Tell me about your farm workhorses...ATVs, 4 wheelers, tractors, side by sides, etc.

[Beekissed]

Never owned a 4 wheeler before we started turning this place into a sheep farm. My dad HATED 4 wheelers and how they tore up the land, as he had never known any except those rode by the people who came out from the towns each weekend in fair weather, found some back road and even someone else's land and tore it to shreds with their mudders and ATVs.

Now we own 3 but will be flipping one of those next week, hopefully...got it for $1K under book and don't like the size of it, so will be selling it for more than we paid. All used, as we are operating this place on a shoestring and can only afford used equipment such as this. I seriously can't remember what we did without these things!!!! We have done so much work with these it ain't funny and my butt is on one every single day, feeding animals, carting something somewhere, dragging up things to build with, moving something, pulling something, etc.

Don't have any pics of them right now but will try to get some this next week. We don't care about pretty here...we care about performance and dependability, so we researched before we hunted for one on Market Place and I watched vids on the top 5 best rated and most dependable brands/models/years, read narratives on it, etc.

We decided our first one would be a Honda Foreman or Rancher and we found a 2003 Honda Foreman ES 440 4x4, automatic for an excellent price and have owned it for almost year now...we are very pleased with it thus far. Needs brakes and we'll be getting those soon for both of our bigger bikes so we can stop when we need to.

The second one was the one we'll be selling, a Honda Recon 250 2013 model....too small and short of a wheel base for us, but plenty of power and a smooth running bike. We will make money on that flip.

The third one, bought this week was one we'd never heard of, but a quick research of it told us it was a good bike for a good price, so we jumped on it fast and got there first. It's a 2007 Suzuki Eiger 400 4x4, ES, manual shift. Eli LOVES this bike and I can see why....smooth, VERY powerful, makes the Foreman seem like one is riding an old plug compared to a pacer. It's a very simply constructed bike, making it easier for one to work on at home. I must say I like the Eiger's ride and performance better than the Foreman's too, but time will tell if it's dependable for us.

Will try to get pics of them soon...they aren't pretty, new or shiny and look like just what they are~trusty old workhorses that get the job done without much fuss or window dressing. I like that.

Want to talk about or show us pics of your favorite workhorse on the farm? Brag a little? Go for it!!!

 

[Mini Horses]

Could use one but, make do with an old riding mower, deck off, and pull cart.....or the tractor. My land isn't rough terrain So that helps. I'd love a Mule, just no $ for it. I put all that into the tractor and backhoe. No regrets. You are lucky to have Eli to work on such equipment....it's me or shop here, 90% of time.

 

[Beekissed]

Could use one but, make do with an old riding mower, deck off, and pull cart.....or the tractor. My land isn't rough terrain So that helps. I'd love a Mule, just no $ for it. I put all that into the tractor and backhoe. No regrets. You are lucky to have Eli to work on such equipment....it's me or shop here, 90% of time.

My previous work horse was my Cub Cadet without the mower deck on it! LOVE my Cub Cadet!

 

[Alasgun]

When we lived down in America i never had a use for one, in the Dakotas i could drive a pickup anywhere i wanted to go.
Up here it’s an entirely different story. These days, i have a 500 Arctic cat that only get’s used for snow plowing these days. When i was younger and hunted they were invaluable. I have many stories of exploits on wheeler’s all fond stories but some white knuckle ones too.
I‘ve crossed streams dragging a trailer and the water was coming over the fenders and flowing fast. On the far bank you bobbed along clawing for some footing as the stream pushed you and the trailer downstream. Eventually you’d get a hold and come up on dry ground. I have some picture’s of this i’ll look for.
i’ve also gone down steep hills to retrieve a downed moose, not knowing if you could get back up the hill! It worked with me ridding the wheeler with the winch line fully extended and tied to some brush or convenient tree AND my partner walking beside me to operate the winch control which kept the front end on the ground.
on one occasion we were coming out with 5 caribou. My buddy’s steering broke so we lashed the tierods to keep it pointing forward and i hooked in on behind my rig and we came out 25 miles like that. It was a sight, me and a trailer with those caribou and my buddy’s rig and trailer!
back then it was king quads and we always joked about what a good commercial that would have made with us cresting that last hill looking like a train.

i’ll dig, i’ve got some pretty good stuff and most of it on film so i may have to take a picture of a picture.

