New tractor provides learning insight

Textbooks and computers aren’t the only teaching tools at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College; a new tool of choice is a computerized tractor. This fall the college purchased, with the help of WITC Advisory Committee Member Roger Link of Link Implement in Ridgeland, Wis., a new model McCormick XTX 165 tractor. Its computerized controls help students learn to troubleshoot and test and recalibrate tractors as part of their updated curriculum.

“This tractor in particular will help students’ training in up-to-date tractor diagnostics,” says WITC instructor Lee Fiedler. “Having a computerized tractor gives students the experience they need to repair today’s agriculture equipment.”

Both years of study in WITC’s Agriculture Power and Equipment Technician program will benefit from this latest tool of study. From electronics to hydraulics and everything in between, students will comb this tractor learning what makes it run efficiently. Instructors will install “bad” parts in the tractor so that students learn how to diagnose and fix the problem.

“This effective teaching tool couldn’t have happened without the assistance of Roger Link, one of our advisory committee members,” says Scott Horsman, WITC program instructor. “He worked with McCormick to work out a fair price the college could afford.” Link often hires WITC graduates and, as a member of the advisory committee, wants to help recruit and educate students with the most current technology.

WITC’s Agriculture Power and Equipment Technician program is a two-year, comprehensive, hands-on program that teaches students the many aspects of analyzing and repairing equipment associated with agriculture.