Bobcat Or Racoon

[nev]

hi sorry if i posted in the wrong section!

my wife when we chop and sell our sugar in december has been mentioning buying one of those small kubuto tractors.

now i think they are useless no power and i wouldrather keep on paying the guy with the big ford who does a good job at a fair price.

my question is i have not seen many skid steer loaders in thailand,and i think investing in one where we live wouldbe a better investment than the small kubuto.

when back in australia i work in the building industry and see the bobcat in use on occasions and i must say you can get so many uses out of it.

now i think in the village the bobcat would be in demand as tractors are very limited mainly for farm.

the bobcat we could use for land clearing block clearing land fill rubish removal ect.

now does anyone know where i can get a price to buy new or second hand here in thailand,or am i better to pick one up in australia and ship over.

thanks for any advice nev.

[lioness]

I checked into this about a year ago, Bobcat are an excellent machine with many attachments available, if you look it up on the Internet, you will find an agency listed for Bangkok. You may have better luck than me as they never replied to my request. You coud contact America direct through the Internet. I thought about bringing one over from Australia, but there are problems & expenses, tax etc, which made me think twice about that idea.

They are so versatile, of course the loader bucket, I also had a backhoe attachment and also a fence post borer, one of the best investments I ever made. The Kubota don't come anywhere near it in my humble opinion.

[nev]

I checked into this about a year ago, Bobcat are an excellent machine with many attachments available, if you look it up on the Internet, you will find an agency listed for Bangkok. You may have better luck than me as they never replied to my request. You coud contact America direct through the Internet. I thought about bringing one over from Australia, but there are problems & expenses, tax etc, which made me think twice about that idea.

They are so versatile, of course the loader bucket, I also had a backhoe attachment and also a fence post borer, one of the best investments I ever made. The Kubota don't come anywhere near it in my humble opinion.

mate thanks for your reply,yes i think investment wise it will pay for its self.

there are too many tractors up here as it is.

with a bobcat with your above attachments would be in demand.

may i ask do you have one in thailand or do you have one in australia?

if you have one in thailand what rates do you charge it out at?

also there is a chinese model called racoon

i have added a picture,now might be a cheaper option and easier to import.

i tried to email this company and had problems getiing in contact i will try again.

thanks nev

[Maizefarmer]

hi sorry if i posted in the wrong section!

my wife when we chop and sell our sugar in december has been mentioning buying one of those small kubuto tractors.

now i think they are useless no power and i wouldrather keep on paying the guy with the big ford who does a good job at a fair price.

my question is i have not seen many skid steer loaders in thailand,and i think investing in one where we live wouldbe a better investment than the small kubuto.

when back in australia i work in the building industry and see the bobcat in use on occasions and i must say you can get so many uses out of it.

now i think in the village the bobcat would be in demand as tractors are very limited mainly for farm.

the bobcat we could use for land clearing block clearing land fill rubish removal ect.

now does anyone know where i can get a price to buy new or second hand here in thailand,or am i better to pick one up in australia and ship over.

thanks for any advice nev.

Nope - because you are comparing apples with oranges: you do see skid-steers on building sites (mostly commerical/office block type building sites), and if you go to Zoned areas where there are loads of manufacturing plants/factories and industrial yards, you'll find them there too - because thats the type of enviroments they are made for.

Their big plus point? - tight turning radius. But, at the expense of general tractor skills. Likewise, you wouldn't use a tractor to do the job of a skidsteer, and the comparison between a Bobcat and small Kubota really comes down to what is mean't by small. i.e. depending on how small you mean by small a Bobcat may, or may not be a suitable alternative option.

It will also come down to what you intend to do with it.

If its going to be used on a building site, moving earth around, carrying materials in the front end bucket, and where tight turning circles are needed or are a big benefit - sure it could beat a tractor - big or small. But if its going to be used for farm type work, its not going to have the torque, the wheel base will be too short, the balance will be wrong, the fuel consumption will be through the roof, and above all the traction will be hopeless - it will be slipping and sliding all over the place.

It really comes down to a good understanding of what the Bobcat is going to be used for, the size of tractor its been compared with and the enviroment its going to be used in.

Personaly, I can't see the advantages of a skidsteer in any kind of enviroment that a tractor is built for, but thats just personal opinion and I know shit nothing about skidsteers other than what they look like.