If i lived on a rural property i’d consider them essential.
oh yea, up here if you lost your license from a dui you can still drive your wheeler in the road ditch.

 

[Grant]

I’ve got a golf cart that I use all the time. Saves 100s of steps. I put a set of rear tires that look like tractor tires on for traction and it goes about anywhere I need it too. I’ve also got a 2004 BRANSON 2910 TRACTOR THAT DOES THE HEAVY LIFTING.

 

[Beekissed]

I’ve got a golf cart that I use all the time. Saves 100s of steps. I put a set of rear tires that look like tractor tires on for traction and it goes about anywhere I need it too. I’ve also got a 2004 BRANSON 2910 TRACTOR THAT DOES THE HEAVY LIFTING.

You forgot that good lookin' John Deere you have there!

We'd love to have a tractor here....what we couldn't do with a tractor and a few good attachments!

 

[Beekissed]

When we lived down in America i never had a use for one, in the Dakotas i could drive a pickup anywhere i wanted to go.
Up here it’s an entirely different story. These days, i have a 500 Arctic cat that only get’s used for snow plowing these days. When i was younger and hunted they were invaluable. I have many stories of exploits on wheeler’s all fond stories but some white knuckle ones too.
I‘ve crossed streams dragging a trailer and the water was coming over the fenders and flowing fast. On the far bank you bobbed along clawing for some footing as the stream pushed you and the trailer downstream. Eventually you’d get a hold and come up on dry ground. I have some picture’s of this i’ll look for.
i’ve also gone down steep hills to retrieve a downed moose, not knowing if you could get back up the hill! It worked with me ridding the wheeler with the winch line fully extended and tied to some brush or convenient tree AND my partner walking beside me to operate the winch control which kept the front end on the ground.
on one occasion we were coming out with 5 caribou. My buddy’s steering broke so we lashed the tierods to keep it pointing forward and i hooked in on behind my rig and we came out 25 miles like that. It was a sight, me and a trailer with those caribou and my buddy’s rig and trailer!
back then it was king quads and we always joked about what a good commercial that would have made with us cresting that last hill looking like a train.

i’ll dig, i’ve got some pretty good stuff and most of it on film so i may have to take a picture of a picture.

If i lived on a rural property i’d consider them essential.
oh yea, up here if you lost your license from a dui you can still drive your wheeler in the road ditch.

I would dearly love to see those pics! Alaska is a place my son dreams about and really wanted to live there at one time.

 

[Baymule]

We bought a lightly used 2320 Kubota tractor, 4WD, with Front end loader, bush hog, box blade, disc and a flatbed trailer on a super deal. We have used that tractor so much! Neighbor Robert has his own key and uses it whenever he wants.

We have a 3010 Kawasaki diesel mule that is handy as a pocket on a shirt. It has a back seat, mostly folded down so we can pack more in the bed. LOL We bought it used also for a good price.


Since we have a diesel tractor and mule, and truck, I found a deal on a 500 gallon fuel tank. It’s on a stand, gravity feed. When diesel started going up recently, we filled it up. So right now it is saving us a dollar a gallon.

We bought a used stock trailer and we use that all the time too. We buy pigs, haul them home, later haul them to slaughter. We took lambs to auction. The granddaughters love to play in it. It’s washed out every time it gets used, can’t stand a dirty trailer.

I have two wagons that I use all the time. One has a wheel off right now, need to go to Harbor Freight for a new wheel.

Equipment makes a huge difference in how hard or easy a task is.

Neighbor Robert has a John Deere riding mower, we gave him a trailer for it and can use it any time we want. We use his tiller for the garden. He recently bought a sawmill and is working the bugs out as it hadn’t been used in awhile.

I have a wide assortment of tools, cordless drill, circle saw and chainsaw. I adore my tools. Lots of hand tools, if I don’t have one, I buy it. LOL Neighbor Robert has a chop saw, table saw and a planer.


