I would stay away from the old Deere. You're buying someone elses trouble and you'll soon see a nice green tractor in his drive after you buy it.
Ask the dealer this, I may be wrong but I think I know the answer. Ask him how many acres the guy has that had the Kubota. I bet he found he had to move up for a reason and you will be the guy trading up next year. There is nothing more frustrating that getting the tractor home and finding out that you bought a tractor that won't do what you need. You head out into the heavy brush, happy to see that it will be cleared off in a few hours and then the tractor bogs down and you realize you are going to have to raise it up to about 4 ft and make a pass, 2 feet, and after about 3 or four trips you finally finish.
Put pen to paper and write out a plan for the future of your place. If you think you may bale one day, dig a small pond, have to load large round bales around, use certain attachments that require more than 37hp,... or any larger projects, you might want to go ahead a get a little more tractor for the same price.
I own 15 acres around my house and just purchased another 30+ acres. I thought when I bought the 15 that we would just clear off a couple of acres and enjoy the little pond. Now we have horses, building an arena, building a small building next to the house... on an on. When I bought the small tractor, my friend told me something that I wished I had listened to. He said that you can do almost anything with a small tractor, it's just how long do you want it to take and how scared are you tote something around with the rear wheels tapping the ground. He said he built a nice pond with his little 30 hp tractor and a blade. It took him forever but he did it. He would never do it like that again thought.
I think you are going to be a little upset with these tractors. They are under 40hp and won't do a lot of things you may want to do later. I don't think they are heavy enough for the future of your 15 acres.
You can buy a really nice tractor with the same hp for a lot less but a tractor that will suit you for the next 30 years for a little more. Buy now, save later.
That come from a guy that bought used over and over. My first was 20hp, second was 40, used other peoples tractors... Don't be afraid of buying a larger tractor. Do you have any hills? Take the Kubota over to your place and drive it around. I made the mistake of driving the small tractor on the other guys place. Spent time fixing it up and then couldn't climb the small hill outside my house!
My 15 acres around the house is just like yours. 11 acres cleared, 1 acre pond, 3 acres needs cleaned up a bit.
I had some trees cleared and need something to clean it all up. I owned a used Ford 3000. It was about 42 hp. I found out that to lift large bales of hay and such I needed at lease 60 hp. You can check my review of my chose, a TT75A on this site.
I really hated spending the money but decided to go this way. I figured all the time lost in fixing the old tractor up, not to mention the money. I had to have freeze plugs put in the other day and it cost $300 to put in $2 in parts. I have always bought used and loved working on them but it was getting old. I live in a clay are and didn't find any trouble with getting stuck. I had to learn to use the loader to push me back. No trouble there.
My new tractor, with loader, was a little over $19,000 and I have 75 hp now. I am not saying that you have to buy a TT75A, but I would say that if you spend $15,000 on a 60hp or 50hp tractor, you are going to be a lot happier. Like I said earlier, put pen to paper and look at long term ideas for your place. Will you be baling hay one day? Who knows? One thing is for certain, you will need at least 75hp. There are a lot of things to think about.
After all that you need to think about attachments. The Bush Hog 3545 loader I have will use all bobcat attachments. I am now purchasing a Root Grapple and forklifts new for $2650. I bought a used bush hog 6' mower for $300. I plan on using it until I get the place cleaned up nice and then will buy a better one. You can pick up limbs, brush, root small trees, tons and tons of stuff there. It sounded like a lot to spend but it would cost me around $10,000 for someone to do it for me. I will get the post hole digger next for about $400 and that will save me $1500 in labor at least. Always look at each job on your place like this. How much would that have cost someone else to do. With the used tractor I may lose a day of work and have to put it off for another week or two while the part is coming in or the guy at the shop to fix it. The new tractor will pay for itself this year, plus write offs, and I will have a new tractor with full waranty for another year. Insurance from the Dealer was only $150 a year and would be around $100 a year if you have Farm Bureau ins.
It was hard for me to bite the bullet but the new tractor was the way to go.
If find you want something more than the TT75A, Mahindra has a great new line but it cost about $5000-$6000 more for the tractor and I would have to send it off for several weeks to be fixed. Don't look at color's. Look at the specs, hours, and conditions. I don't want to tell you what to do but I promise you won't be upset buying new. The first day on my new tractor eased my mind as I drove it around knowing that if it broke down it was going to be some elses problem to fix.
