Kendall and Rebecca discuss the process of buying a new teaching tractor for UNH Extension and the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture. Kendall emphasized the importance of knowing what features you want, such as a cab and instructor seat for safety, adjustable features for ergonomics, and a 75-horsepower tractor for ease of maintenance and travel. The tractor will be used for various workshops around the state including tractor safety, operation, and maintenance. Upcoming workshops are scheduled for April and July, with a focus on hands-on, quality education. Rebecca highlights the Women in Agriculture newsletter and encourages listeners to sign up and engage with the podcast.
Show notes:
Women in Ag Newsletter signup - https://unh.how/women-in-ag
Kendall Kunelius – kendall.kunelius@unh.edu
Rebecca Dube – rebecca.dube@unh.edu
Transcript
Kendall Kunelius 0:09
Welcome to this episode of Shared Soil, a podcast dedicated to creating community, honoring challenges and encouraging personal and professional growth for all people in agriculture. My name is Kendall Kunelius, and I'm a field specialist for Agricultural Business Management, and I'm an Extension Assistant Professor for UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture,
Rebecca Dube 0:31
And I'm Rebecca Dube, and I provide technology and support for UNH Extension. And today we're going to talk a little bit more about tractors, because we bought a tractor, or I should say you bought a tractor, Kendall, a teaching tractor for workshops and other programming in both UNH Extension and the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture at UNH. Can you tell us more, Kendall, about why the tractor was purchased, and your experience with going through that process, both as a woman and an educator? What specific traits were you looking for in this tractor?
Kendall Kunelius 1:10
Boy, that's a great question. It's a big question. I think I'm gonna start my answer by saying, when I first came into Extension almost three years ago, I kind of had this - at the time, I honestly called it a delusion of grandeur. I was like, wow, how cool would it be if we could have a teaching tractor and a trailer so I could tow it around and all these implements and all that kind of stuff! And it felt like such a big dream. I was looking around at grants to see, can we get a grant to help purchase it? Any foundations, or just regular funding? And I was like, well, none of this is really coming together for me right now. Maybe I'm going to give this some time and put it on the back burner. I'll still do some programming, but using our tractors from partner organizations or at Farm Services. And then in June last year, I got a call at eight o'clock in the morning on a Friday and it was one of my colleagues. And he said, "Did you still want to get that teaching tractor?" And that was like, the last call I was expecting at eight o'clock on a Friday morning. And I said, "Of course, yes, I do!" And he said, "Great." He's like, "I need you to go get quotes. I need you to start figuring out what you want. I've got some grant funding from the state of New Hampshire crop loss funds. We're going to disperse those in ways that the general farming population can benefit from that. And we think that your teaching tractor would be a great fit to apply for these funds." So let me tell you, I got in my truck and I went to three or four dealerships that day to just start figuring out what I thought would be a tractor that could be used by many and benefited by all. It was Kismet. So the first thing, obviously, as I was driving around, I had a lot of time to consider all of the different factors that would go into choosing this tractor. Rebecca, you're probably a saint for taking all this time to listen to me over those months spew about, "oh, I went to see this tractor and that tractor and I tried this out," and you were so patient listening to all my different inputs on that.
Rebecca Dube 3:09
Well, we are women who talk tractors, so...
Kendall Kunelius 3:13
Right! Yeah, we're walking the walk and talking the talk. So yeah, it took me probably a good two or three months to really narrow down the tractor that I felt was the best fit possible for this program. We had so many uses for this, and we had other partner organizations and internal organizations that could have a vested interest in this teaching tractor, and these would all serve different audiences and different purposes. The good news is they make tractors in all makes and models and sizes and price points and all this. So I had a lot of really good options which was a positive thing. The first thing that was at the top of my list, though, was that the tractor had to have a cab and it had to have an instructor seat. Because you don't typically find instructor seats on tractors that don't have a cab, and that's for a safety purposes. But the point of having an instructor seat is so that I can do a better job instructing the person who's driving the tractor. It's safer for me as the instructor, and it's helpful for the person driving it, if they've never driven a tractor before.
Rebecca Dube 4:18
Sure, we can all remember when we first learned to drive a car, and how many things you had to think of at the same moment, and how scary that was, and helpful to have somebody beside you who knew what they were doing and could take over suddenly if it was needed.
