Clearing the land is often a challenging task and choosing the right equipment is more than necessary. For this reason, many people struggle between skid steer vs. tractor for clearing land. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that these are the two most important pieces of equipment on the farm. So, if you want to purchase either of them, we are sharing the differences between both!
Skid Steer vs Tractor For Clearing Land
Both of them are agricultural equipment that can be used for a variety of farming functions. They have a difference in versatility, handling, controlling mechanism, design, and horsepower. For the most part, the skid steers have a multi-purpose functionality and are more convenient to use as compared to tractors but happen to be slower. In addition, the skid steers use electronic dashboards as compared to tractors that still have years-old handling technologies. So, let’s dive in deeper!
Tractor To Clear Land
To begin with, it’s clear that the tractor has less versatility and can be complicated to manage. However, it is much faster. They use outmoded handling technology, which puts them behind a bit. When it comes down to the horsepower, it ranges from 15 to 150 which is quite an arc. For the most part, tractors are used in farms and agricultural fields but ones with 15 horsepower are suitable for handling and pulling smaller carts and trailers without any issue.
If you are concerned about flexibility, it is quite limited with tractors. This is because they cannot perform all the work that’s done by a skid steer. To name a few, it can help with mowing, lifting heavier objects, land clearing, snow clearing, and plowing. As far as the agricultural land is concerned, tractors can be used for cultivating the lands. The best thing about the tractor is that it has a built-in loader and backhoe for loading, so it saves time for connecting the attachments.
The tractors take absolute leverage when you have to connect different attachments because there is a place at back and front to connect different attachments. Even more, the tractors are extremely high-speed. If you are concerned about the price, tractors are more economical and have lesser weight, making them portable. Not to forget, the tractor attachments are equally affordable. Also, the tractors tend to be more compact, resulting in less weight which means it won’t disturb the ground either.
We do want to add that the handling methods are still not high-tech but there are advanced tractors available that can be connected with a smartphone for monitoring it.
Skid Steer To Clear Land
The skid steer is integrated with an electronic dashboard and comes with multiple attachments. All the attachments are easy to attach and take off. As we are talking about the equipment it’s important to consider the horsepower, it ranges from 40 to 75, depending on which type of skid steer you using. In fact, it can be 18 (yes, that low) and goes up to 75. The skid steers with less than 50 horsepower are suitable for underground construction projects, digging, and home improvement projects.
The skid steers are quite flexible and can be used for a variety of farming jobs. For instance, they can be used for digging under the building structures where you cannot use large booms. In addition, they can be used for cultivation, loading, hauling, shifting, lifting, leveling, clearing, landscaping, debris removal, grading, and overhead work. The skid steers can be connected with raking and mulching attachments, brush cutters, and backhoes for different purposes.
With the help of a backhoe, the users can load and dump the garbage, and shifting between different attachments is quite easy. The skid steers can be connected with a variety of attachments. On the other hand, mobility is impacted since it moves slowly. As far as the price is concerned, the skid steers tend to be more expensive and the attachments are higher as well, so it’s best to keep more investment at hand. Also, the skid steers are heavyweight and can disturb the ground a bit.
To summarize, the skid steers are integrated with an advanced display which has a display window, responsive input keys, and alert indicators.
Having said that, which farming equipment will you use?