Best combination of farm equipment for snow management

[mcashman]

Hi, all!

I'm closing on a 50 ac horse property located in northern CT in December, and thinking about snow removal is dominating my concerns right now as I look at equipment I might need...

The property situation is something like this:

• 300' asphalt road to house parking area
• 100' gravel road from house to small barn with two stalls
• 1000'+ asphalt road up 50+ foot hill, winding
• 10,000 sq ft parking area at top of hill to horse arena and stable with 15 stalls (the entire area probably does not have to be cleared)
• 2000' gravel road across pastures to secondary pasture at top of hill

In imagining potential snow situations, I want to be able to handle

• Light snow (1-3 inches), often
• Mid snow (3-12 inches), fairly often
• High snow / blizzard (12-36 inches) - seldom, no more than 1-2 times per year
• Ice storm, slushy snow, 3-6 inches - 4-5 times a year

Because of the horses being housed at the top of the hill, I have to clear the road from the house to the arena / stable in every snow storm, so I can access it at least twice a day.

I think I might use the following equipment in the following ways:

• Manual 15 hp snow blower - house to small barn for initial equipment access; also use to snowblow horse winter paddocks (which are relatively small)
• Side by side 25-30- hp UTV with plow for light snow
• 45-50 hp Tractor with rear or front mount snowblower and FEL for mid and high snow / blizzard and for gravel road in pastures if needed - cab required?
• Some sort of tractor spreader for deicing the access road
• Chains for UTV to ensure traction; what does the tractor need?

But I need to ask people who have experience - does this make sense? Or is there some other way to combine equipment and use it in this situation? Also, what are the risks or pitfalls of using this kind of equipment for this problem and how do I prepare the property for snow so this equipment is fully useful?

What do recommend for deicing the road?

Finally, what's your recommended tractor snowblower? And do you prefer front or rear mount and why? Or should I put the snowblower on the UTV? Would that give me more flexibility in tight areas while bringing additional power to tasks like clearing larger paddocks?

Thanks in advance for your help!

- Mark

 

[Lava Rancher]

Unimog with blade and blower.

 

[Grandad4]

There is a TBN member, Paul Short, nicknamed "4shorts" on TBN, who has hands-down the best equipped snow removal setup I've ever seen. If you check over in the Kubota Buying and Operating sections, you'll see some of his posts. Here's a link to a YouTube video Blizzard March 2012.wmv - YouTube and here are some of his photos. Kubota Grand L 5740 Ready for wnter 2001-12 Don't know how much of this translates to your situation, but it should give you some ideas and a frame of reference. Maybe he'll pop in here with a comment or suggestion.

 

[mjncad]

Get a cab as you'll be miserable clearing that much area. Rear snowblowers are cheaper than front mounts; but personally if I had a need for a blower, I'd want a front mount to save my neck and back from blowing snow in reverse.

 

[Piston]

Although I have no experience using a tractor mounted snowblower, my opinion is that a pull behind rear blower would be ideal for your situation. This would enable you to blow all the snow while not constantly looking backwards. For the once every 5 year storm that dumps 2' on us you may have to snowblower during the middle of the storm as well, and since you need to be around to tend to horses, this seems ideal. You could keep a plow on your UTV as you mentioned. For the small storms if you have one, or get a quick disconnect plow for the FEL on the tractor. I think the tractor would be better as you could be nice and toasty in the heated cab. I personally would love this setup but refuse to buy the blower until I have a cab.
I would certainly want chains.

 

[Fi-Q]

Dang, looks like you have some toys.... Do you hae a truck? You have a lot of road to clear, i would prefer the plow on a pick truck than a utv. But again a utv can do a good job at clearing, i would guess, up to 6-8 in of snow. As far as anow blower, around here everybody are usin pronovost, they are known to be the best. If you have the budget for a front mounted snow blower, it is day / night compare to a rear one, but it cost more and your are loosing your FEL, wich I am assuminf you ll benusing a lot with the horse. But if you have a fairly easy removanle fel, it might not be that bad for the few time a year you ll need the blower. As far as cab, you cam sure do without it, I used to do it with a sled helmet. My dad have a feont mount blower on a cab kubota and it is awesome. Again I guess it all depend on the budget. Who knows you may have 2 trctors ao the lost of the fel
Might not be an issue in rhe front mount.

 

[Baby Grand]

Hello neighbor! Looks like you're getting lots of good advice. I've been doing all my snow removal with a FEL & rear blade and can tell you that it's not the ideal set-up. Before you commit to a blower, find out how well they work on our typical wet & sloppy snow. Some makes may handle this better than others do. I've been thinking about getting a blower after that series of storms 2 winters back when I ran out of places to pile the snow. Being able to blow it 15 or 20 feet from the drive would have reduced my working time by at least half.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hi, all!

