Smallholding Equipment Hire: What to Hire Instead of Buy

Most smallholdings need a tractor for a few days at a time, not every day, which is why smallholding equipment hire often makes more sense than buying. A compact tractor with a topper for the paddocks, a post hole borer for fencing, a log splitter in winter and a quad or UTV at lambing time covers most of the year. This guide sets out what is usually worth owning, what is better hired, and a season-by-season plan using machines from our depot near Okehampton.

Hire or buy: how to decide

Buying looks simple until you add up storage, servicing, insurance, repairs and the money tied up in a machine that sits in a shed for most of the year. Ask yourself three questions about each piece of kit:

• How many days a year will I use it? If it is a handful, hiring is almost always cheaper and less hassle.
• Can I maintain it? Tractors, toppers and splitters need regular servicing and occasional repairs.
• Do I have dry, secure storage? Kit left outside on a damp Devon or Cornish holding deteriorates quickly and attracts thieves.

Hiring also means you get the right size of machine for each job, rather than making do with whatever you bought. A compact tractor suits the paddocks, but a pivot loader may be better for the muck heap and a mini digger for a new water main. With hire, you pick each one as the job comes up, and when a machine is returned the servicing and repairs stay our problem.

A good rule of thumb is to own the small, daily-use items (barrows, hand tools, perhaps a strimmer) and hire the bigger machines for the days you need them.

Smallholding equipment hire: own it or hire it?

Every holding is different, but this table reflects how many smallholders split their kit. Use it as a starting point, then adjust for how often you actually do each job.

The core smallholding kit

Compact tractor

The Captain 26HP compact tractor is a sensible size for smaller acreages, available with or without a front loader. With the loader, it handles muck, feed, hardcore and bulk bags around the yard. Paired with implements from the Conagri MEGA range, such as the 1.45m flail mower or a 500kg fertiliser spreader, it covers paddock maintenance on most holdings.

Quads and UTVs

The AODES 525 and 650 quads are 4WD, with the 650 offering more power for towing. For carrying feed, fencing materials or a passenger, a side-by-side such as the AODES Workcross 650 or the CORVUS UTV is often safer and more practical. The HSE has clear guidance on ATVs and side-by-sides, including training and wearing a helmet on quads.

Fencing and posts

The Hyundai pedestrian post hole borer speeds up new fence lines, gate posts and tree planting. It is petrol powered and walk-behind, so it goes where a tractor-mounted auger can’t, such as along a garden boundary or between existing trees. On stony ground, expect to clear the odd hole by hand. For long runs of water pipe to troughs or drainage, a Mak Brent MAK 40 wheeled trencher or MAK 60 tracked trencher digs a neat narrow trench much faster than a spade.

Firewood and clearing

The Ifor Williams trailed log splitter makes short work of winter firewood. Being trailed, it can be positioned beside the log pile rather than carrying rounds across the yard, and splitting a whole winter’s supply in a few days is far easier than doing it by hand. Split logs season better too, so many people split in late winter or spring for burning the following year. For brash and hedge trimmings, a GL&D 5.5″ tracked chipper reaches awkward corners, while the 6.5″ towable chipper suits bigger volumes near a track.

Matching kit to the size of your holding

Acreage, slope and what you keep matter more than anything else when choosing machines. These illustrative examples show how the choice shifts.

Around three to five acres

A few paddocks for sheep, goats or ponies, a vegetable plot and perhaps an orchard. Most of the year a strimmer and hand tools are enough. Hire the Captain 26HP compact tractor with a Conagri MEGA 1.45m flail mower two or three times a season to top the paddocks, a post hole borer when fencing needs renewing, and a log splitter in winter.

Around ten to twenty acres

More grazing, possibly some hay, and a yard that needs regular mucking out. Here a quad or UTV becomes useful most days during lambing, and the Venieri 1.63D pivot loader or the Captain with loader earns its keep for muck and bales. Many holdings this size hire a tractor and implements for a week at a time and batch every job that needs them into that week.

Larger or steeper holdings

On bigger fields, or the steep ground common in parts of Devon and Cornwall, a 26HP tractor can be underpowered and less stable. The John Deere 6155R with a SaMASZ topper or disc mower covers ground far faster, though it needs a competent operator and suitable gateways. Talk to us about the slope and field size before choosing.

A seasonal smallholding equipment hire plan

Batch your jobs. If you need the compact tractor for overseeding and fertilising, plan both for the same week and hire it once.

Weather and ground in the South West

The West Country is mild but wet, and that shapes the calendar more than the dates on a chart. Heavy soils in mid and north Devon and much of Cornwall stay soft well into spring, and running a tractor on saturated paddocks poaches the ground and damages the sward. Wait for the ground to carry a machine rather than sticking to a fixed week. Late summer is usually the best window for anything that involves digging, trenching or tracking heavy kit across fields.

Topping rushes and docks before they seed, typically mid to late summer, gives better results than an early cut. Hedge and tree work usually falls into autumn and winter, after the bird nesting season; farmers in particular should check the current rules on hedge cutting dates before planning chipper hire.

