What is more efficient, quad or diesel 4x4

crashbox

Member
Livestock Farmer
As per the question really, tasks would be putting up fences, checking stock, feeding a few bags of cake (would have to be in a trailer for a quad), etc.

Petrol quad, or diesel 4x4? All on farm, no road work.
 

Wood field

Member
Livestock Farmer
As per the question really, tasks would be putting up fences, checking stock, feeding a few bags of cake (would have to be in a trailer for a quad), etc.

Petrol quad, or diesel 4x4? All on farm, no road work.
Depending on the ground , diesel buggy , can carry your fence posts , tools bags of cake etc
Ours does around a clock hr per litre of red
 

Nearly

Member
Location
North of York
Which will still be there in the morning?
robertshaw hilux.jpg
 

crashbox

Member
Livestock Farmer
Yep it's what we've always done, never had a quad.

But now I'm setting up a lot more electric fences, starting to look at a quad...
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
I can carry 4 bags of oats on the footwells of the quad, 5 if I’m knacky and not driving like a hero, these all have open tops.
If unopened feed bags you could be up to 3 one side, 4 on the other, 3 on the front and 5/6 on the back.

Quad is so nimble. Quad, buggy and pickup here. If I’m electric fencing I’ll use a quad 95% of the time. In the winter we might take the buggy but only to sit in in the dry but quad does all the stake and wire work.
 

BAF

Member
Livestock Farmer
Jimnys are supposed to be pretty good little trucks for getting about. Quite light and small but you can load them up with stuff. And you get the luxury of heating and staying dry. Obviously wouldn't go some of the places you'd go on a quad but depends on what you want it for. If you had a tidy one and looked after it you could even keep it mot'd and use it to run down to the pub!
 

HarryB97

Member
Mixed Farmer
Diesel buggy would be a much better bet. Our Polaris ranger is so frugal on fuel it’s hard to believe, plenty of room for feed, dogs and the Rappa fencing machine on the back whilst keeping you out the weather and it’s much lighter than a 4x4
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Problem is that a diesel buggy costs three times as much as a 420cc quad. It will be more economical but will probably have a far higher repair cost in the medium and longer term.
However, depending on the farm, the buggy might well be three or more times as useful. Many sheep farms have a buggy and a quad so they can choose what’s appropriate for the job at hand.
 
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Wood field

Member
Livestock Farmer
Problem is that a diesel buggy costs three times as much as a 420cc quad. It will be more economical but will probably have a far higher repair cost in the medium and longer term.
However, depending on the far, the buggy might well be three or more times as useful. Many sheep farms have a buggy and a quad so they can choose what’s appropriate for the job at hand.
This is it in a nutshell, we got a cheap buggy off eBay to see if it was up to the job , it owes me 4 grand after I’ve replaced a few bearings and odds and sods
It became the go to machine especially through winter on the moor so much so that we bought a new buggy
The quads still on the farm but hardly used ,although in fairness ,the quad is far nimbler for gathering sheep
The buggy is handy for filling up from the farm tank and it gives more weather protection and carrying capacity, but ( ours) is noisy and an expensive first purchase from new
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
Jimnys are supposed to be pretty good little trucks for getting about. Quite light and small but you can load them up with stuff. And you get the luxury of heating and staying dry. Obviously wouldn't go some of the places you'd go on a quad but depends on what you want it for. If you had a tidy one and looked after it you could even keep it mot'd and use it to run down to the pub!
Mechanic was telling me the other day that they are getting on a bit now, and you have to be careful to check for rust if you are buying one.
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Don't know anyone who runs a buggy outside of warranty, which IMO says it all about them.
Bloody expensive to buy and run - and not reliable enough.

Buggy lacks visibility for checking stock. The couple I've driven felt cramped in and pretty numb. Getting in and out for gates is more chore than just jumping off the bike. The door would be ripped off straight away, defeating the purpose of wanting a cab...



The best option was the diesel quad, until AC stopped making it. Speed was never an issue, would go places petrol bikes couldn't and was saving me several thousand in fuel. Repair costs worked out similar to the Honda 420's we ran along side it (which were breaking down often, doing a fraction of the work of the diesel)
 

Kezman50

Member
I run a quad……..with a trailer when needed for picking dead stock up, fence posts, whatever. One element to factor in is the winter time. When it’s bad weather, and been bad weather for a while, a quad will not get stuck anywhere (operator dependant) and with less ground pressure than a foot print, will keep poaching of ground to a bare minimum. This is where it particularly wins with the day to day shepherding task.
 

jellybean

Member
Location
N.Devon
A well respected Suffolk farmer that I did a lot of fencing and deer work for years ago said, when we were discussing various machinery options, that there is only one question you must answer, "will it do the job you want and do it well?"
Everything else is secondary, fuel type and price mean nothing if you've bought the wrong machine.
Yesterday I had a quad on demo, a secondhand one. I quite liked it apart from the high centre of gravity but then all current quads are too high. Finally I realised that it didn't have a transmission brake, only a clip on the rear brake lever, so the quad got taken back immediately. I learnt the hard way that if you are loading a stag carcass into a trailer on a slope and you need to be pointing down hill because you couldn't pull the carcass up hill into the trailer and you only have a brake on the rear axle when weight gets onto the back of the trailer it lifts the back of the quad enough to reduce the traction and away it goes. There are so many factors that make a machine suitable or not that you really do need to be very careful in your selection. If you are still alive at least you can choose between petrol or diesel.
 

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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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