A two wheel drive will go pretty good with a bale on the back, but you can't steer it for ****, constantly on the brakes, if not in ruts. The times I've found that a fwd assist comes in handy is steering in the slop, and backing up a slope with nothing on the back for weight while doing some bucket work. A down side to the two wheel drive is that it cuts deeper ruts, better have a hard pan, or you are eventually high centered. Then you have problems, and a mess that might be a little worse than with a fwd. I've fed hay in the winter on both 2 and 4wd over the years for Dad and my grandpa. Much prefer the 4wd. His 2wd didn't have a loader so the skinny tires up front were good enough. I can see having quite a problem trying to feed with a front prong with skinny tires, especially with no rear weight.