Ok WOLC123, I have to answer you on youre ASSesment of the r1 ag tire. Would love to see some facts to back up your opinions. Problem is, you wont find them. Ever notice that really good snow tires do NOT look like mud tires, ever wonder why? How about even wondering about siping tires, and why does that work? A good 'SNOW' tire will have lots of little edges built into the tread pattern, siping a tire adds to these little edges. All of the little edges INCREASE the friction coeffiecient to give better traction, big solid blocks simply pack the snow and make ice when the tire spins. Some tirf tires would do excellent in snow, some (ie the diamond block tread pattern) would to TERRIBLE also. All this assumes you are running on cement/asphault, if you are rough terrain, then the condition of the terrain will dictate what tire you need. Snow on ground does not always equal frozen ground and anything other than a r1 will fill up quickly with mud and packed snow... see where this is going... depends on use and conditions. Least favorable tire to me would be the R4 for snow, not a good tire in mud and really packs snow into ice quickly.
All of this is my opinion and my opinion only, and is based on years (35+) of experience on operating tractors and heavy equipment.
DuaneW.