Rustyiron
Super Member
I certainly wouldn't drag one to the field just to load. We'll unload (and wrap) silage bales back at the farm also. Medium sized wheeled machine does fine as long as you have some "machine smarts".
Better with tracks on bumpy fields. I wonder if tracked skiddy more stable with big bales?
Only ran wheeled, would think a tracked machine would better on wet ground. Either machine might tear up the grass if turned aggressive.
Another thing is I'd be hesitant to lift very high if land not perfectly level, I've carried very wet silage bales with the rear wheels hardly touching. Once I went down in a dip and the bale slid off the spear (limited tip back) and had a "kid on teeter totter all the way in the air and other kid jumps off" experience.
Not traveling with the load raised is common sense but the fixed frame skid loader is inherently a lot more stable than a pivot axel tractor.
Depends on the size of tractor. Guarantee I felt way safer handling a 4x5 silage bale on the 75 PTO HP fwa loader tractor than the 5000lb skid steer I was running. Tractor way longer wheel base, heavier and wider. Compare same skid steer to a compact tractor handling same bale...skid steer wins.
5,000 pounds is a tiny skid loader. A 10,000 pound skid steer or even bigger will beat the farm tractor especially running without ballast which most farmers tend to do.
No ballast thing must be regional. FWA loader utility tractor here typically has fluid or/cast here. 10,000 is on the light side for loader tractors used on most the farms covering any amount of land.
Most farm skid steers around here are just for farmyard work on concrete or pavement, cleaning barns etc. They don't usually make sense in the field because they have to be hauled any distance and they can't tow what they loaded home. Not road legal here anyways. Yes you could load the trailer you hauled the skid steer on, but you'd have have something else to unload it on the other end and then come back for it. Wouldn't call that a win for the skid steer.