A skid steer tiller is a rotary tilling head that mounts on the loader's quick attach plate and runs off its auxiliary hydraulics, turning compacted ground into a seedbed in one or two passes. The attachment adds roughly $75 to $150 a day to whatever the machine costs. Before you book, check two numbers: the auxiliary flow your machine puts out, and the working width you actually need.
Flow first, width second
Tillers are rated for a flow range, commonly somewhere between 15 and 30 gpm. A standard flow loader runs the smaller heads; a wide head on a standard flow machine turns slowly and stalls in hard ground. Book the machine and the attachment together from the same yard so they arrive matched rather than merely compatible.
What a tiller does that a bucket cannot
A bucket scrapes and moves soil. A tiller cuts down several inches and mixes as it goes, so amendments, lime or compost end up through the profile instead of sitting on top. For lawn renovation, a new bed or a paddock reseed, that mixing is the whole job, and no amount of bucket work substitutes for it.
The attachment is priced apart from the machine
Expect two lines on the ticket, one for the loader and one for the head, plus haul for both. If you already have a machine on site for another task, hiring just the tiller for a day is usually possible and much cheaper, provided your loader's flow and coupler pattern match what the yard supplies.
Ground conditions decide whether it works
Soaked soil smears and balls up around the tines. Bone dry hardpan bounces the head. Rock and heavy root mats will stop a tiller and can damage it, and in those the right hire is a rock bucket, a soil conditioner or a rotary rake instead. Walk the ground and dig one test hole before booking.
Questions people ask about skid steer tiller
Will a mini skid steer run a tiller?
Some will, with a narrow head sized to a compact machine's flow. Many mini loaders sit at the bottom of the flow range and will only turn the smallest tillers. Give the yard your machine's model and they will tell you which heads it can drive.
Do I need high flow or standard flow?
Standard flow suits narrower heads and lighter soil. High flow lets a wide head keep turning in compacted or stony ground and finishes a large area in far fewer passes. If the area is big or the ground is hard, hire the high flow machine and the matching head.
Tiller or a walk-behind rototiller from the tool counter?
Under a few thousand square feet, a walk-behind rear tine tiller is cheaper and needs no loader. Above that, or where the ground is compacted subsoil rather than an old bed, the skid steer head does in an hour what the walk-behind takes a weekend to do badly.