shovel is the way to go, theres no time wasted pushing up loads keeps things going when your flat out, compaction is second to none. the guy who drives ours at pit is unreal on it, ive no pictures taken off the finished pits but if you saw them they are like a work of art. i wouldnt imagine wear and tear to be so bad with the flicking because in the hands of a good operator he doesnt have to flick too much, a shovel loading earth or rock or whatever would be alot worse.
if you are only a small contractor or farmer i could see how buying a shovel might not be worth it for the limited amount of work there but then again saying that my bosses one who owns a medium sized contracting outfit is busy 70% of the year doing, silage, muck, land work, site work etc etc theres always jobs coming up for it. all contractors around here anyway have shovels as do any of the farmers who cut there own except for one 50hx as i said earlier by one farmer.