Horse Illustrated Magazine

You can probably figure out what a plow is, but there is some tractor terminology that’s foreign to first-time tractor buyers. Here’s a translation guide to help get you up to speed on basic tractor lingo:

Blade: A heavy blade that can be attached to a tractor. It’s used for leveling, scraping and smoothing dirt.

Box scraper: A rectangular steel box, often equipped with adjustable digging teeth. This attachment is towed behind a tractor to scrape and contour terrain.

Brush Hog: A generic term used for certain mower types that attach to tractors. These mowers can tackle rough-cut fields and pastures. Brush hogs are also called “field mowers”. Another mower type–“finish mower”–is used for easier jobs like lawn and turf mowing.

FOPS: The acronym for Falling Objects Protective Structure. A tractor that has FOPS features a strong protective roof over the driver’s cab. Not all tractors feature FOPS.

Grey market tractor: A used tractor imported from a foreign country.

Hydrostatic transmission: Automatically varies a tractor’s forward or reverse speed within a gear range based on gas pedal pressure applied by the driver.

Implement: A piece of equipment that attaches to a tractor; also called an attachment.

Loader: Sometimes called a front bucket, a loader is an attachment that connects to the front of the tractor and is used to load and move heavy materials.

PTO: This stands for Power-Take-Off. The PTO powers tractor attachments, such as mowers and tillers.

ROPS: Stands for Roll Over Protection Structure. All tractors should feature a ROPS, which is a roll bar or similar device that protects the driver in case of a roll over.

Three-Point Hitch: The three-point hitch is a hydraulic lift located at the back of the tractor that lets you connect different attachments.

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