Recently just moved to my Hubby's family farm and we are looking into buying a skid steer. Ideally would be used for cleaning pens, moving bales, snow removal. Looking for suggestions on good brands, bad brands, years/models to stay away from, how easy is a certain brand to work on/maintain etc. 

I know our budget will dictate what is available to us, we are not looking to spend over $10,000. And we live in WI! Any experience/suggestions you can share will be helpful! 

you're not going to buy much Skid steer for $10k

but yellow paint is your friend. 

For the amount that you are wanting to spend on a skid steer, you will be better off finding a used little tractor with a front end loader.

Ditto to the tractor comment.

We like New Holland’s.  We had an early 90’s LX885 - it was a good first machine but had some issues due to being used to load road salt in a previous life along with a hydraulic leak we could never track down.

We now have a New Holland L220.  It’s ok - an upgrade from what we had.  Does not seem to have as much power as the 885 did.  We spent just over double your budget on it with a remanned motor just put in it.

We use it to move bales, clean runs, as well as in our fencing business.  The LX885 was a 60 horse machine and the L220 is a 67horse.  

John Deere on either one.  Hubby has been a JD salesman for 35 years.  He said you will be able to buy more of a tractor then you would a skid steer for that money.  John Deere retain excellent resell value so you will be able to recover lots of your expense when you decide to upgrade.

We have a skid steer, 4300 JD tractor and a large older Kubota tractor.

For most of the horse stuff the skid steer gets used the most, moving manuare/sawdust, round bales and snow plowing.  Tractors are great out in the field but for tight work in the barn and paddocks the skid steer is far better.  We bought a plate with a truck blade mounted for snow removal that works very well and it is nice being in the enclosed cab.

We have a late 90's Bobcat 763, if you shop you should be able to find one of these for under 10k easily.  I would not go any smaller as smaller ones will struggle with heavy round bales.

Be very careful buying one used. We did & got ripped off big time. Spent $15,000 for it & after we got it home & started using it, the darn thing started having all kinds of problems. We ended up spending $5,000 to get it fixed. Then a couple of weeks ago, it blew out a ceal. Now we have to get that fixed. I hate it. It's a J.D. The people lied to us about the hours, etc. The only one I would buy is either a Bob Cat or a New Holland. I told my husband that the skid steer is evil. Wish it would get struck by lightening. Oh & yes my husband drove it at the sellers place, but they didn't have anything that he could use it on.  

having worked for a nh dealership for 20 years, my best advice is buy what you can get serviced.  check with your local dealer, wether that is a new holland, jd or bobcat. 

on skid steers they may be rated for a heavy load but check the rating with what they can lift high.  Are you loading/unloading from a flat bed trailer or just moving them around low.  do you need to lift them up over a feeder?  What size bale are you feeding?  if your not making them yourself you really need to check with your hay producer.  they may say a 5x5 but there is a huge weight difference depending on who is doing the baling. 

the bobcats are a little smaller wheel base and if not weighted correctly can have a tendency to be tilty.  jmo

Good luck in your search. 

My Dad and I were talking about this this weekend. He is a heavy machinery operater. He prefers Case.

I just went to an auction Monday and they had two used ones. One was high hours but new motor, tires and went for $10k and the other was near new with bells and whistles for $18k but less known brand.

ETA - living in MN, I would do a skidsteer over tractor. I have an old tractor and its fine but clunky and big to move around. I have a hard time stacking rounds. Granted mine is older and not worth 10k but its not the best machine for overall farm duties. A good friend of mine, retired vet who own a big boarding facility says skidsteer all the way. They only use their tractors of hay.