Last year we put UTVs to the test in our first-ever Grainews Machinery Challenge. This time, in our second annual event, we turned our focus to equipment suited for on-farm materials handling. But we weren’t just thinking of the typical ag tractor and front-end loader combo. We wanted to look at machines designed primarily to lift and load. The reason why is simple. These days farmers are doing more of that work than ever, and many are finding heavier loads need to be raised higher and placed more precisely.
Four machines made it into the 2017 Challenge this time, two telehandlers, an articulated loader and a skid steer. We chose them because they represent the current choices farmers have when looking beyond the ag tractor.
As usual we assembled a team of judges to put the machines through their paces, but this year we invited some of you, our readers, to participate. Below is a machine-by-machine look at our judges’ evaluations.
