Industrial equipment — skid-steer loaders, wheel loaders, excavators and backhoes — has become agriculture’s mechanical equivalent of a utility player. Planters, combines and sprayers are agriculture’s specialists — the designated hitters or relief pitchers that have a specific job, but sit on the bench between appearances. Industrial equipment, however, plays every inning.
Here’s a list of industrial machines that might fit well on your roster.
Skid-steer loaders come in a range of sizes, from compact units that can clean barn stalls to large units designed to excavate dirt and load trucks. Boom-mounted accessories multiply their value.
Scouting report: Rubber-tired, skid-steer loaders work best on pavement or hard-packed dirt. They might fumble in soft dirt or mud. Their greatest strengths are front-end accessories, such as grapples, post-hole augers, snow blowers, pallet forks, bale spears and brush cutters.
Compact track loaders (CTLs) are a skid-steer loader with tracks instead of wheels. A CTL can do everything a skid-steer loader can do, with the same front-end accessories, but it will perform better on specific playing surfaces.
Scouting report: Tracks excel off-road, in mud, slop, loose dirt and conditions where their flotation and increased traction outperform rubber tires. Metal tracks stumble on pavement where they slip and slide, making them second team for cleaning paved feedlots. Rubber tracks are an all-surface option.
Wheel loaders on rubber tires are specifically designed for heavy-duty lifting and loading. Their articulated design provides a tight turn-radius, and their elevated frame provides more ground clearance than skid-steer loaders.
Scouting report: Wheel loaders offer easier cab access, better visibility and higher lift-height than skid steers and CTLs but have a higher clearance and greater length.
Excavators with tracks provide flotation in soft ground conditions. They range in size from mini-excavators, such as Kubota’s 10.3-hp K008-5 excavator that can carve a 1'-wide trench up to 6' deep, to industrial diggers, such as Case’s 460 hp CX750D with capacity to open an 8' wide trench 30' deep.
Scouting report: Excavators not only excel at trenching and general excavation, but optional concrete breakers, post-hole augers and other boom-mounted accessories widen their uses.
Backhoes are rubber-tired industrial tractors with a bucket loader on the front and a diggerstick and bucket for digging on the rear. They often find new careers on farms after retiring from big league construction companies.
Scouting report: A backhoe’s ability to move dirt with its bucket and dig holes or trenches makes it a multipurpose machine. Backhoes can only rotate 90 degrees to their axis to dump dirt, and their hydraulic stabilizers must be raised and lowered every time the machine is repositioned.
Telehandlers are often misunderstood. They look like a wheel loader but their single-boom design and unique steering give them distinctive skills. A flick-of-a-switch provides a choice between front-wheel steer, rear-wheel steer or crab steer. Low-positioned, side-entry cabs give easy entry, and their single-arm boom offers exceptional lift height. Some come with booms that extend hydraulically to increase their reach.
Scouting report: Telehandlers are designed for lifting more than pushing. They can be used to lift and load materials but favor silage and bulky bedding. Popular accessories include bale grapples, pallet forks and work platforms.
Used Versus Abused
Used backhoes, excavators, wheel loaders and other industrial machines can be a great option for farmers and ranchers.
“Farmers might only put 50 or 100 hours a year on a backhoe or excavator, so a used machine from a contractor might work real well for them,” says Brad DeVault with Fabick Cat. “At first glance it might seem
a machine traded in by a general contractor is worn out, but most of those companies work hard at maintaining their machines because they can’t afford breakdowns. The engines and pumps are usually in decent shape; it’s the wear points such as pins and bushings on loaders and the rails on tracks you need to check on used machines.
“Machines that were on-lease from dealers are usually in good shape because the leasee is responsible to return it in good shape. Plus, leased machines usually go through a dealership’s shop before it goes out on their lot,” DeVault adds.
Hire, Rent, Lease or Buy?
Farmers and ranchers traditionally hire contractors to work on tile lines, grub out trees or dig up damaged tile lines, but many are now buying their own industrial machinery.
“Hiring a contractor means you have to wait until he can do the work, plus it’s not cheap,” says Mike Hall, a sales manager for Titan Machinery. “Some farmers rent a backhoe or excavator to do tile work or grub out trees, but rental puts them at the mercy of when a machine is available to rent. If a machine is leased or bought, then it’s on the farm, available when it’s needed. And once it’s on the property it’s amazing how many ways they find to use it. Guys will lease a backhoe or an excavator or a wheel loader to use it on a long-term project, but end up buying it once they find out how much they use it.”