I'm closing on a 50 ac horse property located in northern CT in December, and thinking about snow removal is dominating my concerns right now as I look at equipment I might need...

The property situation is something like this:

• 300' asphalt road to house parking area
• 100' gravel road from house to small barn with two stalls
• 1000'+ asphalt road up 50+ foot hill, winding
• 10,000 sq ft parking area at top of hill to horse arena and stable with 15 stalls (the entire area probably does not have to be cleared)
• 2000' gravel road across pastures to secondary pasture at top of hill

In imagining potential snow situations, I want to be able to handle

• Light snow (1-3 inches), often
• Mid snow (3-12 inches), fairly often
• High snow / blizzard (12-36 inches) - seldom, no more than 1-2 times per year
• Ice storm, slushy snow, 3-6 inches - 4-5 times a year

Because of the horses being housed at the top of the hill, I have to clear the road from the house to the arena / stable in every snow storm, so I can access it at least twice a day.

I think I might use the following equipment in the following ways:

• Manual 15 hp snow blower - house to small barn for initial equipment access; also use to snowblow horse winter paddocks (which are relatively small)
• Side by side 25-30- hp UTV with plow for light snow
• 45-50 hp Tractor with rear or front mount snowblower and FEL for mid and high snow / blizzard and for gravel road in pastures if needed - cab required?
• Some sort of tractor spreader for deicing the access road
• Chains for UTV to ensure traction; what does the tractor need?

But I need to ask people who have experience - does this make sense? Or is there some other way to combine equipment and use it in this situation? Also, what are the risks or pitfalls of using this kind of equipment for this problem and how do I prepare the property for snow so this equipment is fully useful?

What do recommend for deicing the road?

Finally, what's your recommended tractor snowblower? And do you prefer front or rear mount and why? Or should I put the snowblower on the UTV? Would that give me more flexibility in tight areas while bringing additional power to tasks like clearing larger paddocks?

Thanks in advance for your help!

- Mark

In my opinion, a 45-50 HP tractor with an FEL and snow blower and a back blade will take care of most of your needs. Front mount snowblowers are easier on your neck but really expensive. Any snow blower needs to be as wide as the respective track of where it is mounted.The FEL and a back blade can take care of the light snow falls and the blower can take care of the deep and drifted snow. For gravel, you'll need a snow edge on the back lade to keep from moving too much gravel (See thumbnail). I designed and built this one and have used in on our gravel lanes for 23 years. You can use the blower over the gravel as long as you set it a few inches above the ground to keep from picking up the gravel. The weak point for all this snow removal equipment is heavy wet snow. The blower will get some of this dependent on how wet an heavy it but it wont throw it far and it will plug up sometimes. A front blade might be best for that wet stuff. Where I live we don't get this very often. I use our 7 ft back blade with the depicted snow edge on a '54 TO-30 Ferguson (27 pto hp)and we have Ford 4610 (46 pto hp)with a FEL and I put a 7ft ARPS blower on that to blow now off the lanes and the feed ground. We also have a cabbed NH TD95D (82 pto hp) with a FEL which I use for feeding round bales that I can use, but I don't use that very often for snow work..

As far as ice storms, my experience says you just wait them out because there's not much else you can do until the temperature comes up and the ice melts. Then you'll spend a lot of time cleaning up the tree branches!

These are things that work for me.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Dang, looks like you have some toys.... Do you hae a truck? You have a lot of road to clear, i would prefer the plow on a pick truck than a utv. .

I have both and I agree. A decent PU will also take care of everything except for the biggest storms if you don't go out til it is done snowing. Also much faster than the snowblower. The blower would make an ideal backup though.

 

[boggen]

Hi, all!

I'm closing on a 50 ac horse property located in northern CT in December, and thinking about snow removal is dominating my concerns right now as I look at equipment I might need...

