Somebody please tell me why...

Our neighbors who own a produce farm own one of these. It's very useful for them-nice flat surface, they can fill up the back and run produce up to the farm stand- it gets to places you wouldn't want to drive a truck- like between the rows. And the young adult kids love to drive it-always a plus.

My step-father had one. Not a farmer at all, he used it to take grand-kids for rides.

My Dw likes them and mentions them maybe once a year, so we go look at them.

Last month I was in a Kawasaki / Honda dealership. Both manufacturers have their own models of 4X4 mules. They started at $15k.

To me that seems like way too much money.

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The neighbor kids come here numerous times of the day to gather the sap from the maple tree taps. I've got enough syrup,so told them they could take over. The one they got is from TSC. One would be handy for me to go down to the stream and the woods with the dogs,it wouldn't tear up the alfalfa fields.

Our neighbor farmer has a 4wheeler and a trailer for it when necessary. His farm is on a ridge and down in the valley. trees on the hillside(heavily treed). The ATV goes everywhere in any weather. He can go across the plowed field to retrieve the fencing materials that the boys forgot, or he can run down the hills to the bottom fields to check on the cattle. They use it for deer hunting, too.

doesn't matter if it's raining or muddy...you just wear a rain suit and hose down the whole vehicle later.

Now...I don't know if he would have bought the one you picture...that "rollbar thing would make it hard to get through the trees.

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For 12 grand i could buy or hire a dozer to make a road for my s10 4x4 to go over I sold my T J 225 log skidder for less than that

Near here with Goodyear saying they are closing may be some needing them less than they though Some stay poor trying to make folks think they are rich too

we tried one for going out in the fields, was not near as handy as a fourwheeler (even two wheel drive!!) and got hung up in mud pretty easy!! have seen farmers using them to tote milk to their calves and other light chores but even a heavier duty lawn tractor and a trailer were more versatile!!

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cruachan

we did not pay any where close to that and it came with an interst free loan. we "had" to find something for the kids to do chores with(long distances and hauling feed) that they could leagaly drive on the road. we tried the cheep 4wheeler but they wrecked it and the hospital bill could have paid for the utv outright. wife uses it for weeding garden (big garden) it fits down the rows and is great for harvest and checking water. the fourwheel drive with dif lock allows us to cross the wetlands along the creek to check cows--truck would not get within a 1/2 mile of the creek. has seat belts that make it safer for the kids and only does about 20 mph so the kids cannot get to crazy--unlike a truck or 4 wheeler. have used it to haul sick calfs back to the corrals (that alone is a lifesaver) we constantly find new uses for it. kind of like a skidd loader you wonder if they are worth a crap until you get one and then wonder how you lived without one. ours was bought for the kids but the adults love it too. around here if you put an SMV on the back they are street legal.

A neighbor has one, and she uses it daily.....it saves a tremendous amount of time walking between sheds/coops/barns/herding arena, hauls plenty of feed sacks, brings back trash blown in, is fuel efficient, and can go many places their other rigs and tractors can't.

We have a four wheeler we use a lot on our five acres. I am sure you are thinking, what do you need a wheeler for? Well, it hauls hoses to and from the barn in the winter. It plows snow pretty decently. It doesn't tear up the driveways/paths at breakup, and with trailers, we haul firewood, manure, garden supplies and equipment. The barn and garden is over 400 feet away from the house and it serves as a "taxi" for two a LOT. It hauls tools from one place to another pretty well also.

Much of that could be done with a Mule. And it's much easier to sit on the front seat of a Mule, than perch precariously on the side of a wheeler, hanging onto stuff! lol

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I've seen some as high as $20K! We go to a huge antique tractor show a couple times a year, and there are thousands of them there- everyone seems to have one. If I had a sizable ranch I'd probably have one- they are handier than a pick-up in some instances. Many folks have the 4 wheelers that you sit on, rather than in, but they are mostly used for recreation. With our 7 hilly acres, I'll probably get around with a tractor and a dump trailer. I'll be thinning the woods, and using the cuttings for firewood, but not worth $10K to get it up the hill.

