i'm looking to buy my first ATV. we live on a 50 acre hobby farm with mainly horses and cattle. we have a 45 hp tractor for big jobs but i want an atv for small jobs and for goofing around. i want to be able to move a bale or two of hay (square bail obviously) out to back pastures and load up tools to go out back and fix a fence...that sort of thing. i'm thinking about buying used. what would be the best buy?

 

this is exactly the type of farm my dad has and he uses my Arctic Cat 500 everyday. Moving hay bales, fixing fence, even moving smaller machinery around, like planting equipment.

 

Polaris makes an ATP quad which i've heard of a good work horse and it has a litt dump box on the back insted of a rack.

or a Sportsman 500 ho are an awesome work horse that will stand up to a lot.

But if you want a quad that can take pretty much anything and keep going forever get a honda.
I've used and and owned a lot of different ATV's and the hondas are by far the tuffest.

 

Honda Foreman 450 manuel shift model

 

I would second the foreman. I had a honda rancher that lived up to its name. It was a faithful servant on our ranch for years. The foreman has more power and is larger. Exactly what I wish I would have had. IMO, there is not a better utility machine out there than the foreman.

 

I use a Cat 500i on my farm for the light duty stuff - hauling myself and fencing tools, firewood, etc... gets me to places the tractor can't go.

Before the cat, I had a mid 90's Big Bear. Not as capable as the cat, but a whole lot cheaper and still able to haul me and the tools around.

Both of these machines have been very reliable.

 

I use my kawa 700 prairie around our ranch. Pulling our 16' trailer with hay and fencing post etc. I also have an atv pull behind disk for the deer lease and the kawa 700 has plenty of power. I always use low range and I can do anything I need. The kawa 700 prairie has the most torque and horsepower and if you need to tow.....it will do it with ease. If you don't need something that big, try an AC500, honda rubican 500, honda forman 450, suzuki 500 or yamaha 450 kodiak. Maybe a polaris 500 or 400 too! Good luck!

 

in some states an ATV is tax-free if you use it for farm use so check that out- mabye you can save about $400

 

but the tax free is for new ATVs

 

Check out the cat, you can get the MRP for it, sounds perfect for what you will be using it for. Hard to buy a good used ATV, you never know how much people beat on them.

On another note, my dad has a cat 500 that he uses for his 35 acre farm, loves it.