We don’t own it, but our friend leaves it here, it is a dump trailer. We used it to haul loads of horse stall pine shavings from a horse event center until we got 120 loads of wood chips from a power line cleaning crew. A neighbor has it right now, he’s going to repair the end gate, then use it to bring up cow lot clean up. He has several mountains of cow manure mixed with hay. Since we are about out of wood chips, we may go back to hauling pins shavings from the horse event center again. Neighbor Robert always gets loads too.

We have a good community here, several of us borrow tools and equipment from each other or use our equipment to help one another. When we got Robert’s sawmill loaded on our flatbed trailer (that was a job) Neighbor Russel came over with his cab tractor to lift it up, BJ used our tractor to pull the flatbed out, and Russel set the sawmill down. Robert used cement blocks to set it on, that we scrounged from a building tear down.

It’s not so much what we have, as much as it’s how can we help our neighbors and vice versa.

 

[Baymule]

Neighbor Russel has borrowed my Hitachi cordless drill and saw when redoing corner fence posts. Otherwise he would have had to load a trailer with a generator to use his tools.

He and his wife bought a modular home a few years ago, but had to tear down and remove the frame house they were living in. He got my drill , batteries and charger. It’s in a nice case, so easy to keep up with the pieces. He got the dump trailer and a friend of his brought his big tractor with a grapple. They crunched up what was left of the house, loaded it in the dump trailer and “moved” their old house to a burn pile down the hill. LOL I got all the windows!

 

[Beekissed]

We bought a lightly used 2320 Kubota tractor, 4WD, with Front end loader, bush hog, box blade, disc and a flatbed trailer on a super deal. We have used that tractor so much! Neighbor Robert has his own key and uses it whenever he wants.

We have a 3010 Kawasaki diesel mule that is handy as a pocket on a shirt. It has a back seat, mostly folded down so we can pack more in the bed. LOL We bought it used also for a good price.


Since we have a diesel tractor and mule, and truck, I found a deal on a 500 gallon fuel tank. It’s on a stand, gravity feed. When diesel started going up recently, we filled it up. So right now it is saving us a dollar a gallon.

We bought a used stock trailer and we use that all the time too. We buy pigs, haul them home, later haul them to slaughter. We took lambs to auction. The granddaughters love to play in it. It’s washed out every time it gets used, can’t stand a dirty trailer.

I have two wagons that I use all the time. One has a wheel off right now, need to go to Harbor Freight for a new wheel.

Equipment makes a huge difference in how hard or easy a task is.

Neighbor Robert has a John Deere riding mower, we gave him a trailer for it and can use it any time we want. We use his tiller for the garden. He recently bought a sawmill and is working the bugs out as it hadn’t been used in awhile.

I have a wide assortment of tools, cordless drill, circle saw and chainsaw. I adore my tools. Lots of hand tools, if I don’t have one, I buy it. LOL Neighbor Robert has a chop saw, table saw and a planer.


We don’t own it, but our friend leaves it here, it is a dump trailer. We used it to haul loads of horse stall pine shavings from a horse event center until we got 120 loads of wood chips from a power line cleaning crew. A neighbor has it right now, he’s going to repair the end gate, then use it to bring up cow lot clean up. He has several mountains of cow manure mixed with hay. Since we are about out of wood chips, we may go back to hauling pins shavings from the horse event center again. Neighbor Robert always gets loads too.

We have a good community here, several of us borrow tools and equipment from each other or use our equipment to help one another. When we got Robert’s sawmill loaded on our flatbed trailer (that was a job) Neighbor Russel came over with his cab tractor to lift it up, BJ used our tractor to pull the flatbed out, and Russel set the sawmill down. Robert used cement blocks to set it on, that we scrounged from a building tear down.

It’s not so much what we have, as much as it’s how can we help our neighbors and vice versa.

Bay, I cannot believe you are about out of wood chips after 120 loads!!!! Your garden soil must be deep and very black by now!

I love it that you have good neighbors and that you all share tools and equipment back and forth....that's how EVERY neighborhood should be, IMO. Wish we had that here. My elderly neighbor has a tractor that he's getting too sore to get up and down on but would never dream of letting Eli run it for him or use it to help our shared driveway in any way. We've never asked to do so, but he's just not the type to do such a thing....very graspy, stingy feller with such things.