Kendall Kunelius 4:31
You make such a good point. I remember when I was in Driver's Ed, the car that we were learning to drive in had a brake on the passenger side so that the instructor could step on the brake. And coincidentally, the model tractor that I ended up purchasing has the emergency brake right down on the side of the instructor seat so I can pull the brake. I never anticipate getting into that situation, but it was good to know that it was there if I needed it.
Rebecca Dube 4:57
Always good to have that safety factor, safety's so important with tractors.
Kendall Kunelius 5:01
Absolutely, and you make such a good point also, because safety isn't just how clearly everything's marked, is it safe to operate, the size, etc., but it's also ergonomic safety. So I was really intent on finding a tractor that would fit a lot of different shapes and sizes. We teach all people so tall and short and different strengths and abilities. Some people come to us with previous injuries and they say, you know, I really have a hard time doing this action or that action. And so the tractor I had to pick had to be very intuitive to use, very simple and straightforward, but the seat was really adjustable, and the steering wheel telescopes back and forth so that we can adjust it to exactly how the participant is comfortable and also safe.
Rebecca Dube 5:49
So if you have a smaller participant driving the tractor, they can move the steering wheel up to where they are at.
Kendall Kunelius 5:55
Exactly. And so interesting, fun story: when I had narrowed down the model tractor that I was pretty sure was the right one, I actually invited someone from the COLSA Sustainable Agriculture staff to come with me to try out the tractor, because I'm five foot eight and I'm very broadly built, and I recognize that it's easier for me to fit into those tractor seats that are designed for larger people than it would be for someone who was much shorter than I was. So the person I brought with me is, I think she was about five foot two, five foot three, and more petite built. So I was very, very intentional to make sure that she could adjust it. And she's a very honest person too, which I loved. So she would have told me, if she was like, "This is terrible, I can't fit in the seat." Good news, though it was, you know, obviously everything worked out. But that's kind of something that I am very excited to share with our participants who are going to be using this tractor, is that we were really thoughtful in making sure that we found a tool that fit everyone who wants to learn on it.
Rebecca Dube 6:56
Which plays back to our earlier conversation in our Women Talk Tractors Part One about how important it is to know what you're looking for when you're getting a tractor, what specific aspects are important to you and what you're planning to do, and then find the best equipment for that.
Kendall Kunelius 7:13
Yeah, exactly. And I love that you brought it back to that first episode. And in that episode, I mentioned something about, you know, you wouldn't buy 100 horsepower tractor to go on a one acre piece of land, and trying to navigate such a huge thing around such a small area is really uncomfortable and difficult. But the horsepower is really kind of- it's more than just what the tractor can handle in terms of implements or usability of the tractor itself. For me personally, we are going to be doing regular maintenance on this tractor as part of our programming. But it also meant that I just, I wanted a simple, straightforward tractor to maintenance, so just oil changes. I went with a 75 horsepower tractor versus an 80 or larger. Because 84 horsepower is the cutoff for needing a DEF system. That's DEF, which is Diesel Exhaust Fluid. And if I went seven or 83, and below, I guess, would be the number, I didn't have to have that system on the tractor. Which was very helpful, because when we are teaching maintenance, I want this tractor to be as close to what our participants might be using as possible. So a tractor that didn't have those features that, you know, most people are going to be operating a 35 to a 60 horsepower tractor. We went with a 75 to close that gap between needing to teach on some implements that needed a larger horsepower range. So yeah, another one of those things that there was a few factors that went into deciding the size and the horsepower, but that was one of the biggest things.
Rebecca Dube 8:43
Right because this tractor is going to be able to be hooked up to a couple different implements that you can teach people on, correct?
Kendall Kunelius 8:50
Yeah, exactly. Our conservation districts in New Hampshire also just received grant funding to purchase a lot of new equipment. So if folks aren't aware, the conservation districts in New Hampshire have rental programs. They have all different kinds of three point hitch or PTO or even just hand tools. I think one of the districts has this whole trailer with just shovels and rakes and hoes and hand seat or all kinds of stuff. But it was important to me, too, that we could do some outside partner trainings with this tractor. And the conservation districts were number one on my list to be able to say let's set up demo times with this tractor and your implement, so that we can train people how to use these so that instead of wasting half a day trying to get the machine adjusted and learning how to use it, as soon as the farmer decides how to rent it and gets it onto their land, they're ready to go. So we're saving money by saving time in that way.
