A wise decision in my opinion. Barn work the skidsteer is a no brainer. I wonder if the telehandler would be more beneficial during harvest, but bottom line the numbers have to work. Been an interesting mini series. Top content mate 👌
Thanks for the in depth and informative review. Many farms in Europe like to use articulated wheelloaders, some also have a telesoping boom. Skidsteer loaders are often seen as just too small, or they can´t reach over the top of medium size feedmixers.
We just made the jump from a loader tractor to a New Holland Ls180. One of the best decisions we've made. Thinking to the future, no one on the farm is getting younger so the side entry would be worth its weight in gold and our barn lots are relatively open. I thought the way forward would be a smaller wheel loader. Thanks to your videos, starting to flirt with the idea of a telehandler. Great review and operating videos.
cupholders are always the dealbreaker my man. Glad you’re having fun running those and giving us some helpful knowledge along the way God bless you and your family
We prefer the telescop because we store balles over the cows and have a BGA and therefore its better. Also we can stack the balles higher on the field for bringing them home. And we have only small silos and had to store a lot of grain in halls. Hope my English is quite understandeble Jakob
Awesome review, thanks very much for sharing. On our dairy farm in Italy we have always used telehandlers (currently we run three Merlo's), as you pointed out the biggest advantage of these machines is versatility, if you start using them you will soon find yourself buying and building an incredible amount of accessories for the craziest jobs! We have a concrete mixer bucket, like 5 different sets of forks, buckets of all sizes, a platform for jobs at height, 3 different hooks, a straw blower and so on... Awesome machines. But I totally get the in-barn capacities of a skeedsteer!
I've been watching your videos while you've been trying the telehandlers and noticed how rarely you chose to used the JCB. I thought you were angling towards a Manitou recommendation. In the end, I was impressed that you highlighted the Kubota rather than the shiny new Maintou based upon your specific needs and included a cost comparison. Thanks and good work!
Eric, you gave a really thorough and in depth review of the machines. I have noticed in your videos over time you are really agile with the skid steer. Gotta love the cup holder. Thanks for a great review video.
Great Video, i‘m a dairy Farmer from Germany. Nobody Is working here with a skid loader. It‘s nice to see you working with it, but i can not imagine to use it at home
Very honest review I think, and after we bought a medium sized wheel loader, I agree they both have their place on the farm. We gained efficiency and sped up jobs with the wheel loader, but still easily put over 5-600 hours on a skidsteer.
Great evaluation of the various machines Eric. It was fair and detailed as to how it would suit your operation and I would say I would fully agree with that assessment. You also highlighted that very important point about how to secure your regular requirement for Chocolate Milk or Mountain Dew! Lol Keep up the good work.
I agree, I liked the Manatou for your operation. Just seemed the right size for what you do. Happy that you got to demo the two at the same time. Good luck.
Telehandlers are awesome for certain jobs on the farm but don't have much use in tight barns. I'm European and from Denmark. We don't use a lot of telehandlers for farm work. Tractors with front end loaders and medium sized payloaders are more common. As for skid steers there's even less. They are mainly used in construction. Most farms use small pivot steering loaders that have 45-60 hp for the jobs where most of you in North America use skid steers. weidemann and schäffer being the most used brands. But i do see the the advantages of a skid steer. But i can't imagine stepping in and out of them 20 times a day. It just look very inconvenient and the ride seems rough. Thank you for the comparison. :)
This video was very helpful. I am planning to try out that JCB, but the hold up from day one has been the price for me so I guess we shall see when I get a chance to run it
Great set of video's Eric, the work you do and the way you drive the skid steer in your tight spaces always amazes me, (I do wonder how many times you have clipped the odd fence or wall :-) ), the steer just costs in better, great work, hope the family are good cheers Pete
You hit the nail on the head when you said that a combination of tele handler and skid loader is the way. We got lucky at a auction and basically stole a tele handler. It is fantastic at a wide variety of tasks outside of the barns but we still run the skid loader for scraping alleys and cleaning pens as you just can’t beat the manu
Excellent video really enjoyed that! Now i want to demo a skidsteer on our farm, you made me want to get rid of our telehandler haha! Too bad there are no dealers who sell skidsteers around here, thanks for the video and indepth review
30 years of equipment maintenance tells me you did a good review on your uses. as for maintenance the CAT seems to hold up better than most of the others over time. I you have room for them they are a nice tool but in tight spaces you're right the skid steer is far better, you are spot on with the maintenance they are more maintenance. They don't sit out in the weather nearly as well other, they have more problems
I enjoyed watching you try them out and this review. I was curious to find out what you decided. You put a lot of thought in and just money wise probably made a smart choice. 🐄
Great video Eric! The review information is golden and highly valued. I think the small amount of money paid to dairy farms for the milk produced drives decisions like this. It would be nice to have both but you aren't being paid as much as you deserve for your product. You can't raise the price of milk. Limited rental of a telehandler for specific jobs might be a solution when it saves time and increases productivity. Otherwise - stick with what works. Enjoyed hearing your views. Well done!
