Multi-Purpose Equipment Teams Up to Build Beef Cattle Feedlot

Jaret Moyer

When Jaret Moyer and his wife, Shawna, decided to build their new 1,000-head capacity beef cattle feedlot near Emporia, Kan., they went shopping for equipment to build the pens, feed storage areas, pasture fences and facilities.

After looking at various types of machines, including a small utility tractor, a tractor/front-end loader unit and a wheel loader, they put their money on a Bobcat® 773 skidsteer loader and a VersaHandler® V518 telescopic tool carrier.

They bought the equipment from White Star Machinery, Topeka, Kan. Key factors in their decision were the compact size, the maneuverability and the versatility of the two Bobcat machines.

“We can do a lot more jobs with a skid-steer loader than we can with a tractor and the 773 was big enough to handle the work we have and small enough to easily maneuver in tight areas, such as cattle pens,” Jaret says.

Outfitted with a variety of Bobcat attachments, the 773 has proven to be a multi-purpose construction tool and a hard-working farm-hand for Moyer Farms:

• An auger dug postholes for nearly eight miles of pasture fence and more than a mile of fence for cattle feeding pens.
• A utility bucket shaped the pens during construction and now cleans out manure.
• A backhoe dug trenches for water and electrical lines.
• A dozer blade graded around buildings and backfilled trenches.
• Pallet forks made it easy to unload lumber and other construction materials from trucks.

The V518 is a valuable machine around the Moyer feedlot.

Like the 773, the V518 Versa-Handler TTC also makes a lot of construction jobs go faster and easier. Its 5,000-lb. maximum load capacity easily handles the work of unloading big bundles of fencing materials such as railroad ties and steel guard rails.

“You can unload trucks much quicker with the TTC than you can with a tractor and front-end loader,” Jaret says. “And it doesn’t take long to unload a trailer of hay, either, using the Bobcat grapple forks.”

The V518 is also a key part of the daily feedlot chores. It’s used with a Bobcat light material bucket to load ground hay into the feed truck. The machine is also used with a Bobcat bale handler, which features a 49-in. spike and a 2,000-lb. operating capacity, to transport large round bales.

Jaret likes the ability to extend the TTC’s two-section, low profile boom up to 18 ft. to lift high and reach farther than he can with other similar size equipment. “It allows us to stack large round bales up to four rows high in the hay shed. During construction we could also reach over muddy areas to pick up building materials.”

The V518 gives him a choice of three steering modes—all-wheel steer, front-wheel steer and crabsteer— to best suit his work needs. “Most of the time I use all-wheel steer for quick, easy turning,” he says. “I use the crab-steer to bail me out when I get into really tight spaces.”

Easy maneuverability isn’t the only advantage of the compact size of the 773 skid-steer loader and the V518 TTC. Unlike a tractor, both machines are short enough to fit through the door of an older shed to protect them from the weather when not working. What’s more, he can transport the V518 on a trailer behind a pickup to move the machine between different hay fields in the area.

“We’ve been very pleased with this Bobcat equipment,” Jaret says. “It has performed really well.”

A Cool Machine

Grinding hay creates plenty of fine dust, which can clog radiators of farm equipment, causing them to overheat. That’s not a concern for Moyer Farms’ V518 telescopic tool carrier. It’s equipped with an optional reversible engine fan.

“If we see the temperature gauge start to move up, we can hit a switch which reverses the direction of the fan to blow any debris back out through the front of the radiator,” says Jaret Moyer. “After waiting a minute or two, we can switch the fan back to normal operation. It’s a lot easier to keep the radiator clean that way than using a power washer."