring versatility in all working conditions.
With Firestone, you have the guarantee of tractor tyres that deliver a real advantage, and that in choosing our brand, you can work worry-free.
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