Most farms already own a pickup and a tractor with a front loader. So when does it make sense to add a dedicated machine like a skid loader or a telehandler? The honest answer is: when the chore you're fighting every day is one those two tools do poorly. We sell and service Manitou and Gehl equipment here in Laddonia, and the conversation we have with farmers usually isn't about horsepower. It's about which machine actually matches the work.
Here's how we help folks think it through.
START WITH THE CHORE, NOT THE MACHINE
The tractor loader is fine for scooping and carrying around the yard. It starts to fall short the moment you need to stack high, reach into a trailer, or set a pallet down where you can actually see it. A pickup hauls, but it can't lift, and it sinks in the same mud you're trying to work in. When you find yourself borrowing a neighbor's machine a few times a season, or burning an hour doing by hand what a loader does in ten minutes, that's the signal. The machine that earns its keep is the one that removes a daily bottleneck, not the one with the biggest spec sheet.
So before we talk models, we ask what you're moving, how often, how high, and on what kind of ground. That answer points to the right machine almost every time.
WHERE A SKID LOADER PAYS OFF
A skid loader is the do-everything machine for a working farm. It shines on the daily stuff: cleaning out pens and bunks, moving feed, loading manure, grading a driveway, pushing snow, and digging post holes. The reason it earns its keep is the attachment plate. One machine becomes a bucket, a pallet fork, a grapple, a bale spear, an auger, or a brush cutter, so you're not buying a separate tool for every job.
It also fits where a tractor won't. Tight gates, the inside of a barn, around grain bins. If most of your chores live close to the ground and close to the buildings, a skid loader is usually the first dedicated machine we'd point a farm toward. We carry and finance a range of sizes, and we'll match the size to your gates and your loads, not just sell you the biggest one.
WHERE A TELEHANDLER WINS
The moment the job is about reach and height, the conversation shifts to a telehandler. That telescoping boom does things neither a tractor loader nor a skid loader can touch. Stacking hay several bales high, loading and unloading flatbeds from the ground, placing pallets up into a loft or onto a stack, reaching over an obstacle to set a load down exactly where you want it.
For hay operations and anyone handling a lot of pallets, a telehandler often does the work of two or three other machines and does it faster and safer. You're lifting from a stable wheelbase instead of tipping a load out at the end of a short tractor loader. If your bottleneck is anything overhead or anything out of reach, that's the machine that pays for itself.
HAY AND PALLET HANDLING
Material handling is where a lot of farms decide to pull the trigger. Round bales, square bales, seed and feed on pallets, totes of chemical, bagged product off a delivery truck. The trick is matching the tool to the load:
- Round and big square bales, stacked high: a telehandler with a bale spear or fork has the reach and the stable lift.
- Pallets coming off a trailer, moved around the yard and into the shop: a skid loader with pallet forks is quick and nimble.
- Loose material, manure, feed, grain spillage: a loader with the right bucket or grapple moves it all day.
We won't guess at capacities or reach for you over a blog post. Bring us your real numbers, the heaviest bale, the tallest stack, the widest gate, and we'll quote a machine and attachment that actually fit. No surprises when it shows up.
MATCH THE MACHINE TO THE OPERATION
There's no single right answer, and plenty of farms end up running a skid loader for the close-in daily chores and a telehandler for the reach work. Others get years out of just one. What matters is being honest about where your day actually slows down. We'd rather sell you the one machine that fixes that than talk you into two that mostly sit.
As your local Manitou and Gehl dealer, we sell, service, and finance these machines, and we keep them running after the sale. If you're weighing a loader or a telehandler against making do with the truck and tractor, tell us what your chores look like and we'll help you sort it out. Request a quote and we'll get you real numbers on the right machine for your operation.