Ask most anyone to name the most stereotyped hand tool used by farmer , and fortune are you ’ll hear about the pitchfork . Along with tractors and silo , the pitchfork — a long - handled tool with a deviate number of curved tines at the goal — is among the most instantly recognizable elements of farming . ( Think of the classic Grant Wood paintingAmerican Gothic , boast a forbidding - faced farmer hold a three - prongy pitchfork . )
The pitchfork might be a farming stereotype , but that ’s because it has earned its space as a trusted prick that every Fannie Merritt Farmer should own . permit me promise you , I have several and use them ofttimes for a wide-cut mixed bag of task , because they ’re versatile and easy to use . permit ’s bet at some of the way that pitchforks can be put to use .
1. Moving Hay
This might be the most definitive use for pitchforks . There ’s no prosperous way that I can believe of to chop-chop move gravid amounts of loose hay , stalk or similar stuff — you merely take up up a load with the tine ( and despite their small size , the tine can carry surprisingly large sum ) and post the load wherever you want , whether it ’s another haystack or good deal , a cart , awagonor some other location .
Part of what makes the pitchfork so idealistic for move loose hay is its limited number of tine — many pitchforks have just two or three . Because the tines are wide spaced , it ’s sluttish to fall away the pitchfork right into the heart of a haystack . It ’s evenly easy to remove it without a bunch of hay getting stuck in the tines , which can happen with tools that have more legion and tightly - space tine , and which reduces the effectivity of the peter .
2. Removing Sod
pitchfork are also very honorable at removing sward from the undercoat , as you might do if preparing a garden or construct abrick walkway . As with moving hay , the widely spaced nature of the tines make it well-off to insert the pitchfork into the soil , after which you could labour down on the handle to filch up the ground and stop the connection of the weed and sod to the filth underneath . I find it quicker and clean than using , say , a digging shovel , and it ’s easy to reach the two-dimensional , tranquil results idealistic for garden beds .
3. Handling Manure
Pitchforks are also commonly used for handling manure on farm with livestock — coupled with a barrow or a small cart or trailer , it ’s a great way to handle this necessary ( though by no mean glamourous ) task . However , in these instances , you ’ll probably desire a special manure pitchfork with more tines spaced nearer together ; some look like regular pitchfork but with five or six tine , while others — designed specifically for cleaning livestock stalls — can have around 15 tines with very small gaps between them . This can be a superior design for mucking kiosk , because the wide space tines of two- or three - prong pitchfork can allow too much manure to slip one’s mind away .
4. Cleaning Up Leaves
I ’ve found that pitchforks are also effective at clean up leaves — after using arakeorleaf blowerto assemble them into piles , you could apply a pitchfork to lift them into a laggard or wagon for disposal . However , as is the compositor’s case with treatment manure , pitchforks with a higher number of tines can be better - suited to this task , making it less potential that foliage will splay in between the tine and fall back to the ground .
Do you have a pitchfork on your farm ? get us have sex how you care to use it !