Rebecca Dube 9:42
So what are some of the implements that will be able to be hooked up to this tractor?
Kendall Kunelius 9:46
Oh, anything and everything! I shouldn't be so facetious and say that. That's the next thing on my list. We actually have room in this grant as well to purchase implements, training implements. I polled a lot of different farmers, and I asked a lot of people, "what would you want to learn on for implements?" One of the most common things that we all see in New England is fencing for livestock. So for sure, I wanted to make sure I had a tractor that we could use a post hole digger on. So I have one of those that I'm quoting out right now. Also, a York rake. So with seeing the change the ongoing changes in the landscape - we've had a lot of flooding issues in New England these past few years. So equipment that helps people restore their roadways on their properties, or regrade landscape to repair flood damage, is going to be another important aspect to our teaching workshops. So we got a York rake with wheels on it to help accomplish that. And the other thing that I'm maybe the most excited about, because we always think implements go on the back of the tractor, on the three point hitch, or the power take off the PTO for this tractor. I also am quoting out something called a skeleton bucket, which is basically a bucket that goes on the front of the tractor, like a regular bucket, but it is like a sieve, like a colander. It's designed to let you go through your field and pick up rocks, but not take the soil with it. Isn't that kind of cool? So you're saving labor, saving time, saving damage to your other equipment, because you're not running over rocks in the field. I just thought that was a really neat piece of equipment that I felt more farmers could benefit from seeing or using.
Rebecca Dube 11:32
Sure, because we all know the one thing that New England harvests is rocks.
Kendall Kunelius 11:35
Yes, we grow them.
Rebecca Dube 11:38
Now, did you find that having this plan in mind and maybe even written down when you went into the facilities to buy tractors, having that plan already helped your experience in purchasing a tractor.
Kendall Kunelius 11:51
It did, and for sure, I was - like I said, I thought a lot about this as I was driving around, and I needed to see what was out there first to really get a scope of what was reasonable for my needs list. But that was also something we talked about in that previous episode, was making sure you know what your needs are, and then finding the thing that was closest to that. And I was very lucky to work with some experienced salesmen that made all the difference. So I had options, and I looked, I think I ultimately looked at five different tractor brands before settling on the one that we chose, but it met the most of my needs. The one item on my needs list, which is probably not going to be on most people's needs list, was that my tractor couldn't weigh any more than 7000 pounds. That's with fluids. That's like - we say fluids, like a full diesel tank, all the hydraulic fluids, oil, etc, etc. The shipping weight had to be under 7000 pounds. That's because I'm going to be driving the tractor around on a trailer, towing it with a one-ton truck, so that I can bring this teaching unit to other parts of the state, so that we can have a bigger reach. But it means I have to stay under 26,000 pounds, so that also, unfortunately, limited which tractors made the most sense to purchase because of the weight restriction.
Rebecca Dube 13:13
That's great, well then I'm looking forward to the tractor being put into use in some various workshops over the coming year. Can you tell us about some workshops that you have coming up?
Kendall Kunelius 13:23
Yeah, absolutely. I think the hardest thing about this whole tractor buying process was not over scheduling myself with workshops because I'm so excited to get, as they say, get this show on the road! We could make all the jokes here: get the show on the road; get the wheels rolling. But yeah, I've been really intentional about planning workshops that make the most sense to offer. So we do have some workshops coming up that are just tractor safety and operation. I've chosen to split out the workshop formats for a couple different reasons, the first being that we've had a lot of feedback over the years from farmers who attend our workshops, women farmers in particular, who note that these are workshops they want, but it's really hard to take an entire day off of child care and chores to come to a workshop. And I want to honor that by saying, "Yes, I totally understand that." So the way our truck and trailer driving workshops are set up, and I know it's truck and trailer, but I'm going to format our tractor workshops in the same way. We offer four time slots throughout a day, and they're two hours each, and I generally have between one and three participants in each of those time slots. This allows you to only need to take two hours to actually attend the workshop. It means that you have increased hands-on time with me, the instructor and with the tool that you're learning on. I think it also helps to have a little bit of a smaller group atmosphere, because we get a lot of really good community building and networking, because you only have these other couple people that you can chat with. I've seen some really interesting relationships come out of those people, really friendly, and find they have a lot in common. So I think it also makes for an enjoyable experience when we have those two-hour time slots. And the second reason being that I - so I just finished my Master's of Educational Studies, and so much of the literature and research points to the need for quality education over quantity of education. So those two hours are very high quality instruction time because you have extended or duration time, hands-on with the equipment versus you're one of 20 participants, and you get 10 minutes to drive the tractor, and there's a lot of downtime during the day. So I tried to be really intentional and focus in on on asking myself the question of, if I was a participant, would I be able to learn in an environment that's two hours and a lot more hands-on time? It also helps us to teach better to a neurodiverse audience, because I as the instructor can get to know each one of the participants better, and I can better teach to their preferred learning styles.
