Hello and ATV for farm use

[Marcus Ballano]

Greetings, new farmers here located in Southside Virginia focusing primarily on goats and non timber product agroforestry (mushrooms, medicinals, forest edibles, etc.). We're planning to purchase an ATV this year. We are interested in a 2014 Polaris Sportsman 570 EFI because of its towing capacity, payload and ground clearance (it will see ALOT of forest time hauling logs for mushrooms, etc.). Negotiating with the dealer right now and he's trying to sell me on power steering with is an additional $500. I've ridden quite a few ATVS and never really had a use for power steering. Is there any reason why I would need power steering for a farm application such as this? Anyone with an opinion or experience that could weigh in would be helpful. Thanks!

[4wd]

Would they give you a test drive?
When you use them in 4x4 the steering does go quite heavy especially if you have weight on the front rack, or traversing steep slopes sometimes you really have to haul on the bars to go where you want.
I can't see any particular reason to not have it other than perhaps a little more feedback regarding what the wheels are doing without - but $500 is a lot extra.

It is additional complication that might eventually give problems if you are keeping it long term.

[Marcus Ballano]

I'm sure they would give me a test drive but I have been cautioned that once you experience power steering you will buy it! Haha. I don't plan on putting much in the front compartment (it's rated for 180 lbs) except for maybe occasional hunting gear. We do plan on keeping it long term. There are plenty of used atvs from individual owners in our area but we've decided to go with a new one because you never really know what they've been put through and unless you get them from a dealer there's no financing or warranty. I wanted a stripped down machine because, like you said, the more bells and whistles, the more you have that can potentially go wrong. We do plan on getting additional farming implements for it though (front end bucket, discs, rough cut mower, etc.) so I don't know if these implements would justify power steering in the future. Thanks!

[4wd]

Some of those do sound quite heavy and could make it difficult to steer.
We don't see so many attachments like that in use here, as fuel use and cost seems high compared to a small diesel tractor.
You might also find that a used tractor is better for many jobs for example the PTO drive and hydraulics are generally going to be easier to set up.
The ATV is certainly invaluable for accessing difficult terrain in almost all weathers though.

[Deleted]

For our purposes I think the atv will be best. We have 52 acres here but only 3.3 acres of open field with the easy possibility of clearing 2.2 more in the adjacent lot. Most of the open area will be utilized for livestock (Mini Nubian goats right now, hope to add heritage breed pigs, movable chicken tractors, etc.) but the forested areas are comprised of some difficult terrain. There are some other areas in there that we might want to clear in the future but the amount of mature forest canopy that we'd lose by blazing a road to it would be substantial. Rather just cut trails and utilize the atv. Basically, it would be our tractor.