The property situation is something like this:

• 300' asphalt road to house parking area
• 100' gravel road from house to small barn with two stalls
• 1000'+ asphalt road up 50+ foot hill, winding
• 10,000 sq ft parking area at top of hill to horse arena and stable with 15 stalls (the entire area probably does not have to be cleared)
• 2000' gravel road across pastures to secondary pasture at top of hill

In imagining potential snow situations, I want to be able to handle

• Light snow (1-3 inches), often
• Mid snow (3-12 inches), fairly often
• High snow / blizzard (12-36 inches) - seldom, no more than 1-2 times per year
• Ice storm, slushy snow, 3-6 inches - 4-5 times a year

- Mark

"snow drifts" are going to be the big problem. at least they are for me, i might get a very light dusting on 3/4 of what i need to do, but then get into 1 foot to 6 feet deep snow drifts.

a front mounted FEL snow blower, or FEL (front end loader) with general heavy duty bucket, is what going to be wanted for snow drifts.

a rear blade, can handle the couple inches of snow, and help clean the drives and parking lot off fairly easily. and cheaply.

ya going to be out there for a couple hours min to clear everything. i have done it without a cab, but man, frost bite is a very large concern, now that i have a cab tractor, WOW, night and day difference, i can keep on going and going, and never really worry, and with a CAB, i get a nice ride, and can get to were ever, were a regular pickup truck or even a ATV may not even be able to go.

your going to most likely want "chains" for the tractor. to deal with hill and ice.

also having "split brakes" left and right rear brakes, that you can use to help turn the tractor, besides using the steering wheel. and more to the point, having the split brakes on the opposite foot the "gas pedal / go pedal / HST pedal) is located. so you can operate brakes on one foot, and gas pedal with other foot. so you can lock up one tire, and spin around on that one locked up tire and get yourself pointed were you want to be pointed.

4WD or MFWD or like tractor can help a great deal as well, but split rear brakes are up on the "needed list"

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setting up a regular pickup truck with a snow blade on the front, and then adding weights in bed of truck. is a tough call. you have a lot of road / drive way to deal with. plus parking lot. you might be better off seeing if you can find a used beat up "dump truck" and toss a snow plow on the front of it. but problem with trucks and dump trucks, and like. is an extra vehicle to take care of.

a tractor and dealing with a farm / horses. might serve more multi purpose doings. and if tractor had a cab, the extra time it might take with a cab tractor. vs dealing with a regular pickup truck with a snow blade on front or a old dump truck with snow blade on front. would most likely pay better using a tractor. and then dealing with snow drifts. a truck would not be able to handle. at least the snow drifts i need to deal with. were i have no place to "push the snow" or even ability to obtain enough traction let alone be able to take a running start a slam into a snow drift. and require a FEL with general heavy duty bucket or a snow blower to deal with the drifts.

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my self, tend to use FEL to dig into drifts, and use left and right steering brakes, to do a 360 spin on a dime doing. so i can make a large pile of snow off in a ditch or out the road way area. problem with using FEL, is it can "compact" the snow as ya digging out a drift. and can take some extra time dealing with the compacted snow to be able to drive a regular truck down the driveway / dirt road / gravel road way on the farm.

a snow blower, will less likely compact the snow as you work your way through a drift, but having a outlet chute you can control from cab in what direction it shoots snow can make a difference.
a cab or some sort of encloser is most likely wanted when dealing with any sort of snow blower. bitter wind chill plus mist of snow coming back on you. just does not work. at least for me. or less i have a cab.

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your paved driveway, is going to eat ya up. using a FEL with general heavy duty bucket or rear blade, even a snow blower. what ever you use on paved driveway, will most likely need some sort of rubber blade, or pipe along the cutting edge of a rear blade or FEL. or caster wheels or sled shoes on a snow blower. to keep from digging into the paved driveway.

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ATV / UTV not sure would pay off for weight and width of blade or snow blower you could place on them. for amount of drive/road/ parking lot you have to deal with. if you have some really small areas to deal with "side walks" it might, but at that point it would be a toss up between a ATV / UTV and a walk behind gas snow blower for the short and narrow passage ways.

if me, i would also skip the idea, the use of a "skid steer" to much road to deal with. and skid steers just do not have MPH to go up and down the drive multi times, would just take way to long. ya a skid steer could be used, but it would be painfully slow.

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putting down salt or de-icing, i do not know about that, seems rather costly. put money into a tractor or ATV or UTV or regular pickup truck. that will allow you to go through a couple inches of snow. and put money into clearing the snow off the driveways and roads and parking lot.

you can get 3pt hitch spreaders they may not hold a huge amount of salt or like. but "shrugs" if ya really need something, it might be worth a thought, and just physically buying bags of salt and dumping them into the spreader. or look at getting a used old beat up dump truck, that has a salt spreader that comes with it. and a snow plow on the front. but if ya getting to salt and de-icing, stuff, i don't know, myself, i would think it would be a complete waste of cash. or less i had spare cash to throw around. or less a business required it, (wal mart parking lot, or like businesses) were folks are driving there cars and extremely low clearance level to the ground, and barely able to make it through a couple inches of snow.