Quad or ATV buggy? Andy Collings met a Nottinghamshire dairy farmer, who has had experience of both and knows which he prefers

You are either a buggy person or a quad person – and such viewpoints are fiercely defended, it seems. While one could argue that both vehicle types have the capability to perform similar types of work, each would appear to have their own stalwart followers.

Take, for example, the four-wheel drive, diesel-powered John Deere HPX Gator owned by Nottinghamshire dairy farmer Ian Sharman, which arrived on the farm just under three years ago.

“I can honestly say that the Gator is one of the most useful vehicles on the farm,” he says. “There is never a day in the year when it is not used and the range of jobs it can be used for is far superior to those performed by the quads we’ve run in the past.”

Mr Sharman farms about 260ha (650 acres) at Halam, near Newark, with his main enterprise comprising a 320-cow dairy herd with 230 followers. The milking cows are permanently housed while the followers are wintered outside.

In terms of cropping, the vast majority of the land is given over to producing feed for the cows as maize and grass silage along with whole-crop wheat.

“One of the key jobs for the Gator is to spread slug pellets on the wheat,” he says. “We use a Stocks electric powered spreader, which is simply bolted on to a pallet and lifted on to the rear of the rear cargo deck.”

He adds that the slug pellets can be carried alongside the spreader, allowing the hopper to be refilled in mid-field if required, something a quad would struggle to achieve. The Gator is also used for spot spraying operations a pallet-mounted sprayer unit has been assembled for this purpose.

“We also run a shoot and a horse livery business for which the Gator is indispensable,” he says. “Every afternoon, the fields grazed by the horses are cleared of droppings, which would, if uncollected, cause health problems.”

Mr Sharman makes the point that while a quad could be used for many of the tasks performed by his Gator, it would normally involve attaching a trailer.

“In my opinion, a quad with a trailer is not a good combination,” he says. “They are prone to getting stuck and there are added safety issues to consider.”

On the subject of safety, Mr Sharman says the Gator has a wide wheelbase and roll-over protection: “The number of accidents with overturning ATVs is alarming.”

For his gamekeeper Reg Brown, the Gator is used every day to take out feed to the pheasants, partridges and ducks he has reared.

“Reg needs to take out perhaps a dozen or more bucketfuls of grain each day. There is clearly no way he could do the same job with a quad.”

Also considered to be an important plus point is the Gator’s diesel powered 20hp engine, although Mr Sharman acknowledges that there are now also diesel-powered quads.

He also concedes that four-wheeled bikes are generally much speedier and can operate on narrower tracks than the Gator.

“When we had the quads we were forever making trips to the garage for petrol. It was an absolute nuisance,” he says.

“At least with the diesel engine we can just fill it up from the red diesel tank whenever we need to – not that it uses that much fuel.”

But there is criticism of the drive system, which houses an automatic transmission and, as a result, offers next to no engine braking when descending steep hills. “It means dependence on the brakes is total, which, on occasions, can be a little alarming,” he says. “I also wish I had specified the vehicle on agricultural tyres rather than turf tyres. There are times when we could do with the extra grip.”

Overall, Mr Sharman would appear to be convinced that, with its integral cargo bay and twin seats, the Gator has the edge over a quad.

Buggy advantages:

• Can carry two people safely
• Has roll-over protection,
• Has 11.3cu m capacity cargo deck

Quad advantages:

• A narrow, compact vehicle
• Can be operated at high speeds
• Can be fitted with a wide variety of auxiliary equipment