Borrow a TLB, or rent a trencher?

[aczlan]

Where you at in NY? There is a desperate landscaper with a big Trencher for sale cheap up the road from me, if I didn't already have one I'd buy it to make money on it the spring. You could probably buy it and use it all you wanted and then cash out ahead of the game.

I'll send you a PM.

hmm, if you have the time, you "could" dig a trench with the L or BX FEL if you have no other implements. If you have a middle buster and like driving the tractor back and forth till trench is deep enough, its doable as you probably will not be going too deep.

Time is in fairly short supply. I have a 14" single bottom plow that would probbaly do a decent job (go one way, turn around and go back the other)...

The trenching machine is faster then TLB but nothing beats free and less worries about returning someone else's equipment.

Yep. I would hate to break Dad's TLB just before a snowstorm or have it at my house for a snow event when he needs to use it.

We rent out Dingos here too, but FWIW, I'd use a simple mechanical-drive walk behind trencher....not a hydraulically-driven one. They're faster and are much more efficient at transferring engine power into digging power. With a hydraulic "attachment-style" one, you can do things like reverse the chain direction if you lodge a rock in it or something, but they just don't have the same amount of digging "oomph". Not only that, but you'll be renting the Dingo AND an attachment. It will likely be more $$ than renting a dedicated trencher by itself.

Good info. Was hoping to avoid hand digging in the stalls and the Dingo would also help with some cleanout of the accumulated manure .

Backhoes dig trenches too, but even a first-time trencher user will run circles around a skilled backhoe operator when it comes time to dig a simple trench...

That is how I was seeing it. I have some time, but if I can spend a little money and reduce the amount of time/work needed, I am all for it.

Aaron Z