Also keep in mind issues like maintanence and cost of maintanecne - if your Ford 6610 comes to a standstill chances are youre going to be able to fix it or get the part (and be able to afford the part) within 24hrs no matter where in Thailand you are. Would that be the case with a skid-steer? Parts for hydrostatic drives and hydraulic hub motors are going to have limited distribution throughout Thailand (other than of course from the franchise holder), and are going to cost a lot more.

Overall I think there will be more options open to you to generate income with a tractor, than with a skid-steer.

Edited July 20, 2009 by Maizefarmer

[slapout]

Have to agree with Maize, the tractor for use on a farm (with pto and hydraulic on same you can get just about any attachment you can dream of) The tractor has a higher ground clearance, more tractably, more power, thus much more suited for general farm needs. The bobcat is great on building sites, and one of the best uses I have observed was cleaning small livestock pens,(sale barn) delivering baled hay to same etc. The bobcat is good in tight quarters but to get work done, a tractor with front end loader will work circles around them. A front end loader mounted on a tractor, with a interchangeable blade is the best of both worlds, if available here.

[nev]

thanks maizefarmer for a very well written response you have openned my eyes to a lot of negatives to the skid steer i will still be looking in to a skid steer but will not rush in to buying.

thanks again nev

[meandwi]

We own a few New Holland L185 skid steer loaders in the states and are by far a much better machine than a Bobcat. We use them in our nursery and on landscape projects. Fantastic machine.

We never use them on our farm. Can't mow, disc field, pump water, short wheel base, low ground clearance, gets stuck in the mud. on and on

Get a tractor.

meandwi

[farmerjo]

Not exactly sure but i think anglo-thai are agents for bobcat.

[Maizefarmer]

Not exactly sure but i think anglo-thai are agents for bobcat.

That is correct ... and they are the agents for Ford/New Holland tractors - well, AT is the Thai franchise holder, which means they are the guys who the wholesalers and distributors purchase from to then retail to endusers (the public)

[lioness]

I don't have a Bobcat here, but had 3 in Australia over a 10 year period. Also a Ford tractor.

as the others have mentioned it depends what you are going to use it for.

I know to hire a mini digger here in Kanchanaburi it's 500 Baht per hour from when he leaves his home. I put in 227 fence posts with manual labour which was a painful prolonged excercise and every single day I was wishing for a post hole digger.

I used to jokingly say that anyone with a big garden should never be without one, my garden in Australia was 16 acres when the bobcat wasn't working in it's official capacity there it was helping with the gardening and orchards.

[mixedbreed]

Yes you are right, in that there is work for loaders, post hole diggers, backhoes etc.

Just to add a little to what Maizefarmer has written, if you look at the attachments you’ll see a bunch of toys I have managed to purchase here in Thailand over the years, all these have spares readily available and the local mechanics can fix them, though we generally go back to the person we purchased the equipment off for service / spares. If 1 piece of equipment fails then we have several others that continue to be on hire that bring in an income, rather than 1 piece of equipment that shuts us down totally. All these where purchased to work on our own property and we found afterwards that there is a demand for outside contract work.

[farmerjo]

Good to see mixed breed,another man who s shed is bigger than his house

[nev]

Yes you are right, in that there is work for loaders, post hole diggers, backhoes etc.

Just to add a little to what Maizefarmer has written, if you look at the attachments you’ll see a bunch of toys I have managed to purchase here in Thailand over the years, all these have spares readily available and the local mechanics can fix them, though we generally go back to the person we purchased the equipment off for service / spares. If 1 piece of equipment fails then we have several others that continue to be on hire that bring in an income, rather than 1 piece of equipment that shuts us down totally. All these where purchased to work on our own property and we found afterwards that there is a demand for outside contract work.

Some toys you have there mate!

bobcat or tractor on hold now, not really made my mind up but am leaning towards the tractor.

reason for on hold,we have been renting farms to add to land we already own,and one 5 rai lot has been offered to us to buy.

we origanally rented for 20,000 baht the lady wants 100,000 baht which is quite reasonable this land is right next to a tar sealed road very easy access and close to our other farms.

so i have bought,wife says land selling close by 30,000 baht a rai.