Ask the dealer this, I may be wrong but I think I know the answer. Ask him how many acres the guy has that had the Kubota. I bet he found he had to move up for a reason and you will be the guy trading up next year. There is nothing more frustrating that getting the tractor home and finding out that you bought a tractor that won't do what you need. You head out into the heavy brush, happy to see that it will be cleared off in a few hours and then the tractor bogs down and you realize you are going to have to raise it up to about 4 ft and make a pass, 2 feet, and after about 3 or four trips you finally finish.
Put pen to paper and write out a plan for the future of your place. If you think you may bale one day, dig a small pond, have to load large round bales around, use certain attachments that require more than 37hp,... or any larger projects, you might want to go ahead a get a little more tractor for the same price.
I own 15 acres around my house and just purchased another 30+ acres. I thought when I bought the 15 that we would just clear off a couple of acres and enjoy the little pond. Now we have horses, building an arena, building a small building next to the house... on an on. When I bought the small tractor, my friend told me something that I wished I had listened to. He said that you can do almost anything with a small tractor, it's just how long do you want it to take and how scared are you tote something around with the rear wheels tapping the ground. He said he built a nice pond with his little 30 hp tractor and a blade. It took him forever but he did it. He would never do it like that again thought.
I think you are going to be a little upset with these tractors. They are under 40hp and won't do a lot of things you may want to do later. I don't think they are heavy enough for the future of your 15 acres.
You can buy a really nice tractor with the same hp for a lot less but a tractor that will suit you for the next 30 years for a little more. Buy now, save later.
That come from a guy that bought used over and over. My first was 20hp, second was 40, used other peoples tractors... Don't be afraid of buying a larger tractor. Do you have any hills? Take the Kubota over to your place and drive it around. I made the mistake of driving the small tractor on the other guys place. Spent time fixing it up and then couldn't climb the small hill outside my house!
My 15 acres around the house is just like yours. 11 acres cleared, 1 acre pond, 3 acres needs cleaned up a bit.
I had some trees cleared and need something to clean it all up. I owned a used Ford 3000. It was about 42 hp. I found out that to lift large bales of hay and such I needed at lease 60 hp. You can check my review of my chose, a TT75A on this site.
I really hated spending the money but decided to go this way. I figured all the time lost in fixing the old tractor up, not to mention the money. I had to have freeze plugs put in the other day and it cost $300 to put in $2 in parts. I have always bought used and loved working on them but it was getting old. I live in a clay are and didn't find any trouble with getting stuck. I had to learn to use the loader to push me back. No trouble there.
My new tractor, with loader, was a little over $19,000 and I have 75 hp now. I am not saying that you have to buy a TT75A, but I would say that if you spend $15,000 on a 60hp or 50hp tractor, you are going to be a lot happier. Like I said earlier, put pen to paper and look at long term ideas for your place. Will you be baling hay one day? Who knows? One thing is for certain, you will need at least 75hp. There are a lot of things to think about.
After all that you need to think about attachments. The Bush Hog 3545 loader I have will use all bobcat attachments. I am now purchasing a Root Grapple and forklifts new for $2650. I bought a used bush hog 6' mower for $300. I plan on using it until I get the place cleaned up nice and then will buy a better one. You can pick up limbs, brush, root small trees, tons and tons of stuff there. It sounded like a lot to spend but it would cost me around $10,000 for someone to do it for me. I will get the post hole digger next for about $400 and that will save me $1500 in labor at least. Always look at each job on your place like this. How much would that have cost someone else to do. With the used tractor I may lose a day of work and have to put it off for another week or two while the part is coming in or the guy at the shop to fix it. The new tractor will pay for itself this year, plus write offs, and I will have a new tractor with full waranty for another year. Insurance from the Dealer was only $150 a year and would be around $100 a year if you have Farm Bureau ins.
It was hard for me to bite the bullet but the new tractor was the way to go.
If find you want something more than the TT75A, Mahindra has a great new line but it cost about $5000-$6000 more for the tractor and I would have to send it off for several weeks to be fixed. Don't look at color's. Look at the specs, hours, and conditions. I don't want to tell you what to do but I promise you won't be upset buying new. The first day on my new tractor eased my mind as I drove it around knowing that if it broke down it was going to be some elses problem to fix.
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