A Mechanical Hired Hand

If you're considering a utility tractor, now is a good time to buy.

- By Karen Jones

The ability to perform a variety of tasks makes utility tractors a useful choice.

A vintage advertisement for the Allis-Chalmers Model G tractor states, “For all jobs on some farms; for some jobs on all farms.” That phrase holds true for today’s 40–99-hp utility tractors: Most farms can find at least one use for a tractor that size, and some farms may only need a tractor that size.

“When I look at a heat map of the United States where these are listed, it’s all across the board,” said Andy Campbell, director of insights at Tractor Zoom.

“There’s livestock farmers; fruit and specialty growers; even rural landowners and local governments are buying these units.”

He noted that sales for the year’s first couple of months are slower, but supply is improving, and dealers may have incentive to move utility tractors off their lots.

“I recently spoke with dealers out East, in Texas, and the Midwest. They all mentioned one of their goals this year is to push utility and compact tractors,” he said. “And they’re not the only ones. Dealerships are seeing utility tractors as a way to balance out a bit of the volatility in ag, because the market is so broad.”