Quad or Mule?

GAM

Member
Mixed Farmer
Possibly looking to px my Honda TRX420 for a Mule type 4x4, any suggestions or pros and cons?
 

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
About 15 years we sold our quad and replaced it with a mule within a year of red faces and swearing we bought a quad again but as well as. Mule is useless for getting cattle and sheep in moving etc. We still have a Polaris and dad loves it for sheparding feeding etc he does everything on it but at 79 wouldn’t do it on the bike
 

Davey

Member
Location
Derbyshire
I'd say they are two different tools really.

Quads are light, nimble and relatively cheap. UTVs are comparably slow and heavy but safer and higher payloads, basically a small farm truck.

As a single parent with two small children I'd be lost without my RTV as they can sit on the bench seat whilst I feed round. Also mine has a cab with doors which in the winter is a bonus (well for them, its still raining when you get out lol)
 
We bought a Kioti after having our quad stolen 8 years ago and wouldn’t go back to a quad again.
Advantages include minimal fuel costs on red which is allways on farm, storage space so lots of stuff that might be needed e.g hammer and staples and electric fencing kit lives in the back along with the ability to carry anything needed such as bags of feed and the fact that it’s considerably warmer than a quad even though we have the drivers side door removed.
Biggest downside is speed, it will severely struggle to get past running cattle on the flat but hopefully that isn’t something required too often.

We did have a petrol canam on loan whilst the Kioti was in for repairs last year but despite its extra speed we were glad to get the Kioti back, the Kioti is more of a no frills rugged workhorse and after getting used to the low fuel requirements of a diesel I couldn’t go back to petrol.

Not particularly cheap things to buy and maintain but the Kioti has cost less in maintenance than previous quads and the fuel savings have more than made up for the extra purchase price.
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
As above, much prefer a quad for stock work. Bought an rtv few months back specifically for pig and chicken work, as well as passenger capability for other jobs. But kept the quad and would take that over the rtv for cattle/ sheep work every time.
 
Very different tools as you say. UTVs seem hellish expensive for what they are but the added safety and utility for taking the kids around with you, getting the old man around the place etc has to be factored in. You can also have a sealed, heated cabin and carry a good payload with them. Not as handy as a quad but then neither is a pick up.
 

Overby

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
South West
Kawasaki Mule is good. Diesel engine, decent 4WD, can fit a round bale in the back. We're using ours for lots of Stewardship jobs too. Much better than the Polaris and it just depends if you want to move away from a quad. Main benefits of quad are obvs speed and manouverability.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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