September in the valley belongs to the potato harvest, trucks running the county roads day and night, cellars filling, dust hanging gold above the fields until dark. When that ends and the cold sets in around Alamosa, U.S. Tractor & Harvest, Inc. moves to the other half of the year: plowing, clearing drives and lots, opening walkways, laying traction where ice sets up in the shade. Farm equipment and snow equipment share a temperament, start it in the dark, run it cold, keep the blade square. Valley snow packs hard against every windbreak and building line, so the loaded side gets worked first. Come daylight the yard is open and the trucks can move, which is the only measure that counts.