A Newbie With Questions???

[DJFaninTN]

Hello,

I have been reading on TBN for the past few nights. We own 5 acres with zero trees and have a fence located on the front of the property. We moved in back in October of 07.

The lot was a former corn field. They laid sod around in the house so that part of the grass is fine. Now the rest of the 5 acres needs help. We plan on using a disc to break up the ground and then level it out. Then seed and put the fertilizer to it. What I really desire is for the entire 5 acres to look like a golf course. We've always been able to obtain this type of look at our other house.

Here is the question. We are looking for a good used tractor. I would think something in the mid 20 hp range. I do want the hydrostat since the wife may want to cut the grass. My wife loves being outside and working in the yard.

4WD would not be a must but thinking of down the road it might be better to go ahead and get it. I really don't think I will need the FEL. My neighbor has one if needed.

We been looking at Kubota and JD. There is a JD dealership just a few miles away from the house but I cannot say they are the most friendly folks I've met. 2 Kubota dealerships are within 30 mies of the house. The Kubota we are looking at is the B7610. I also have looked at a JD 855.

I am open to suggestions of what else I should consider. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[RobS]

First, welcome to TBN DJFan. Your property sounds like mine, a recovered cornfield. I have no interest in the golf course grass though, so I have a lot of it in natural prairie. One thing you shouuld consider is all the other things you might want a tractor for. Do you have landscaping visions for the place? Are you a builder of sheds and such? I'm assuming you live in TN, is snow in the winter a problem? What kind of driveway do you have and is there any maintenance on it?

You're probably in the right ballpark for size, but some more details on your uses might help people provide input to you.

Again, welcome!

 

[frank_f15]

Welcome to the forum. if you realy wabt the entire 5 acres to look like a golf course, you probably would be best with MMM and turf tires, also don't completly disregard a FEL AMAZING how many uses you will find for it.

 

[DJFaninTN]

First, welcome to TBN DJFan. Your property sounds like mine, a recovered cornfield. I have no interest in the golf course grass though, so I have a lot of it in natural prairie. One thing you shouuld consider is all the other things you might want a tractor for. Do you have landscaping visions for the place? Are you a builder of sheds and such? I'm assuming you live in TN, is snow in the winter a problem? What kind of driveway do you have and is there any maintenance on it?

You're probably in the right ballpark for size, but some more details on your uses might help people provide input to you.

Again, welcome!

Thanks for the welcome. Landscaping around the house is done for the most part. My wife enjoys planting all the flowers and stuff around the house. This was a new house we happened to pick up from a builder going under. I am in the process of having a 24 x 36 detached garage being built as we speak. So, yes it will be housed inside. The driveway is asphalt and already down.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is a link to a webpage we put together to share with friends. You can see the lay of the land. If you want to see a larger pic just click on the individual picture.

Again ... THANKS for the help.

Outside Pics

 

[RobS]

Hey, looks great. I almost moved to TN a while back. Nice part of the country.

As I mentioned, I'm not into the golf course grass so I can't really help you much. If it were me, and the main chore was mowing, I'd get a ZTR. I'm guessing you'll need to fertilize and I really don't know what the options are there. I love my FEL, but I also enjoy a lot of serious DIY projects around the house. I have a Craftsman lawn tractor for finish mowing and if it ever dies I intend to replace it with a ZTR, but I will always have my tractor too.

 

[bota7800]

Assume Tennessee is not water starved like Colorado. Five acres is a lot of grass.

If you are sure that mowing is the only use (no road or driveway maintenance, rock moving, excavating, etc) then you might want to consider something other than a typical small tractor. Landscapers use these: Walker Mowers - The Zero Turn Radius Lawn Mower from Walker Manufacturing Company a lot and mow really fast. They even plow snow from walks and things with them. A neighbor at our last place had a service mow with the industrial size ones and they were fast. A tractor and finish mower will not be as fast.

That being said, this is a tractor website and I can almost guarantee that you will find other uses for a tractor iif you have one. You need to figure out what implements you will need. Without implements a tractor is just an really uncomfortable car

Looks like Rob beat me to the suggestion (I type slow)

 

[Blackbird_BX]

I agree with Frank on the value and multitude of uses for a front end loader. Getting a FEL was the original driver for getting a tractor for our place. Of course, the more I read on TBN, the more attachments it needed. Finally settled on a BX24 TLB with a 54" mid-mount-mower a box blade and a thumb for the backhoe. I'd go with a 60" MMM with the flat land that it looks like you have.

What kind of soil do you have? Depending on the soil type discing and leveling will be a breeze or a major endeavor.

I'd plant an orchard myself, but I've always preferred trees to grass. I guess that's why we've 10 acres of woods and less than one acre of grass.

 

[Aquaman]

Welcome to the forum. if you realy wabt the entire 5 acres to look like a golf course, you probably would be best with MMM and turf tires, also don't completly disregard a FEL AMAZING how many uses you will find for it.

Frank is right. A FEL will quickly become your best friend. You'll find uses for it that won't occur to you until you have one. Your back will thank you!

 

[BizDoc]

If ALL you are going to do is Mow then get a Zero Turn. But with 5 acres you're going to find uses you havn't thought of. I would never get a tractor withour a FEL, I have had too many uses, even it it was a glorified wheel barrow, it makes so many things easier.

I started out with 7 acres, of which 5 was field and mowed with a 21hp NH and a 60 inch MMM, worked fine, then I bought another 3 acres and moved to a 30 HP Kubota with a 72 inch MMM, I use the tractor mostly for mowing and removing snow. I know it has to snow sometime in Tennessee and you have a long drive way, I wouldn't want to push a snow blower on that. With 5 acres I would say in MHO you would be fine with a 20 something HP unit, but give a second consideration about the FEL.

 

[bigdad]

For about a hundred bucks you can get a carryall frame for the (B7610) 3 pt. Almost as handy as a FEL. With all that grass to maintain you could mount a spray rig on the carryall.

BTW....Nice home!