It is wonderful to see history alongside modern day technology as in the case of a tractor rally I recently saw in Lincolnshire.
The first photo shows three tractors together. The Massey Ferguson 35 is a direct descendant of the all grey Ferguson. The MF 35 had a text book weigh of 1448 kg.
The tractor directly behind, the 550, had a standard weight of 2082 kg and was introduced to the UK market around 1977.
Third in line, the impressive John Deere weighs in at 11400 kg.
Four wheels on each tractor, that equates to 362, 520 and 2850 kg being carried under the foot print of each tyre.
Easy enough to debate the size of the tyre print, inflation pressure and the end result in terms of ground pressure per square centimetre but the weight has to go somewhere and gravity says downwards.
Add on a drill, a few rainy days in October and a clay soil and maybe it’s not so difficult to work out why the headlands of so many fields do not appear visually as nice as we would like to see them in 2021.