Just picked some land up and need to do some cleaning up and general land maintenance. Was gonna get a Kubota tractor, but decided on a Skid steer instead. I’ll just get a zero turn down the road to cut the grass. Any recommendations? Size etc, don’t know much about them, been researching them a lot. The ones I used b4 were primarily Bobcat and foot control. Looking for used and under 15k.
Well the parcel I bought is a chunk from a friend of the family’s. He owns 80 and I bought 7 acres to build on. It’s my primary hunting grounds and he has all the implements for food plots and clearing the fields. I like to be independent so I was gonna buy my own tractor and do the work with it, but a skid steer is more practical for what I need to do and I can still continue to use his for the fun stuff.
I’ve probably got more experience in joystick unit because that’s basically all you can get these days, but I am far better with and much prefer a foot control type. It’s a pain in the ass trying to drive with one hand and work the attachment with the other. I am far better when I can let my feet do the driving and focus on working the bucket with my hands. I am probably in the minority though. As far as size goes depends on what you are doing, if there is a lot of thick scrub and brush to keep clear and you’ve got a pretty forgiving budget then get one with enough HP to run a forestry drum chipper. I think you are definitely on the right track with the skid-steer. I have regretted getting a tractor instead of a skid steer for almost as long as I’ve had the tractor. You can even get tiller, disk, and seed drill attachments for a skid steer. Compared to a tractor, it probably wouldn’t be quite as efficient to use a skid steer for that kind of job, but if the only agriculture you’re planning on doing consists of planting a few food plots every year then it ought to be more than adequate. Honestly, 95% of what I do use the tractor for is stuff that I could do faster and better with a skid steer. And even if having to use a skid steer instead of a tractor meant that it took me an extra half a day to put in food plots it would absolutely be worth it since that’s literally the only thing I do where a tractor might outperform a skid steer. The only reason I got a tractor instead of a skid steer is because at the time I was under the assumption that I would have to brush hog the fields a couple times per year. Shortly after I got it I discovered that I could actually let somebody pay me for the opportunity to mow my fields. It’s great, he puts out fertilizer & lime (all paid for by him) on my fields every spring and then he comes out and mows 4-5 times per summer (which is a lot more often than it would’ve gotten done if I had to do it) And after he mows them he even comes back a few days later and collects the clippings, rolls them into bales, and hauls it all off. I’ve literally used the brush hog probably 3-4 times since I got it and it was only to mow down a couple hundred feet of trail and now I don’t even have to do that because the hay guy just up and offered to do it for me (presumably he wants to keep me happy & make sure I am not tempted to let a somebody else pay me to mow my grass) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Are you looking for wheels or tracks. With that budget guessing tracks might be off the table. Also something to think about is will you have to tow it at anytime. Larger machines take a much bigger truck and trailer. My favorite old skid steer right now is the Case 1845c. All mechanical and no fancy electronics to worry about. About 60 hp Cummings and 1700 lbs of lift on the bucket. Weight is about 6400 lbs. But because they are so simple and last forever, makes them hard to find. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
We have a Gehl at work, I would not ever bring it home for anything, it has wheels, hand control it rips the **** out of everything.
I’d love a track machine but tryin tp keep under 15k, so wheels it is. I only have a ram 1500 but have access to a 2500 and trailer that will handle it. Just looking for a mid size machine, open cab. Just a work horse no bells and whistles
I found a couple of them actually and heading to Ohio on Thursday to potentially pick one up and Look at a bobcat 753H
With the bobcats, make sure it has the kubota diesel engine. Much better engine then some of the older ones with the Perkins Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Very versatile machine. When you get one , just wait til your first snow, so much faster for clearing snow. And you can get just about any attachments that you can dream of. Definitely a rabbit hole! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Yea... except now it’s got me back thinking about buying a skid steer again. I’ve managed to keep that out of my mind for like 4 months until today... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
well, pretty obvious unless you are a legit farmer you should have bought a skid steer. And BTW, can I borrow your skid steer?
Talked to an old friend, he had a landscaping company and might be unloading some skids. This could be a great thing.
