Essential Machinery

[15444]

I think most would go for FWA for the beefier front ends. Seen lots of 2WD loader tractors with at least one side of the front axle welded up.

[perfecho]

Two items I wouldn't be without, skidsteer and quad. The skidsteer is amazinly versatile and esay to operate. Kids have run it for years, cleans barn, pens and snow, and the loader can take more abuse than a tractor loader.
Quad is certainly versatile here and used every day, feeding grain with a battery operated grain wagon, great for fencing, moving cows etc. Terrible in bush, but with a little grain or hay incentive, usually pull, not pushing cattle.

[grassfarmer]

Feeding with a 2wd on the frost sounds like a good
plan in September after some wet days. Not so much
in winter when you can go out to 3 feet of snow. Then
there are drifts.

[smcgrath76]

I am rather fond of both bale grazing
and not walking. Hence the 2WD and
horse. Depending on the terrain I can
see a quad, if the terrain is like here,
I am not sure what I would do with a
quad when a cow crosses a creek, goes up
a cutbank and through the bush (other
than swear).
I also like the horse in the corral for
sorting, etc. and feel safer tied onto a
cow with a horse then I probably would
with a quad. Also, that extra brain on
the job has come in handy a couple of
times. To each his own (LOL).

[perfecho]

Quad certainly has limitations. Our terrain/cows allows this, most will come to grain and close gate. Sorting is usually ok because they are used to people and any heads up ones are gone. Could see a good dog, however we don't have enough work for one...and I would probably screw him up.
Changing to spring calving and am expecting cows/calves to be more heads up. Winter calving, I beleive does quiet your herd because you are in them much more, plus we put close cows in at night....and some of them have me fooled by a month.

[ASRG]

Sean: When I still had a horse....I think at times she had a lot more brains than I did(which might have not been much!).
For me it was about money(and that particular horse was just getting too old). It costs a lot of money to keep a horse?
I never used her that much. The kids didn't want to ride her.
And though I said "the best day of my life was when the last horse left"......that is not entirely true. She died while I was on vacation in Mexico.....some kind of infection....and I will admit I shed a tear or two.
She was a real good horse.

[smcgrath76]

ASRG - they do cost - especially if you
don't use them. We have just enough to
do the work (and might be a horse
short). The machinery thread makes me
laugh as I have more money tied up in
good cowhorses than I do in my tractor
and more in my bull battery than our
entire equipment lineup. We are
technold fashion I guess...
Plus I just like horses. I find them
cathartic.

[kato]

I miss my old horse, but unfortunately Hubby and horses are like oil and water. He just can't figure them out.

One of the biggest jobs our quad does, besides spring time fencing, is to set up the temporary fences in the corn field. You hold on to the reel, and drive across the paddock in a couple of minutes, rather than trudging for a half hour. LOL And our cows come to the quad too, after associating it with new corn paddocks, which comes in handy checking pasture.

[ALLFARMER]

I have been missing V-cutting. It's been 2 or
maybe 3 years now since we cut bush. My
neighbors have been going hard with land
clearing. They just finished plowing last week with
3 breaking plows....like 4 bottom....big plows! We
had lots of fresh snow on the roads so we tied the
v cutter up to the back of a super b. Neighbour
had to haul a load of oats to the yard where my
welder works out of so.. Kept the front of the
cutter about a foot off the ground and giver.
Cleared the extra snow off the road. Worked
perfect.

[grassfarmer]

Never been on a horse much since I was a kid
and no great desire to start again. Never owned
a quad but from observation of others they
seem to encourage the desire to "win" against
the cattle and force them to go where you want
them to on your schedule. Never seen an ATV
low-stress cattle handling demonstration - is
that an oxymoron?
So I tend to work on foot, with canine assistance
although I'm between dogs now as the old one
has bad hips and can't do much anymore and I
always hate starting a young one until the old
one is gone - the old ones just take it so badly
emotionally and seem to give up on life. So
some frustrating days at the moment herding
on foot minus a dog - probably gives the
neighbours some good entertainment and an
expanded vocabulary lol.