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Read articles →A hobby homesteader looks back on three-plus years of owning the BT-603 backhoe on a BX23S, cataloguing a long list of real projects it made possible: drainage ditches, utility trenches for water/sewer/electric, a duck pond, fence stretching, stump work, and neighbor trades. No specs or comparisons, this is purely a use-case retrospective that's most useful for someone weighing whether the backhoe add-on justifies its roughly $5,000 price tag.
An owner-operator on a working 38-acre hobby homestead sharing personal experience, so the perspective is genuinely hands-on but openly favorable toward the purchase they already made.
Yes, you have to buy the BX23S model because it comes with the subframe needed to support the weight of the backhoe attachment.
The owner says yes, it was a $5,000 add-on three years ago but allowed drainage work, pond digging, utility trenching, fence stretching, and neighbor trades they would not have done otherwise.
Drainage ditches, a duck pond, sewer/water/electric trenches, a 200-foot water line, fence stretching, stump work, trail grading, and gutter runoff trenches to a pond.
Yes, the owner loaned the backhoe to a neighbor for a church trail project in exchange for a season of hay to feed cattle.