Wow Eric, your point of the handling is right on point. The cost of the telehandlers really surprised me. I wasn't aware of the huge difference in price, along with all the other points you made, would make me agree with your assessment. I guess with all that considered the skid loader would me my choice too, of course I haven't used a telehandler, but I have skid loaders. Awesome comparison video, thanks for sharing, have a safe and wonderful week and weekend ahead.
We run both and actually made the switch to exclusively Manitou in 2019. We have a pair of larger Manitou telehandlers and 3 Manitou skid loaders, 2 wheeled and 1 tracked. Been extremely happy with all of them.
I’m surprised they telehandlers are so popular in the UK, what with their tiny barns and dumping grain on the floor for storage. Cleaning those out with a skidsteer would be so much easier. Anybody else remember when we all called them “uniloaders”? I still prefer that term. The only really good use for telehandlers is landscaping or other construction work around existing homes, where they don’t tear up the lawn nearly as much as a uniloader does. Hire someone to do a little work around your house in the US and you’ll end up with a ruined yard for the next year while you get it back into shape.
here in europe you see smaller articulated wheelloaders quite often. thight turn radius and high lift capacity. they are used alot in combi with bale trailers. because you can load and tow the bales with 1 person in 1 machine
Skid steer all the way for your setup it's a lot easier a lot cheaper to get in and out can't get the telehandler into clean them baby cows bedding I just stick with the skid steer can't be the Kubota that's my opinion Kubota Tractors are all we have ran another good video to look about the telehandler good job on that stay safe stay warm God bless
I have two of the same skids steers and a manitou 634 we have had many issues with the manitou at where the flywheel connects to the hydraulic pump great machines but they do have there place we are currently in the transition of loading feed with a wheel loader as our mixer is to tall for the kubotas to load 👎🏻 great video! Commenting from Prince Edward Island Canada.
Ohh. I don't use/ know how to use any of these machines. Price is the bottom line of course for any addition to rolling stock( skid steer, tractor, " tele-handler, hearse, limo, utility vehicle, etc.) but as one looking in from outside, Manitou rocks the house! Can't see past the dune buggy vibe or utility ( silly me) issues. Any way I won't be driving a Manitou around Nashville... but I still would love to play with one. Thanks Eric and thank you sincerely for allowing me to hang out with you and yours. God bless
Good review Eric. Hard to beat a skid loader in tight space. Ran 1 for over 40 years. They were all Case. I don't know about the rest, but looks like yours is just fine!
Thanks for the assessment of the JCB and the Manitou. I was wondering about the tight spaces that the telehandlers would have trouble negotiating. I think that a good match would be the Manitou with your Kubota someday like you said.
You're review of the telehandlers verses the skid steer was spot on from what we saw in your earlier videos. What do you have planned for your next equipment demo? Is there a Fendt dealer close by? I'd love to see a side by side comparison between John Deere and a Fendt equipment. Or maybe New Holland and Case wheel loaders. How long before planting starts?
Great comparison of all machines. Good to see that you game all a fair test. Your right on all of them. Maybe you should try the tele-skid from JCB??? That is the best of both worlds. I don't have one. I want to try one myself. Good job!!!
The Manitou definatly be my choice. Looks easier to maneuver over the JCB. The JCB looks more structural solid but looks more difficult in typical farming areas
A teleskid might be more a fit for your farm. We have one and my god I love it. Don't realize how much you actually use the extending boom. It's great. And the best part is, it has a cup holder!!!
I think I would rather clean a barn out with a skid loader before telehandler. But where are using two of them right now on our Machinery shed right now and I do like the telehandler for that job.
