UTV / Side by Side / ATV in the garden

So it's unanimous that a UTV will never work because I need a FEL and live PTO?

http://utvhitchworks.com/

And I'm starting to see that the subcompacts really might be for people who have a horse in a fancy horse barn and want something to clean a stall or two and feel like a farmer.

So what are the good compact tractors? It seems like they vary a lot more brand to brand.

Good information to have, thank you.

As someone who uses both pieces of equipment every day...yes, that is my opinion, and it's not even a close call. If I had to, I could carry whatever I throw in the back of the UTV/ATV into the bucket of my FEL or my 3pt carryall. This may not be clear to you now, but as soon as you have the power of the diesel engine, the hydraulics of the 3PH and FEL, and the versatility to lift, push, dig, pull, things you'll understand completely.

As long as they've been taken care of, any 20-35 hp Kubota, JD, Ford/NH and other non Chinese compact tractor would work. Where are you located? What is your budget? People on here in your area could keep an eye out for you.

__________________
'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.

Friedrich August von Hayek

I've owned and used a '42 9N for the last 12 years or so. Mainly brush hogging and some dirt work with a box blade. It was fine for those tasks. It has it's limitations but you learn to work around those or just to not try some tasks.

I decided to upgrade to the last tractor I hope to buy. I sold the 9N (got what I paid for it 12 years ago) and got a used New Holland Workmaster 35. Wow, what a difference. I love the live PTO and the extra power. 4WD has come in handy several times. I've never owned or used a FEL before this. I'm still learning techniques but I see the potential and it looks very promising. It is my first diesel machine so I had to expand my fuel storage. So far it uses a lot less fuel than the 9N.

The hydrostatic transmission is way easier to use and much safer than the 9N. My 13 yo daughter has learned to operate it and brush hogged the last time by herself. She's been driving a quad since 4 yo so she is pretty good with machines.

This picture gives you an idea of the size of a compact tractor.

Attached Images

IMG_0636 (Medium).jpg (87.4 KB, 0 views)

How much compaction does your compact cause? My dad is a row crop farmer in Illinois. His biggest problem is compaction. I was hoping to make permanent beds that could be straddled by my machine. I'll post some videos of people doing it with a BCS. I was hoping to be able to do it with a UTV to get wider rows.
I'm worried that driving a heavy machine through the garden will create yield killing, root strangling compaction.


I've been doing something like this except with grass paths between beds. And my tiller can't straddle the rows.

It seems like you're in between a sub compact tractor and one of the large two wheeled tractors like the BCS or one of the imports. Two wheeled go up to maybe 14 hp. Subcompacts run to 30 hp with maybe 24 pto hp.

If you're worried about compaction creating hard pan look up info on a spader. Spaders generally go deeper than a tiller and do not destroy soil structure. I've seen them for two wheeled and smaller tractors. They're more of a European implement. But they are imported.



This is a much larger version.

It doesn't.

My 70hp 4 ton tractor causes compaction especially in heavy soils. My compact has turf tires with chains and "floats" instead of sinking. I plant/cultivate about 3 acres of sweet corn with my larger tractor and plant a 2 acre garden with my compact. Parts of these areas are winter paddocks for my pigs.

For the garden area, often I use a 6' 3ph tiller behind the compact to fluff up the soil then use a hiller to create raised beds. This year was so wet that I waited for the ground to dry up before tilling and didn't use raised beds. Avoid working the soil when it's wet.

You seem determined to work the soil with a UTV. I say it's your money...give it a try. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

__________________
'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.

Friedrich August von Hayek