Illustrative example: fencing a new paddock

Say you are splitting a field to create a new 2-acre paddock with a gateway and water trough. An efficient way to approach it with hired kit:

1. Mark out: walk the fence line, peg the corners and gateway, and check for buried pipes or cables near the trough position.
2. Book together: hire the Hyundai post hole borer, a Captain compact tractor with loader and a Mak Brent MAK 40 trencher for the same few days.
3. Move materials: use the loader to carry posts, rails and wire rolls along the line, saving hours of carrying.
4. Bore and set posts: bore holes for strainers and intermediate posts, then set and tamp them.
5. Trench the water pipe: run the trencher from the nearest supply to the trough, lay the pipe and backfill.
6. Finish: strain the wire, hang the gate, and return all three machines in one collection.

Hiring the three machines for the same window means one delivery, one collection and no days lost waiting for the next piece of kit.

Bigger jobs on a smallholding

Some projects come round once every few years: a new hardstanding, a pond, a field drain or a track. For those, a mini digger such as the Sunward SWE 18UF or a 3.5 tonne SWE 35UF is the workhorse. The Venieri 1.63D telescopic pivot loader, with its 1,850kg tip load, is excellent for mucking out, moving bales and loading trailers in tight yards. On bigger holdings with larger fields, the John Deere 6155R with a SaMASZ Mammut 2.8m topper or Samba 281 disc mower covers ground far faster than a compact tractor.

See the full range on our agriculture and sports and landscaping pages.

Getting the kit to your holding

Many smallholdings in Devon and Cornwall sit at the end of narrow lanes with tight gateways and soft field entrances. When you enquire, tell us about the lane width, any weight-restricted bridges you know of, the gateway and where a vehicle can turn. In wet months, a hardstanding or yard is a much better drop-off point than a field.

If you prefer to collect smaller items yourself from our depot near Okehampton, you’ll need a suitable vehicle and trailer. We also hire trailers, including the Brian James 9ft plant trailer (2,700kg GVW) and the Indespension 10ft plant trailer with ramps. Check you are licensed and insured to tow the combination before you set off.

If you passed your car test on or after 1 January 1997, you can now generally tow a trailer of up to 3,500kg maximum authorised mass, provided your vehicle is rated to tow it; the GOV.UK towing rules set out the details. Always check the loaded weight of the trailer and machine against your vehicle’s towing limit, and secure the machine with proper chains or straps.

What happens on delivery and return

With smallholding equipment hire, the delivery is often the trickiest part, so it pays to be ready. Have someone on site to meet the driver, show them the drop-off point and sign the delivery note. Walk round the machine together, check any implement is attached properly, and make sure you know the daily checks, how to start and stop it safely and where the fuel goes. Diesel machines must run on white diesel, not red.

When you have finished, clean off mud and muck, refuel, and leave the machine somewhere the lorry can reach. Then call or WhatsApp us for an off-hire reference number, because hire charges keep running until it has been issued. If anything has gone wrong during the hire, tell us straight away rather than waiting for collection; breakdowns from normal wear are our responsibility to fix.

Safety habits worth keeping

• Read the operator’s handbook and do the daily checks before every use.
• Keep PTO guards in place and switch off before clearing a blockage on a topper or chipper.
• Take extra care on slopes with tractors, quads and UTVs; walk the ground first.
• Keep children, dogs and stock well away from working machinery.
• Tell someone where you are working if you are alone on the holding.

Quads and UTVs

HSE guidance is clear that quad riders should always wear a suitable helmet and receive adequate training, that quads are single-rider machines, and that children under 13 must not use an ATV at work. For side-by-side UTVs, choose a machine with a roll-over protective structure and make sure drivers and passengers wear the seat restraints. Loads on racks and towed trailers change how a quad handles, especially downhill, so keep within the manufacturer’s limits.

Tractors on slopes

Overturns are a well-known cause of serious farm accidents. Use the roll-over protection and seat belt on the tractor, travel up and down slopes rather than across where possible, and avoid sudden turns with a loaded front loader raised. Wet grass on a Devon hillside is far less forgiving than it looks.

Common smallholding hire mistakes

• Hiring for one job at a time. Batch tasks that use the same machine into one hire period.
• Leaving it until the weather breaks. Everyone wants a topper in the same dry spell in June. Book ahead when you can.
• Choosing the wrong size. A big tractor that won’t fit through the gateway, or a small one that can’t safely cope with the slope, wastes the hire.
• Forgetting the implement. Tell us what the tractor will be doing so we can send the right implement with it.
• Not checking the ground. Delivering onto a soft field in February can leave a lorry stuck and the gateway ruined.
• Assuming insurance is included. It isn’t. Check your farm or smallholding policy covers hired-in machinery, or arrange cover before the hire starts.

Thoughtful smallholding equipment hire is mostly about planning: knowing which jobs are coming, grouping them, and booking the right machine for each.

Is Flex Hire worth it for a smallholding?

If you find yourself hiring something most months, our Flex Hire account may work out better. Tier 3, at £995 +VAT and delivery per month, includes UTVs, 650 quads and the 26HP tractor with one implement, with the option to swap between machines in your tier. For occasional use, normal daily or weekly hire is usually the better choice. We’ll tell you honestly which suits your pattern of work.

Frequently asked questions

Plan your smallholding equipment hire

Tell us about your holding, the jobs on your list and roughly when, and we’ll suggest the right kit and hire periods. WhatsApp or call 07841 036064, or send the details through our contact page.