Rebecca Dube 13:27
Well, that's a really great approach, and I look forward to seeing that. I know it's been successful in the ones you've done already. So what about some of the tractor ones that you have coming up?
Kendall Kunelius 16:07
Yeah, I think we have one coming up in April, and then we have a maintenance one in the middle of July. That was the one I was really excited about. But the reality is, being on a concrete floor to change oil in the middle of winter is just freezing cold. So I said July is better. The one in July is going to be up at the State Forest Nursery in Boscowen, New Hampshire. They've generously let us put this maintenance workshop in the middle of the state so we can make it more accessible for people who may want to come from the far reaches of the state. But that's going to look a little different than the safety and operation workshops in the sense that we're going to be doing greasing, oil changes, air filter cleaning. We'll check the battery, hydraulic fluid check. It's a pretty extensive process when you want to learn it. And we also talk about how to keep good maintenance records for your tractor as well. So that's a little bit of a different workshop setting. It's much more hands-on, wear your farm clothes, and come prepared to learn, because it is a lot of fun, but it's a lot of grease.
Rebecca Dube 17:12
Such good things to learn, though, to take care of that expensive piece of equipment, and to know that you yourself can do it, and that you're well versed in all of these elements. So, yeah, looking forward to that.
Kendall Kunelius 17:24
I saw a fact once that said - Well, I should cite this. It's from a book by Cherry Hill, who wrote this. And this is the book called Horse Keeping on a Small Acreage. And she notes that for every $1 that you spend in tractor maintenance, you save $10 in repairs. Wow. That was written a while ago, and I'm gonna translate that to spend a dollar save, like, probably a hundred dollars! Sure, that's a little older book, but I'm a firm believer in really good scheduled tractor maintenance. Because you're making such a huge investment up front. I shouldn't say such a huge but it's all relative, right? A $20,000 may be a really big investment for a new farmer. And the more that you can put into that and maintenance it and keep it going, the more value you're getting out of it.
Rebecca Dube 18:07
Terrific. Well, you can find these workshops listed in our bi-monthly Women in Agriculture newsletter. If you haven't already signed up, we encourage you to do so. It has articles on winter care for your livestock and equipment, resilience against extreme weather, agritourism, interviewing and evaluating applicants to your farm, even a tractor maintenance checklist that you can keep. There are infographics on a variety of subjects. And of course, the upcoming events, webinars and trainings, not just of Extension, but of other resources around the state. You can sign up at our website, extension.unh.edu, by going to the tab about selecting newsletter and choosing the Women in Agriculture newsletter. We'll also put a link in the show notes, and you can reach out to Kendall or myself at any time. Our contact info is also in the show notes. So we hope you'll join us.
Kendall Kunelius 19:02
Yeah, and we hope you interact with the podcast too. We'd love for you to leave reviews wherever you're finding this podcast, or reach out to us and let us know if you have a reaction to any of the material, any questions or comments. We love to interact with our audience. We're really invested in building this community of people who are interested in similar topics. That's why we called the podcast Shared Soil, right? Because we all have common things that we come across as people in agriculture. So again, we would love to hear from you, would love for you to sign up for the newsletter, and also make sure that you're watching for our podcast episodes to drop generally within the first week of the month.
Rebecca Dube 19:40
Yeah, so we look forward to talking with you again on the next episode of Shared Soil.
Kendall Kunelius 19:52
Shared Soil is a production of University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, an equal opportunity educator and employer. Views expressed on this podcast are not necessarily those of the university, its trustees or its volunteers. Inclusion or exclusion of commercial products in this podcast does not imply endorsement. The University of New Hampshire U.S. Department of Agriculture and New Hampshire counties cooperate to provide extension programming in the Granite State. Learn more at extension.unh.edu.
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