Replacing all the filters tends to solve the problem, but a longer-term fix is to make sure on-farm storage is up to scratch. While it is all frustratingly slow for farmers, this is a step in the right direction for more closely aligning the legal position to the reality of our industry. Do I need to have my tractor and trailer tested to go to 31t or to travel to 40kph? Britain’s first production tractor was built in 1896 by Richard Hornsby & Sons, but only about four were sold This involves dropping the oil, recovering the air conditioning gas, lifting off the cab and removing the propshafts.

One of the first tractors made by Herbert Saunderson’s company at Elstow, Bedford, was a farm transport vehicle which broke down while competing in a demonstration linked to the 1898 Royal Show. If you’re stopped, any defects found can open the driver and owner to prosecution by road traffic law enforcement agencies or the police.

It was not a long-term success, but it probably inspired others to experiment with alternatives to steam. They included the JI Case company, which was emerging as America’s leading agricultural steam engine manufacturer.

The first tractor for which records survive was built in 1889 by the Charter Gas Engine Co, owned by John Charter. His first design used the wheels and transmission from a steam traction engine, powered by a single-cylinder Otto petrol engine. For advice on licence requirements and other information on fast tractors, visit: High speed tractors vs. standard tractors – what’s the difference? Provisional licencesTheir mobility meant much greater versatility, attracting contractors and large farms while providing a worldwide growth opportunity for British industry. Special versions of the tractor included a narrow model built to navigate the rows of a French vineyard, while a tractor adapted for an Australian fruit grower was probably the world’s first orchard tractor. Higher specification tractors, such as the JCB Fastrac (pictured below) and Mercedes Unimog have the braking, suspension and other special requirements to qualify for the “fast” tractor classification with its 64kph (40mph) speed limit.

For the 1903 version, a seed hopper with a chain drive from one of the rear wheel hubs was added to the cultivator to provide an early version of minimum tillage. He also added a gear-driven front power take-off to operate equipment such as a binder that could be pushed instead of pulled.A BOAT is defined as “highways over which the public right of way is for vehicles and all other kinds of traffic, but which are used mainly for the purposes for which footpaths and bridleways are used”. The speed increase does not apply to other agricultural machines such as sprayers and combines. Also, wider tractors over 2.55m and under 3.5m (and that includes the width of what you’re towing, too) are still restricted to the 20mph limit.

Nicolaus Otto had built the first successful four-stroke petrol engine in Germany in 1876, and engines based on his patents and carrying his name had been produced in America since 1878. Tractor production began with an 8hp engine, increasing to 24hp during the last few years of production, using engines supplied by Aster and the Payne & Bates company. The tractor was powered by a Hornsby-Akroyd engine, made by the Hornsby company after it acquired the production rights from inventor Herbert Akroyd-Stuart in 1891. Few details have survived of Charter’s first machine, but we know it powered a thresher and that the performance was probably satisfactory because a further five or six Charter tractors were sold.If the resident has a car licence, but the country of issue does not include the tractor provision within the car licence, the resident will not be able to drive a tractor on this licence , and Category F test will need to be completed.