“Hop on the tractor, and take a deep breath,” explains Ryan Hyland, 18, a senior at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, Wisconsin. Hyland has been working with tractors for nearly his entire life – since he was three years old. When he was a young boy, he says, “instead of sending me to daycare, my parents would have my brother and I go to our grandpa’s house. There, we would help him work on his tractor.” 

For many of us, driving a car is simple enough: hop on, adjust the mirrors and press start. But, when driving a tractor, one must ascertain what they are doing is correct; it requires much more attention to detail, and there are a plethora of steps to get on the road. 

After turning on the gas and getting comfortable,” Hyland says, “slowly push the clutch pedal down.” Next, he mentions, “with your right foot, press down the brake pedal, and grab onto the flywheel to start the engine.” Hyland mentioned it is important to let the tractor stay in this state for one to two minutes, in order for the engine to warm and not stall when driving later on.

“After waiting for a few minutes, you can start driving. Overall, once you’ve got the tractor started, the process of driving is not too different from that of a normal car,” Hyland explains. 

Many of us won’t be faced with a situation where we need to drive a tractor in our entire life. But, the skills that one can learn from driving a tractor can apply to so many other different vehicles. It’s not too different from having a key that can now unlock many new doors for learning. Knowing where buttons and levers and pedals are on a tractor could help someone who finds themselves driving an ATV on a vacation in Mexico or trying to work on a truck for their job. 

For folks like Hyland, however, who need to be masters at the art of operating tractors, require these vital skills to work in their everyday life. After school, Hyland plans on working in the trades, where he will be using the tools he has known for his whole life in the real-world, earning money on the way. But, until then, for us, whenever we see a tractor, we “can appreciate the hard work it takes to get this simple-looking machine working.”