Machinery Tools How to keep your farm equipment's hydraulic hoses straight By Dave Mowitz Dave Mowitz In 1982 Dave came to Successful Farming as a senior editor first covering agronomic topics and then machinery. He went on to serve the nation's farmers as executive editor of Successful Farming Magazine and editor of the Ageless Iron Almanac, a bimonthly publication covering the hobby of agricultural collectibles. Dave recently retired from the Successful Farming family but continues to serve the organization as a contributing editor. Successful Farming's Editorial Guidelines Published on May 31, 2024 In This Article View All In This Article Read the instructions Watch the video Photo: David Ekstrom Project Overview Working Time: 10 minutes Ivan Root of Logansport, Indiana, innovated a fool-proof hookup system for hydraulic hoses using livestock ear tags. The tags are zip-tied to implement hydraulic hoses. Using a permanent marker, Ivan writes the correct mating of hoses to respective tractor selective control valve (SCV) outlets, allowing anyone to correctly hook up implements for fieldwork. David Ekstrom What You'll Need Equipment / Tools Permanent marker Zip ties Materials Livestock ear tags (yellow or orange) Tractor SCV outlets Instructions Read the instructions David Ekstrom Any livestock ear tag will work with this hack, but Ivan has found that brightly colored tags (yellow or orange) as well as large cattle tags work best when writing the SCV number or side with a permanent marker. Black permanent markers are preferred.The tags are attached to the hydraulic hoses just below each coupler on the implement using zip ties. Watch the video