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The ones at TSC are under 7 thousand.

As far as I know around here, they aren't legal to drive on the road. That of course doesn't stop people..

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You haven't dealt with range cows. They don't know what a feed bucket is. These UTVs are great tools for large acreage. Lightweight so they don't tear stuff up or get stuck as easily. Great field of vision because the engine is behind you. You can drive them on roads with a slow moving vehicle emblem instead of a license plate. And getting in and out frequently is easier...seems lazy, but it makes a big difference not having to open a door every time. But I agree, the prices are ridiculous for what you get. I could probably build something better for $1,000.

Jim I don't see why you've got your nickers in a knot over this. I have no use for contact lenses, store bought white bread, sports cars, minature livestock and much more. So what? If other people what these things its no skin off of my nose.

If I were going to spend the money, I would be a lot more tempted to buy one of the small mitsubishi farm truck things they make. Looks like a van cab with a small bed on it. They are 4x4 and pretty nice, not to mention that they can be had used for 6k and down.

We got together as a family and bought a 6x6 for our father. We have hunting land in SE Iowa, and he spends lots of time down there hunting alone. The land is very hilly with deep draws. He has been dragging deep up those hills for years.

As he is getting older but in good shape we all decided, including Dad, that a used one was worth the risk of a bad slip/fall, heart attack, etc. as time goes on.

Paid $5000 for it, put a winch on the front. Goes anywhere.

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Didn't mean to sound that way If i were selling them i could think of a hundred reasons everyone needs one or two . Here i have seen people struggle from buying toys while fussing about gas to go to work .

We have two used 5 wheel John Deere gators that a local poultry company sold at auction. I think the most we paid was $200. We had to fix a few things but they are great for driving out in irrigated pasture and toting around all sorts of useful stuff. Mine I use when irrigating and have all my tools, shovel, fence wire and tools, irrigation wheel etc. I have even used it to pull our stock trailer with a few sheep to our back pasture. You can drive into the pasture eaiser with it then a pick up. I think we use ours almost every day during the summer and sometimes in the winter when the dirt roads are too muddy for a p/u we can still load up some hay and take to the back pasture.

I'm glad this came up. I have been debating about a mule type or a quad or a gas golf cart for all the above reasons for the new farm.
Leaning between the golf cart and the mule used of course.
Thanks for the practical info.
Steve

We have a Polaris Ranger 4x4 and LOVE it! We also own a poultry farm and after you have to load and unload several hundred dead chickens out of the back of a pickup you will completely understand my love for our Ranger with its dump bed!

We also have two kids and two dogs. We can ease around of the farm with all 6 of us. Not something we could do on a 4-wheeler. DH loves it for deer/hog hunting because he can just slip down in the woods and haul it out.

It's biggest downfall? It does TERRIBLE on fuel! But we have owned ours 6 mths or so and have already put 3000 miles on it just working on the farm.

[QUOTE=deaconjim;5042754
I'm just wondering why anyone would spend that kind of money on one of these things when you can buy a pretty decent pickup with an enclosed cab, heat and air conditioning, and a fairly decent radio for less than half that amount. The pickup will haul the Mule and everything you can put in it at the same time.

Am I missing something?[/QUOTE]


Yes!

You are comparing a new Mule/Ranger with 4wd to a well-beat up used pickup that's under $5000?

Pickup needs licencing, insurance, and so on. It's dern heavy to take through plowed field, soft wet areas, it's not nearly nimble to get through woods.

Ever try driving through acres of field, picking up tons of rock all day long? The Ranger is a breeze to get on & off, going after those rock, zip back to the drop off area and dump the rock, back out to the field. I'd not last a ton trying to do that with a full sized pickup, plus all the damage the heavy truck on narrow wheels would do to the field.

Ick.

Who the heck would want a wreck of a truck with mechanical problems, extra costs, and poor mobility and access for the jobs a Mule/Ranger do? What am _I_ missing??????

--->Paul