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Dave: I bought my first skid steer loader in 1972. Within 2 years I bought a 2nd one. They had been around close to 15 years back then. I found that within two months of buying the second one, 2000 loader on my Farmall 560 was never being used. I removed that loader and 560 went back to doing what it does best, pulling farm implements. My loaders were at that time, kept quite busy at my own farming operation, thus I didn't do a whole lot of work for hire. The opertunity however was out there. I turned down outside work almost weekly. I always figured as skid loaders became more numerous, that work would decline. That has not been the case, work load has actually increased. In the early days most folks thought they were a toy, thus never thought skid loader when they had a project. I would guess that volume is still increasing, I make reference to the fact one of your respondants had to ask, "what is a skid steer." I don't think the rental companies have enjoyed great sucess with skid steers. They are the kind of machine that operator must be quite skilled to achive good productivity. I have seen my share of greenhorns on skid steers, they don't accomplish a lot. I believe there will always be great oppertunity for that owner operator for hire in the shid steer business.
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