Telehandler vs tractor for daily chores ?

Grass And Grain

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Yorks
J24s that’s a proper machine. Dad had 2 or 3, was the first farmer in the area to have anything like that. I clearly remember him telling me that his friends thought it a useless machine as all it did was lift things and they would never catch on.😂

2 manitous here now, won’t ever go back.
Wouldn't fancy taking Sambron to the field for a day's work! but perfect to shift 3 round bales/day into cattle yards. Will do that job until it dies, but I guess a single major component fail will be the end of it. Strong old bus.

Slightly more comfortable on the JCB.
 

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
We have an old 4wd 590.its jobs to put few bales of straw an silage in the shed for 7 months a year uses very little fuel........but that's about it!!
Always breaking down,won't start when its cold.clutch is knackered,4wd has just gone,front Axel is hanging on by the skin of its teeth and has now developed a water problem.
I hate it that much I won't drive it.I take the forklift the 6 miles along the road as its far quicker.
Keep looking for something to replace it but all between £15-£20k an most aren't much younger than me.
 
Perfect solution. (however not cheap!)

Have the Weidemann version, although saved a bit of money by not having a cab. Stacks bales and feeds them out, will turn on a sixpence and very economical. Can move easily on a trailer and take bales out over winter where you wouldn't dare go with a tractor. Have back up FEL on a 1995 Case for the odd time need a little bit more height or lifting capacity.
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
Are you mental it's 2021 I had to send him for counselling as he felt I didn't love him. It's no good telling today's youth you had to drive a Nuffield and horndraulic loader that you could neither steer or tip you might as well tell them that you used to have to pick bales up by hand and that the novelty spiked hand tool in the corner was for picking up pig muck they just won't believe you.
🤦Deary me, the poor lamb
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
somewhere along the line on this thread, the part about lowest running costs has clearly gone missing. as its on concrete yards, skid steer loader or industrial forklift are the winners.
Industrial forklifts get stuck on a banana skin and have no reach. Telehandler boom out reach over into a pen. Easy, quick, safe & effective.
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
We have an old 4wd 590.its jobs to put few bales of straw an silage in the shed for 7 months a year uses very little fuel........but that's about it!!
Always breaking down,won't start when its cold.clutch is knackered,4wd has just gone,front Axel is hanging on by the skin of its teeth and has now developed a water problem.
I hate it that much I won't drive it.I take the forklift the 6 miles along the road as its far quicker.
Keep looking for something to replace it but all between £15-£20k an most aren't much younger than me.
The 590 sounds very neglected. Keep on top of the little jobs and they don't become big ones.

I'm sure you could find a loader of some description under 20yo for that budget
 
If its just for feeding silage bales an old loader tractor cheapest, if your loading a lot of grain lorries/muck spreaders though does anyone use a big loading shovel? The time savings are bound to make it cheapest and will unload 5 silage bales off a trailer at once
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
If its just for feeding silage bales an old loader tractor cheapest, if your loading a lot of grain lorries/muck spreaders though does anyone use a big loading shovel? The time savings are bound to make it cheapest and will unload 5 silage bales off a trailer at once
Shovels might be cheap lifting but big numb and a royal pita to get in and out of
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
I'm thinking the same. Got a telehandler that only does a couple of hundred hours per year. It's so unreliable that I have an old Sanderson as backup. So 3 vehicles could be replaced with one.
But what if the one ( even a brand new one ) were to break down ?
The tele boom is useful for building maintenance.
Front end loaders ruin perfectly good tractors.
Telehandlers are designed / built to lift 3 ton without grumbling, groaning, or falling over sideways....

:unsure::unsure::unsure::unsure:
 

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
The 590 sounds very neglected. Keep on top of the little jobs and they don't become big ones.

I'm sure you could find a loader of some description under 20yo for that budget
Maybe to some extent but I bet in the last 5 years I'll of spent on it what I paid for it 20 years ago which was £2.5k.granted its no spring chicken old V reg.an it will have done some hard graft before I got it.
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
Maybe to some extent but I bet in the last 5 years I'll of spent on it what I paid for it 20 years ago which was £2.5k.granted its no spring chicken old V reg.an it will have done some hard graft before I got it.
I'd say £500/yr is very cheap repairs and maintenance
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
We used to fatten 80 bullocks through the winter and rear on 80 calves without starting an engine for 6 months. They ate silage off the clamp face in the shed. Bedded with 8 small bales morning and night off the stack next to pen shaken out using hayforks. A few tumbrels about for bags of cake walked in on your back.😉😄
Was that in 1960?
 

puppet

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
sw scotland
They already have the machine there and it sounds as if feeding up is not a big job with some big bales. For years we fed hundreds of silage bales with a Ford 4600 2wd and managed fine. He should use the cheapest available machine which is reliable but can also do other jobs. If buying a telehandler even saved 30 minutes a day I would still grudge it as the depreciation would far outweigh that and the 30 minutes would just be spent on TFF instead.
A lot of TFF members either have gone soft or have money burning a hole in their pocket.
'The clutch hurts my knee' 'Fewer steps to climb in a telehandler?' - it's a tractor not boot camp.
No chance I will get youngsters to use a wheelbarrow then?
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
They already have the machine there and it sounds as if feeding up is not a big job with some big bales. For years we fed hundreds of silage bales with a Ford 4600 2wd and managed fine. He should use the cheapest available machine which is reliable but can also do other jobs. If buying a telehandler even saved 30 minutes a day I would still grudge it as the depreciation would far outweigh that and the 30 minutes would just be spent on TFF instead.
A lot of TFF members either have gone soft or have money burning a hole in their pocket.
'The clutch hurts my knee' 'Fewer steps to climb in a telehandler?' - it's a tractor not boot camp.
No chance I will get youngsters to use a wheelbarrow then?
What makes you think depreciation on a telehandler is so much higher than a tractor loader?

530/70 JCB here cost £27k in 2003 with 1700hrs at 2yo. Its now done 11600hrs and is still worth £12k. £1.51/hr
TM300 bought new in 2005 was £48k. Sold 2020 with 11800hrs for £16200. £2.69/hr
536/70 bought 2017 with 5000hrs for £33k sold 2021 with 7600hrs for £26k = £2.69/hr

Not often I have a tractor do a similar amount of work and cost less than 4 quid a clock hour in depreciation.

Assumption can be expensive!
 

puppet

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
sw scotland
We used to fatten 80 bullocks through the winter and rear on 80 calves without starting an engine for 6 months. They ate silage off the clamp face in the shed. Bedded with 8 small bales morning and night off the stack next to pen shaken out using hayforks. A few tumbrels about for bags of cake walked in on your back.😉😄

Was that in 1960?
We don't self feed any more but the rest is nearer 2021 here :rolleyes:
 

Bwcho

Member
Location
Cymru
We used to fatten 80 bullocks through the winter and rear on 80 calves without starting an engine for 6 months. They ate silage off the clamp face in the shed. Bedded with 8 small bales morning and night off the stack next to pen shaken out using hayforks. A few tumbrels about for bags of cake walked in on your back.😉😄
You've cracked the KISS* system 👏🏻


*KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid
 

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