Bob Cats (side skidders)

Tipp farm hand

Hello All,
I have been pondering for some time now on the ida of buying a bobcat. i was out in australia for some time over 10 years ago now and i used to drive one for a subbie in sydney. I feel it would be usefull for feeding meal, and loading muck spreader etc during the winter, maybe fencing etc during during the summer. The machine i drove in australia had a brush and bucket which would be handy for cleaning off the silage pit and around the farmyard in general. i have no ida of the price so maybe someone can give me some info and i can put the notion to bed once and for all.
cheers all

Bitten & Hisses

Last I heard, a new Komatsu skid steer was around €25K including VAT. I hire one on self drive a few times each year for cleaning out smaller sheds and other jobs. The New Holland has pedals for operating the loader, which I don't like at all: I prefer the ones with all controls on the levers. They're not a machine I would have much use for outside the yard.

Agri contractor

We have a 2006 new holland 160. Brought it in from America in 2008 with road sweeper, forks and bucket. We bought a shear grab for it and now feed cattle, cleans sheds basically it is used every day. We repalce the tyres once a year. The machine is very ecominical copare to the jcb loader.

Tipp farm hand

sounds like a great job, was it expensive ? I think myself it would be ideal for my set up, but im just afraid im away with the fairies whith the cost. is it a big job to bring stuff in from america ?

MfMan

Tipp, you can see how much they cost second hand on Donedeal, autotrader etc.

On the debit side, a better quality one would set you back in excess of 8-9K. Skidsteers are often called Bobcats after the firm that initially built them, but there are plenty of other makes including Mustang, Gehl, Case, MF, Volvo, NH, JCB (robot) etc. It may be no harm to source one from a dealer if you can for backup support; if they go wrong, it's not every mechanic that can service or fix them. McArdles in Glaslough, Monaghan, are main importers in Ireland for skidsteers, specifically the Mustang brand which is American - what they wouldn't know about them isn't worth knowing I'd say. There's another place nearer to you in the midlands / Athlone which sells them, Gehls and Case I think - their name escapes me at the moment. McCulloughs in Ballinleck, Fermanagh, Alexander Mills in Tyrone, also usually have second hands in stock. They are hard on tyres, especially for yard work, where they're usually driving on hard concrete. Not so good on land, except during summer, when it's bone dry, they tend to sink otherwise. Bobcats, while a good make, are said to give occasional electronic problems, Mustang mechanically more simple.

On the credit side, I have one for feeding cattle with a shear grab, and it's unlikely there's a better machine for the job. Very strong, can manage a 4-5 ft. grab with relative ease, yet compact enough to get right in near a barrier, a consideration if you have a shed with a narrow central passage. Also, have a bucket with it for cleaning sheds, loading soil, sand, muck etc. and pallet forks, handy for moving stuff around the yard on pallets - helps to keep things tidy and also helps putting up pallets of tyres and sand bags when covering the pit. Useful too for lifting 1/2 tons bags of fertiliser or round bales up and into ring feeders. In short, if you have a lot of work around a yard that you do with a tractor and transport box, and feeding, whether pit or rounds bales a skidsteer would be real handy.

See link
http://www.independent.ie/farming/expensive-toy-proves-a-practical-workhorse-1249434.html

Agri contractor

Tipp farm hand wrote: »

sounds like a great job, was it expensive ? I think myself it would be ideal for my set up, but im just afraid im away with the fairies whith the cost. is it a big job to bring stuff in from america ?

It cost us in €16,000. A friend of ours brought in a container. Filled it up with bobcats, lawn mowers, motor bike and tools. Some craic when we opened the doors of the container.

The bobcat was pushing snow 160hrs up on it and it was kitted out for the weater in Chicago.

Bodacious

Tipp farm hand wrote: »

Hello All,
I have been pondering for some time now on the ida of buying a bobcat. i was out in australia for some time over 10 years ago now and i used to drive one for a subbie in sydney. I feel it would be usefull for feeding meal, and loading muck spreader etc during the winter, maybe fencing etc during during the summer. The machine i drove in australia had a brush and bucket which would be handy for cleaning off the silage pit and around the farmyard in general. i have no ida of the price so maybe someone can give me some info and i can put the notion to bed once and for all.
cheers all

MF man pretty much summed up the situation belowas i looked into them also for a neighbour but he decided in the end that he would get more use ot of a 3tonne machine to clear out calving boxes and use it in summer for draining etc, like you i drove one in U.S for a year feeding beef cattle and after a while you could do just about anything with it, loading, scraping snow, cleaning yard it was always flat out, there is a great video of a class bit of mexican driving.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhUUNftcmpU&feature=player_detailpage:):)

mantua

In the same situation!! we have a gud few dry sheds around the farm and having to get the time to clean them out manually is only at weekends and if im not that busy but have been looking into buying a skidsteer for the last 12 months as a guy who we buy hay off has one and swears by them because of their mobilty! What do ye think a person would get with max €5000?? would like to get one before the summer because have a gud bit of fencing to do this year and would be awful handy for driving posts and even stacking bales as we don't have a loader for the tractor!! also seen a few on the internet over in france and belgium but wondering would it cost an arm and a leg to get them brought home!!

jeff greene

mantua wrote: »

In the same situation!! we have a gud few dry sheds around the farm and having to get the time to clean them out manually is only at weekends and if im not that busy but have been looking into buying a skidsteer for the last 12 months as a guy who we buy hay off has one and swears by them because of their mobilty! What do ye think a person would get with max €5000?? would like to get one before the summer because have a gud bit of fencing to do this year and would be awful handy for driving posts and even stacking bales as we don't have a loader for the tractor!! also seen a few on the internet over in france and belgium but wondering would it cost an arm and a leg to get them brought home!!

Not much use when off concrete tho unless very dry, for €5k you would need to be very lucky to get a good one.

Dupont

they are pretty much useless off road, got one stuck in bedded shed when went in to lift gates. they are great for blocking silage you can be very percise with them,bosses son can lift out bucket of lick with pins on shear grab and set it back in quicker than getting out of machine.if loadind diet feeder it can be abit annoying because it just doesnt lift high enough and you have to shake the bucket like hell to get meal out. great for bales to you can stack straw bales 4 high