Table of Contents
Winter is right around the corner; are you ready? Is your house winterized on the outside? Have you picked up your yard to make sure nothing gets drenched in the rain or snow? Do you have the right attachments for your compact tractor to prepare your driveway and roads?
Here are 6 attachments you might need for your Kubota to prepare for winter.
1. Rear blades
If you have to maintain your own private road(s) and/or gravel driveway, you definitely need rear blades. If you’ve always hired out your work, you’ll save a lot of money doing it yourself. All you need is a compact tractor and the right attachments.
Rear blades are great for managing private gravel roads and driveways. You can use them to level and grade the roads and backfill. Other attachments and tools can be used to fill potholes and smooth the road out, but if you’re not grading your roads you could end up with pools of water that turn into deep puddles.
2. Grapples
Having a grapple attachment on your Kubota is a necessity if you live in an area where trees fall down from lack of moisture or storms. If a tree falls down on your property in a winter wind storm, you’ll need a way to move it.
A traditional, manual log roller won’t cut it – unless you don’t mind the extreme physical effort. You can also cut fallen trees into rounds to later cut for firewood (if it’s the right type of wood), but there will be situations when you don’t have time to fire up the chainsaw and you just need to move a tree out of your way.
3. A snow plow
Shoveling snow is only fun for about five minutes. This is one of the most exhausting, strenuous tasks you’ll ever do, and it’s deceptive because it seems so easy and harmless. It’s anything but. In fact, about 1,500 adults die every year from heart attacks caused by shoveling snow and using snow blowers.
When you manually shovel snow, the cold air restricts your coronary arteries while your activity increases blood pressure. This is a bad combination that can lead to a heart attack. If you have a heart condition, it’s not advised to manually shovel snow at all. Even if you’re relatively healthy, it can still increase your heart rate far above the upper limit of what’s considered healthy.
In any case, you’re better off using a snow plow attachment on your compact tractor to get rid of snow. You can also get a snow blower attachment to make it even easier. Prepare ahead of time so you don’t get caught off guard when the snow starts to fall.
4. Backhoe
If you plan on doing any kind of digging or trench work, like installing an electrical line or running a new phone line to your house, you’ll need a backhoe for your Kubota compact tractor. Don’t put it off and think you’ll just pay the provider to do the work for you. They will charge an excessive mark-up fee and you’ll end up paying thousands more than you would if you dug your own trenches.
Some service providers don’t even offer trench-digging, and you’ll need to hire someone else anyway. If you already have a compact tractor, you may as well get the job done yourself.
5. A mower
Depending on where you live, you might be able to get away with not cutting down the weeds and letting them die over the winter season. However, the grass will continue to grow in layers if you don’t cut it down. If you don’t have a separate lawn mower, that’s okay, because you can get a mower attachment for your compact tractor and handle the grass now before it starts to rain.
Don’t wait until the rainy season starts because you’ll regret mowing the lawn and the weeds in the rain.
6. Box blades
Some people prefer grading with a box blade with scarifiers, and you might like this attachment better than rear blades for grading your road or driveway.
A box blade is essentially a 3-sided metal box that has front and rear blades, and it’s excellent for spreading materials, including soil and gravel. They make excellent grading tools, too.
Get ready for winter – it’s coming
Are you prepared for the cold, rainy, and potentially snowy season? Are you ready to clear trees? If you don’t have all the attachments you need for your compact tractor, make sure you get them soon so you, your home, and your roads will be ready for winter.
