Wow, quick responses.!
I'd like to stay at or under 20K for tractor and deck. ('Like' being the operative word). I have a regular job, and am going to be tractor-boy, but my wife will be farm-girl full time.
We are going to use a container-managed poop hauling company, so hopefully large mounds of it won't be an issue needing a loader. (Unless you collect from the field?)
We absolutely will not be bailing hay, or growing anything. No post hole digging, moving trees from one spot to the other, digging 500ft trenches, digging for oil or any other nasty chore. Just cuttin' grass and raising horses.
<insert: got to love the word 'vintage' it's so much nicer than 'nasty-stinkin old'!>
The property again is all grass, fenced, ready to go. I want to mow, mow and mow again. That's almost completely what i want to have a tractor for. Slightly rolling, no obstacles (other than fence).
Basically (perhaps misguidedly), I'd like to get the biggest deck I can afford, to shorten cut times. {with the above 20K constraint}
Questions:
Do you really need
4wd?
Do you really need synchro? wassat: automatic tranny?
Do you really need DSVC? <won't even venture a guess>
Is a 'pseudo-finishing mower' a bad idea - eg. woods 990