New Brush Guards for your Kubota Compact Tractor

Neil from Messick's here to introduce you to another upgrade kit that you might want to consider putting onto your tractor. We had a great success here a number of years ago when we started offering an upgrade sway bar kit for the BX Series tractor, and these brush screens are the next obvious evolution of that. There's a handful of things tha Kubota didn't think of everything when they built your tractor. When you go into certain applications, adding some accessory kits onto your machine can help make your tractor just nicer to use overall, and this is one of these things. Today, we're going to talk about our new brush screen options for your compact tractor.
Why does Messick's need to get into offering brush screens? You would be surprised how the use of tractors has changed really rapidly in the last several years. I've sold machinery now for almost 20 years, not quite getting there, and the implements that we run on a lot of this equipment has really changed dramatically. Years ago, it was extremely unusual to see a skid steer coupler on a loader, but today, it is virtually standard equipment here for us.
Anytime we needed front hydraulics on a loader, we didn't have third-function kits. We ran hoses off of the rear remote out to the front loader. Today, 20, 30 plus percent of the machines that we sell are going out with hydraulics on that front loader, and this evolution has happened faster than what a lot of the manufacturers have adapted to it.
We're starting to see some cases now where in new models, the tractors that are coming out here for 2023, 2024, screens like this across the front are starting to become a factory option, but nothing has been done to address all the machines that are out there today or the other models in the current product line that just hadn't received the last update or the last iteration.
This has been something that has not been an easy factory option, and the way that we have seen the utilization of these tractors change, where we're now putting things like grapples on the front of the machine. We're driving into wooded areas now with maybe a hydraulic post hole digger on the front to make a pathway. We're doing things with this tractor we haven't done in the past. A screen like this has become more and more of a necessity.
This grill guard right here is what has sufficed on tractors as front protection here for a long time. You can see that this is going to do a little bit in order to protect you from, say, crashing into something, but is going to do very little in terms of protecting your tractor from any of that brush or smaller things that might make its way back into your tractor. What exactly are you protecting here?
It's pretty easy to see. You've got sheet metal across the top here, which on my own tractor, honestly I've got a big dent right over here in the corner. You've got expensive headlights on the newer machines, even LED headlights, that are right back here on the tractor. Plastic cowlings and stuff here around the front, all of which are awfully soft when faced with an incoming stick.
A little bit about the screens themselves. We are currently covering about 40 to 50 models of Kubota tractors, most of the ones that have been produced in the last 10 to 15 years or so. If your model is not currently covered, we are maintaining a list of people who are interested in other models, and we'll take stuff into production as soon as we see enough demand for them.
The guards themselves are different depending on every tractor that you're potentially looking at. These all fit a little bit differently, but we had some very similar goals in designing each one of these. The first is easy installation. Some of them, like this one right here, requires no drilling whatsoever, very easy to slide over top, remove some existing bolts, run those same bolts back into their holes, and hold these things in place.
The installation on them is a breeze. If they require drilling, it's pretty minimal drilling. Also, a reasonable cost. This kind of stuff can get complicated really quickly when you run these things through a manufacturing shop. Every little bend and cut and laser time here starts to add up, and so we made some intentional choices here in order to try to keep these things affordable because after all, the goal here is affordability.
We don't want to spend more money on this guard than the very pieces that we're protecting, so we're trying to make these a cost-effective thing in order to add to your machine. While this center screen is specific to your particular tractor, this side guard here is made to go onto just about any machine, and we got to give some credit where it's due on this one.
Kubota was the first company that I actually saw do this. This is going to be made to fit any tractor. It protrudes out about an extra two inches out from the side of your brush guard. It is going to prevent things from coming in the side over here. If you're in what is very nearly a forestry application, there's options here to protect both your tractor from things coming straight at it but also maybe things that might be working their way in from the side.
One of the places that us as dealerships can really bring a lot of value to your tractor ownership experience is through these things. There's a lot that could be done on your machine to increase its utility through further attachments and hydraulics or other things that we can add that help with the convenience and usability. If it's sway bar kits and brush screens and that thing, there's a lot that can be done in order to accessorize and enhance the functionality of your tractor.
If you're shopping for a piece of equipment, we can help fix you up with this stuff, or you have parts of service deeds for a machine you've already got, maybe you're considering a brush screen because you busted your headlights, we can help. We're available at 802-223-373 or online at messicks.com.