When you think of farming equipment you might immediately think of a tractor, or a harvester, but there are a number of useful tools that you may not think of. One of them is an auger. Augers are drill bits of various sizes that have a corkscrew appearance from the rotating helical screw blade. The blade effectively pushes dirt up out of the hole you are drilling into the ground. Some augers are hand-held for small jobs and other augers, or sets of augers, can be attached to an electrical motor or even a tractor. Augers allow you to place holes of precise size and depth in specific areas without tearing up the ground around the target area. Using a shovel would require you to dig at an angle creating a hole that is wider than you want and probably not straight up and down. You can create holes for fence posts, retaining wall anchors, or even getting the ground ready for seeds. All while saving you immense time and energy.
Using Augers in Southern Idaho, for example, make great use of the man and machine combination that is so essential to mass farming. Idaho provides 70% of the world’s hybrid sweet corn seed and 29% of the United States potatoes. They are also the number 3 provider for alfalfa hay, sugar beets, hops, prunes, plums and mint. Farmers in Idaho would not be able to accomplish any of this without making smart use of machines like augers. Machines are key to the overall production and efficiency of farming in that area.
Augers are also time saving for small gardeners who are just looking to supplement their own food needs. Small time gardeners usually work outside of the home and/or have families to take care of so their time is of immense importance. They also are usually working with a limited amount of space so it is important that they place their plants as effectively as possible. For seeds that require a deeper depth of tilled soil such as potatoes and carrots augers can be used to only break up the soil in that specific area as to digging down 2 feet over the entire garden. Overall, augers are very useful tools that you might not immediately think of but that will prove valuable in your garden or farm.
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