I looked hard at this question a month or so ago. I am a Granite Stater (well, lived here 30 years but born in the flatlands of Ohio). My land acquisition that requires an orange tractor is 2 miles away from my house (road through town). I have need to drive my tractor from house to land and back every now and again. Also, it is easy to drive an extra quarter mile out of my way to buy diesel. So, my question is whether I need to register my tractor and get plates.
It took me a long time to find a solid answer. The dealer claimed there is a three mile rule that lets you drive that distance on the roads without a license plate. I could not find any confirmation of that.
What I did find were the statutes ("RSAs" in NH-speak). The reason they were hard to track down is that they give a pass to "implements of husbandry" - somehow I neglected to include those 1930-ish terms in my Google search. I pasted the relevant stuff below.
In short, a tractor is an "implement of husbandry" if it is used exclusively for agricultural, horticultural, forestry, or livestock operations," and for which its use on a public way is incidental to its intended function. Such a tractor can be driven on a road other than a toll road or Interstate highway.
I worry about a few things yet - I am engaging in forestry but if some of my use is to clear land for a house, does that make it not "exclusively" for forestry. Second, how much road use is "incidental." Crossing from one field to another obviously is fine, but when I drove two miles to a friend's house to pick up a skidding winch, was that incidental?
My risk of a ticket seems pretty small, but a bigger question is whether I need to insure the tractor for over-the-road use. Still pondering that one.
Here is the statutory language:
NH RSAs :
261:64 Construction Equipment and Implements of Husbandry. ***8211;
I. [omitted here - deals with construction equipment[
II. Owners of implements of husbandry shall not be required to register such implements in this state.
III. Implements of husbandry shall not be operated on toll roads or on the interstate and defense highway system. When implements of husbandry not meeting the definition of a tractor in RSA 259:108 are moved over any other way, the power unit shall display in a conspicuous location an identifying decal or plate issued by the division. The identifying decal or plate issued by the division is not a registration and shall not require the municipal permit for registration described in RSA 261:148. The fee for each identifying decal or plate shall be $15 for an implement weighing no more than 15,000 pounds and $25 for an implement weighing 15,001 pounds or more. The identifying decal or plate shall not require annual renewal but shall expire upon a change of ownership of the implement. The director may adopt rules pursuant to RSA 541-A specifying the location for display of the identifying decal or plate, specifying such limitations as the director deems necessary for the safety of other highway users by restricting speeds of operation and operation after daylight hours, and specifying safety, conspicuity, and lighting equipment requirements.
Source. 1939, 189:6. RL 116:10. RSA 260:13. 1981, 146:1. 1989, 305:5. 1999, 265:3. 2010, 251:4, eff. Sept. 4, 2010.
259:44 Implement of Husbandry. "Implement of husbandry'' shall mean equipment designed or adapted and used exclusively for agricultural, horticultural, forestry, or livestock operations, for which use on a public way is incidental to its intended function. "Implement of husbandry'' shall include a self-propelled custom harvester, sprayer, soil amendment spreader, or forage mower.
