Unique way to plough fields - using military tanks!

Three farming brothers have come up with an innovative way to plough their land… using old T-62 tanks.

Vasily, Dmitry and Ivan Ivanov, from the rural settlement of Karatuzskoye in Krasnoyarsk Krai, bought the vehicles from the military in the 1990s for the price of scrap metal.

Initially they bought them to use as cars because the roads in their area are extremely bad. They live about 30km from the district centre and in the winter or bad weather it is almost impossible to travel anywhere.

But recently they came up with an idea to adapt the T-62s and turn them into farming vehicles, with Dmitry remodelling them to look like giant ploughs. He left only the chassis and outside armour plating and replaced the gun turret with the driver’s cab of a Kirovets tractor.

The Ivanovs farm about 400 hectares of land, half of which is sown with grain, with the tank used to plough the land and sow the oats and wheat.

'Like it is said in the Bible, we wanted to ‘beat swords into ploughshares’,' said Dmitry. 'When you work with a standard DT-75 tractor it takes all day but on the tank you do the same work for just one or two hours.

'It does ten times more work per day due to the power of the engine. The fuel consumption is 70 litres per hour, while the speed is 22 km per hour. Tractors do not have such a speed. Besides it also starts easily in a strong frost and blizzards, and it works in any weather.'

The brothers say the only problem is spare parts for repairs as they are difficult to obtain in stores and garages.