YARD EQUIPMENT

There are a couple of smaller pieces of machinery which help make yard life a lot easier. We have put together our top five suggestions for smaller pieces of machinery:

  • Leaf blower or leaf hoover – why sweep large areas when you can use a leaf blower, they also work on surfaces that are difficult to sweep
  • Lawn mower – tidy grass areas and verges make a huge different to how a property looks, keeping everything mowed is worth the effort.
  • Strimmer – for all those areas that are difficult to mow, a strimmer helps to keep everything neat.
  • Chainsaw – from fallen trees to general DIY repairs, a chainsaw is an essential.
  • Hot water – this is a luxury but it’s great to have. Washing horses with hot water makes the experience a lot nicer for everyone, especially during winter.

    • Budget is an obvious factor to consider when you are looking to purchase a tractor but it is not the only factor. It is also important to consider the size of the tractor. Look and measure where you will be likely to be driving the tractor and if you have somewhere in mind to store it. If you have an old-fashioned yard with narrow gateways there is no point in buying a very big and wide modern tractor.

    Ideally, you should have the capacity to store your tractor under cover, especially during the worst of the weather. See what space you have available to store your tractor in and keep the size of this space in mind when choosing a tractor.

    The next thing to think about is what you are going to do with it. If you need the tractor to roll an arena you will need something with a very tight lock so that you can easily turn and roll the maximum surface area. A smaller, compact tractor is more suitable for lighter work such as rolling arenas or driving through barns but wouldn’t necessarily suit more heavy-duty work in poor weather conditions.

    Consider what attachments you will need to go with the tractor, such as a bale grabber, fork, different sized buckets etc. Make sure to check that all of the attachments you want are available with the tractor you are interested in.

    Finance is a big factor in determining what you buy. Buying secondhand is a great way to save but be sure to have a mechanic check any tractor before you go ahead with the purchase and try to buy from a reputable dealer when possible.

    OTHER ALTERNATIVES

    There are a range of different tractor alternatives you can use for all sorts of yard work. Mucking out into wheel-borrows, especially if you have a wheel them for a long distance to get to the muck-heap, can be very labour intensive.

    If you have a yard or barn that it is possible to drive a small dumper around this can be a very simple way of mucking out and make the process a lot less labour intensive. This works very well if you have an American barn with an aisle wide enough the drive the dumper down and muck out into the bucket. The added advantage of this is you can drive straight from the stables to your muck-heap.

    Quads and micro tractors are also great options for equestrian yards. Quads are very useful if you need to drive across fields to feed or check on stock, but they’re not always the best option for rolling arenas because they tend not to have a great lock for turning in small spaces.

    Micro or compact tractors such as the Kubota B20 and B50 series, New Holland Bomber 25 are options available in this market. These smaller tractors can easily handle the workload of an equestrian yard and are work well in tight spaces.

    The John Deere Utility Vehicle is another useful piece of machinery for every yard.