Author Topic: A little grey or a little grey (Read 2604 times)

themadsaxon · « **on:** August 03, 2014, 08:16:22 am »

morning all,
I appreciate there may be some biased on this page but I am after some views on whether I would be better off working a smallholding with a horse or a small tractor (like a little grey Nuffield) I realise both will come with their own pros and cons and various bills so I was curious as to peoples opinions. to be honest I would favour working a horse but this may be me being a big old girly romantic at heart.
Pete

RUSTYME · « **Reply #1 on:** August 03, 2014, 12:50:11 pm »

It may just boil down to preferance , or how modern you want to go , ie making huge haylage bales etc .
But tractors will always cost , fuel . Oil , mechanic , parts , tyres , apart from the mechanic bit that you may be able to do youself , all these things will mean money you have to earn somehow .
Horses can need a vet and if you do a lot of road work a farrier , but you can grow all their feed , they can be free atm , they always start and get a mare and you can have as many new ones as you want .
Belt and braces , ie both , would be the way to go if money allows .
But horses to do what you can , more or less everything once you gear things to suit , and then get someone in to to things if need be .
Working horse gear can cost a fortune , but lasts forever if looked after .
Swings and roundabouts on somethings , but you can't talk to tractors .

suziequeue · « **Reply #2 on:** August 03, 2014, 02:22:16 pm »

And tractors aren't great in woods and steep hills whereas a horse will try hard for you

shygirl · « **Reply #3 on:** August 03, 2014, 04:29:25 pm »

wev used horses for shifting felled trees but it does take absolutely ages, if you have access then 4wd is much much quicker. depends on what you want out of life.

sabrina · « **Reply #4 on:** September 12, 2014, 10:40:16 am »

We have an old grey tractor that does a lot of hard work for us. Moving big bales about, muck heap, spraying the paddocks. cleaning out sheds. Much as I would love to use one of my ponies these are jobs they could not do.

ladyK · « **Reply #5 on:** September 27, 2014, 10:13:36 pm »

I have started training my donkeys to help with some of the jobs that need doing around here - this obviously takes longer but for me it carries extra satisfaction beyond just getting something done.
Also one of my fields is entirely non-accessible to any vehicle, so it has to be either donkey power or man power (and I really don't fancy moving a muck heap myself by the bucket... )