5 Tips for Farm Equipment Maintenance Management

Equipment malfunctions cause downtime and can lead to significant losses in crops and income. It takes detailed maintenance and proper repairs to avoid expensive breakdowns and keep your farming equipment running smoothly.

Carry Out an Asset Inventory

Begin by cataloging all your farm assets that will require maintenance as you use them. Where applicable, you can capture and monitor the following data on each farm asset:

• The make and model of the farm equipment
• The serial number of the farm equipment
• The location of the equipment on the farm
• Service dates of the farm equipment
• A catalog of spare parts and complete equipment
• A photo of the equipment

If you need to add more tractors to your inventory, you can purchase new tractors from John Deere Tractors Dealership. You can manually track all your farm assets through a spreadsheet or large planning calendars at defined intervals.

Implement Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)

A (CMMS) can help you manage your equipment maintenance by:

• Recording each asset
• Maintenance tasks
• Frequency of completion of maintenance tasks

Your computerized maintenance management system can help you track hours, dates, or equipment cycles and warn you of any maintenance items due in the next period. It can also advise you on your equipment's location and required maintenance resources, including tooling, spare parts, personnel, and documentation. An added advantage of using a CMMS for your farm equipment maintenance is that it can help you capture and maintain all maintenance history to analyze equipment performance and calculate its total cost of ownership.

Create Service Reminders for Preventive Maintenance Tasks

Repairs that are overlooked for weeks or months can cause seemingly small issues to compound. It can be difficult to keep up with preventive maintenance, especially if you're using calendars or messy whiteboards. However, implementing farm equipment maintenance software can help you automate service reminders based on hour or odometer intervals, keeping you on top of your farm equipment’s preventive maintenance schedules.

Uncover Issues With Regular Inspections

Including equipment inspections in your farm team’s daily tasks is a great way to uncover issues and ensure that all your farm equipment is safe to operate. While paper inspections can work, implementing farm equipment maintenance software can help your team complete inspections swiftly with a few clicks using a mobile app where they can add photos and comments to better communicate issues. Equipment maintenance apps can also make it easy to tailor your farm equipment inspections to specialized assets and configure inspection forms to include safety measures.

Check All Hitches and Tires

Inspecting the tires on all your farm machinery can help you ensure that your machines run more efficiently and save you a bit on gas mileage. You can ensure that your equipment tires are in optimal condition by assessing the following:

• The tire treads for signs of wear
• Ensuring the tires are inflated to the recommended level
• Making arrangements to replace any tires that are worn out

Additionally, you need to inspect trailer hitches and the couplings of all trailers and equipment you pull. Ensure that these parts are working properly and can connect securely by cleaning off any excess dirt or rust.

Endnote

Preventative maintenance of your farm tools and equipment also involves protecting them from the elements. Properly store your farm equipment in a garage or barn. If you do not have room to store your equipment inside, consider options like putting up an overhang to keep rain and snow off your machinery.