Farms are perennially craving more power and capacity, but for those still mucking out pokey old sheds built in the pitchfork era, size matters.

Miniature pivot-steers, with their typical 3m reach and circa 1t lift limits, will never oust a full-sized materials handler when it comes to heavy-duty yard work.

But they are a genuine alternative to a skid-steer, offering the ease of a side-accessed cab and an extending boom to reach places a fixed-arm machine won’t.

See also: Lightweight JCB 403 proves a hit for Pembrokeshire farm

That makes them an attractive option for folk regularly shifting timber or steel, cleaning out chicken sheds, or moving bales at a livery.

Plus, they’re light enough to lump on a small trailer and, with the right attachment, can bore post holes, run a flail mower or trim hard-to-reach hedges.

Avant and Multione are the market leaders in this genre, but a new name has recently entered the game.

Based a stone’s throw from Multione’s factory in northern Italy’s ag-industrial heartlands, Neomach produced its first Nova pivot-steer post-Covid and now has a range of three – with more on the way.

Kent-based Ophir Solutions has taken on the UK import job for the X20, X30 and, the subject of this test, the X40.

To find out how it stacks up, we pitched it against Zephyr Sawmills’ five-year-old, 1,400-hour Multione MI 6.3+.

How big is it?

The tale of the tape puts it at 1.2m wide, 2.6m long and a smidge over 2m high – dimensions not dissimilar to a cattle crush.

However, this doesn’t account for the swing space required for turning, with the cab – mounted ahead of the pivot but protruding well behind it – twerking up to 50cm either side at full lock.

Given those dainty proportions, the lifting stats are pretty respectable: the tipping load limit is 1.4t, it’ll hoist 1.2t a metre high, and reach to 3m with the boom fully extended.

© Neomach Nova

Four 50kg backweights come as standard, but, for anyone with plenty of hard graft on the agenda, additional 150kg lumps are available to keep its booty firmly on the deck.

It’s never going to stack bale mountains, nor fill seed drills or fertiliser spreaders, but its range of uses is surprisingly broad, evidenced by Neomach’s list of in-house-built attachments.

They include the usual mix of buckets, forks and spikes, as well as sweepers, mowers, hedge trimmers, stump grinders and log grapples.

The only limiting factor, mainly for muck grabs and the like, is the out-of-kilter carriage geometry, which provides an excessively sharp headstock crowd angle and, conversely, restricted dump that isn’t always steep enough to jettison sticky material.

Providing the power to run some of these implements is a 43 litre/min hydraulic system, which comes with a “multiconnector” to quickly plumb in the two double-acting and one free-flow return connections – provided the couplings match those of the implement. Auto latching locking pins also ease the process.

What’s it like to drive?

Neomach has taken an atypical approach to component acquisition, with the three Nova models all running 26hp engines from different suppliers.

The smallest gets a Yanmar block, the mid-ranger a Kubota and the X40 a 1.4-litre Kohler that putters away as it feeds the hydraulic pump for the individual Poclain wheel motors.

Top speed is a pedestrian 12kph, which is adequate for the yard work it’s likely to be assigned, but the steering is heavy, if not arm-aching, even at full chat.

© MAG/Oliver Mark

There’s also a hand throttle to maintain oil supply for demanding jobs. A useful feature, no doubt, but it slides too easily through its gate such that it periodically slips back, and the engine only just has enough oomph to sustain hydraulic performance under heavy loads without stalling.

And though joystick control of the boom lift and extend functions is proportional, there’s a slightly jolty delivery on the up/down service – at least for ultra-accurate work.

One feature worth mentioning is the handbrake. Less so for its means of control – a rocker switch behind the steering wheel that’s identical to the neighbouring horn honker – and more for fact that it clamps a proper mechanical brake.

Engaging it before leaving the seat allows hydraulic oil to continue flowing to the boom and implement when necessary; failing to do so automatically locks the lot, though they do reactivate once a backside returns to the seat. 

What about the cab?

Our test model came with a fully enclosed NovaCab cabin, the higher spec alternative to a canopy that goes without a left side door or right window.

Which you pick is a bit of a poser: the sanctuary of a sealed cockpit is very appealing in the depths of winter, but its lack of ventilation and limited sound deadening, which ramps up the acoustics, makes an open-sided setup far more attractive come summer.

The blindless polycarbonate roof window is both help and hinderance, improving visibility outwards but letting the sun’s rays beat in, and an opening side window offers only modest respite from the warmth.

A better bet would be a hybrid of the two: three-quarter glazing with an open left flank that allows the driver to hear what’s going on outside – something Ophir says is now available.

© MAG/Oliver Mark

Those foibles aside, the interior is cosy but well appointed, with an armrest joystick attached to the sprung seat, a small glove box, twin USB ports and a windscreen wiper.

Legroom is pretty good but the drive pedals aren’t overly practical for anyone shod in clumpy work boots, as forward and reverse are too close to one another and their low, horizontal position makes them awkward to get flat to the floor.

The platform is suspended on silent blocks that do a good job of stifling vibrations, if not the din of the engine.

Visibility isn’t bad either. Neomach opts for a chunky, telehandler-style square boom, as opposed to Multione’s wider, flatter arrangement.

The latter wins for forward views, the narrower design of the former has the edge for seeing down to the attachment – albeit partially blocked by optional cab-mounted headlamps.

The one major downside is the slightly bodged door assembly, with the designers having failed to come up with a decent means of allowing it to open with the machine’s backend cocked at an angle.

Their solution was to split the glass into two sections, the lower half hinged to fold forward as the door is opened.

However, it still clashes with the wobbly fibreglass side cover of the engine bay, constantly unlocking it and, at the same time, knocking the rubber seal off the perimeter of the glass.

Hardly the finest workaround to have passed quality control.

Farmers Weekly verdict

Not bad for a debut machine. Crummy door mechanism aside, the cockpit is well sorted and it has the lift, reach and power to move modest weights in tight areas.

And, with easier side access and more reach than a skid-steer, these mini pivots should appeal to small farms, foresters, yard-based industrial businesses and anyone running a diversification that requires a small, manoeuvrable materials handler.

It also undercuts some of the competition on price, though the importer is new to the ag sector and second-hand values are a distinct unknown.

Rest of the range

All three models in the Nova range deliver 26hp but, unusually, from different power plants.

Smallest of the trio is the X20, propelled by a 1.1-litre Yanmar block. It has a lift capacity of 800kg, tipping load limit of 1t and a maximum lift height of 2.79m, served by a 33 litre/min hydraulic system.

Next comes the X30, with a 1.3-litre Kubota engine and, like the X40, 43 litre/min hydraulics. Lift capacity is 1,080kg, and maximum lift height 2.86m.

The 1.4-litre X40 featured here currently tops the billing but higher spec models are in the pipeline.

The first of these is a two-speed Plus version of the X40 with a top speed of 20kph and, thanks to an extended chassis, an extra 100kg of lift capacity.

A new Star series is also in the works. It will pack 57hp and a bigger 80 litre/min hydraulic system to compete with the Avant 860i and MultiOne’s 8.5S.