How a Farm Works. Part 1

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 631.

UNIT 8. How a Farm Works. Part 1

1. Growing day –световой день;

2. Precipitation –осадки;

3. Labour-intensive –трудоемкий;

4. Harrow –борона;

5. Seed drill –рядовая сеялка;

6. Swather –валкоукладчик;

7. Alfalfa –люцерна;

8. To crimp –сплющивать;

9. Rake – грабли;

10. Baler –тюковой пресс-подборщик;

11. To fluff up –ворошить, взбивать, вспушивать;

12. Mildew – ложномучнистая роса (болезнь растений);

13. To scoop up –собирать, подбирать;

14. Bundle –тюк (сена);

15. Haystack –стог (сена);

16. Barn –амбар;

17. Front-end loader –фронтальный погрузчик;

18. To winnow –веять зерно.

How a farm works depends on many conditions. It depends on the type of climate the region has (for example, if a crop needs a warm, moist climate, it will not grow in a dry desert); the length of the growing day (meaning that areas that have more hours of daylight will be used differently than those with a shorter number of daylight hours); the temperature range; the amount of precipitation in the area; the type of soil in the region (for example, crops do not grow well in dry, sandy soil); the size of the farm (if the farm is small, it cannot grow many acres of orchards); the number of employees the farm is able to hire (some crops are more labor-intensive and require more people); and the type of equipment necessary to run the farm (some equipment may be too expensive for a single farmer to buy). These factors will vary based on the type of product produced on the land.

Farmers in developed countries, like the United States, Canada, countries in Western Europe, and Australia, have developed a modern way of farming. Unlike farmers in the past or farmers in developing countries today, most of the jobs once done by hand are now done by machines. The tractor is the most important machine. The farmer uses it to push or pull different kinds of equipment, such as a plow, a harrow for breaking up chunks of earth, or a seed drill for planting.

When hay is grown, a big lawn mower called a swather is used. Hay is a staple food for farm animals. Hay is dried alfalfa or dried grass. Alfalfa is usually darker green in color, while grass is a lighter green. When the swather cuts hay, it has a rubber roller inside that crimps the cut stems (squeezes them together). They are crimped so that the stems dry faster. As the farmer drives the swather down the pasture, it leaves a long row of cut hay. The farmer will make several rows in the pasture until all the grass and alfalfa have been cut.

A hay rake is sometimes used if the cut hay needs to be rearranged before a baler can be used. This is often used if the hay gets wet before it is baled. The rake fluffs the hay up so it will dry and not grow mildew – which grazing animals do not like.

A baler is a machine that scoops up the hay after it has been cut. The baler gathers the hay into bundles by compressing the grass and tying it with a string. Hay bales can be big and round or small and rectangular, depending on the baler used. After the hay is baled, it is moved into a haystack or into a barn for storage using a front-end loader. The front-end loader has a bucket fitted on it with a protruding steel spike. The spike is what lifts the heavy round hay bales. Once the spike is pushed securely into the bale, the front-end loader tilts the bale so it will not fall off the spike. The bale is then put onto a flatbed truck for transport. Hay is especially important when there is no grass in the pasture during winter. Many farm animals eat hay, including horses, and cattle.

Another important piece of farm equipment is the combine harvester, which can reap, thresh, winnow, and store grain as it cuts a path through a field of wheat. Before the combine harvester was developed, it took the effort of many people to accomplish the same tasks.