</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Hello, new to this site but find it has great info. I,m new to the farm/ranch work and need some info. on some of these things you guys mention. My wife inherited 70 acres in Flatonia,Tx and we are building a house on the property. I come from Ca., (ya,ya another prune picker, haha). My mother grew up in Tx and my dad comes from Oklahoma ( what a combination huh). Anyway, I'm retired now and am going to learn everything I can. I have a JD4630 for all the big stuff and am going to buy a smaller tractor. My question is, what do these mean?
ROPS
Cut
PHD
and anything else that I have forgotten.
Thanks for any input
Dick Austin
You can make jokes now
LONG LIVE TEXAS
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ROPS is Roll Over Protection System
CUT is Compact Utility Tractor
PHD is Post Hole Digger
FEL is Front End Loader
MMM is Mid Mount (Belly) Mower
RFM is Rear Finishing Mower, more properly called a Grooming Mower, but RFM is the acronym used most frequently on TBN. The MMM and RFM are used for the same thing (lawn cutting). The only difference is the position of mounting, which is obvious from the names.
PTO is Power Take Off which is the shaft used to drive implements. All CUT's have rear PTO's. Some have Mid-PTO's as well (drives MMM and front snow blowers or brooms).
One that isn't an acronym, but seen frequently on TBN is Bush Hog. This is actually a Rotary Cutter used for heavy brush and field mowing (stuff you'd tear a MMM or RFM up if you tried to mow with them). Bush Hog is actually a manufacturer's name, but the term is used somewhat generically.
That's a start...
One more you'll read occasionally is ANSI ( American National Standards Institute) which determines and standardizes the specs these tractors are built to, as far as safety and rollovers.