What's the smallest practical HP/Tractor you'd consider?

[IslandTractor]

One of the reasons I decided my little 15 horse Bolens isn't enough was when I tried to use a post hole digger. The auger bit into the ground, and I was up to my gearbox before I realized was looking at sky. It took me three hours to unscrew the auger. I figured my tractor doesn't weigh enough to that kind of work.

Granted you need a bigger tractor but I'd still say that depending on tasks you could get by with less than 45HP. Certainly anything from the 21hp Kioti on up could handle a post hole digger without the sort of trouble you have had.

It seems you are looking for a general purpose utility tractor but you haven't listed any tasks (?handling bales of ?size) that could not be done with tractors from 20hp on up. I'm not arguing against a 40+hp tractor but other than the size of your spread you haven't listed enough detail to make sizing decisions.

Are you farming? How many horses do you care for? What size bales? What types of projects do you have in mind? How much mowing etc?

 

[63DH8]

Granted you need a bigger tractor but I'd still say that depending on tasks you could get by with less than 45HP. Certainly anything from the 21hp Kioti on up could handle a post hole digger without the sort of trouble you have had.

It seems you are looking for a general purpose utility tractor but you haven't listed any tasks (?handling bales of ?size) that could not be done with tractors from 20hp on up. I'm not arguing against a 40+hp tractor but other than the size of your spread you haven't listed enough detail to make sizing decisions.

Are you farming? How many horses do you care for? What size bales? What types of projects do you have in mind? How much mowing etc?

It's not so much as the post holes, but what I haven't been able to do yet. I'm not going to raise horses. I'm going to raise cattle. I think the larger round bales will be more economical to buy and feed than the 100lb bales. Also, if I can find acreage that has enough tillable land, I want to buy it so I won't have to buy as much feed as I can grow most of what the animals eat. There's also the matter of having a backhoe attachment that's large enough to do things like dig irrigation ditches or to use to grab fallen trees and place them on a trailer.

 

[IslandTractor]

It's not so much as the post holes, but what I haven't been able to do yet. I'm not going to raise horses. I'm going to raise cattle. I think the larger round bales will be more economical to buy and feed than the 100lb bales. Also, if I can find acreage that has enough tillable land, I want to buy it so I won't have to buy as much feed as I can grow most of what the animals eat. There's also the matter of having a backhoe attachment that's large enough to do things like dig irrigation ditches or to use to grab fallen trees and place them on a trailer.

In that case I agree with the 40+ size. Lots of good choices in that size range.

 

[Rowdius]

I would agree with the 40+ people too. However, if you are wanting to keep it small because of money issues, I'd look hard at a larger, used ag machine. Alot of times a bunch of horsepower can be had for the price of a cut this way.

For example, this 86 HP case is going for less than $17K at my local used tractor dealer

Or this 83hp ford is going for $9500.

Or go a bit older and get something like this (over 100hp) for $3900.

With some looking you should be able to find a good, but larger ag machine for less than a new CUT. It might take a little looking to find all the features you might want (like 4x4 with loader, etc.) The down side to this route is that most likely you will not get a warrenty, the machines will be too large to haul with a 3/4 truck, and parts are ag machines can be big money.

But for examples of what can be had used, check out http://wattstractor.com/prod01.htm (I do not work for them, they are just a dealer close to me that actually has prices and photos on line.)

 

[8934]

Beside the round bale issue, most farm tasks can be done with a smaller tractor. They just take more time, sometimes much much more time, and may require physical labor augment it.

So part of the formula has to be how much money you can spend, how good of shape you are in, how much time you have, and how much diesel you want to burn, if you will mainly be working in open fields, or close quarters.

Yes for some things like mowing, larger hp, allows faster ground speed and may help equal out fuel consumption. However, other things will not.

I would not suggest any tractor with less than 40 engine hp, and possibly up to 100 depending on the answer to the questions above.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

At one point during the years when I was farming, I decided to go with a bigger tractor. I bought a 110hp MFWD Deere. I sorta knew going in what I was in store for, but I didn't do all the math. With bigger tractors (above 50 hp) smaller CATI implements are just about useless. CATII are USUALLY more expensive (unless you really do some shopping around for used) Bigger = less nimble in really tight quarters. Bigger = more fuel consumption. After 3-1/2 years, I sold my 110 tractor and went back to using a 60 hp model as my biggest. There was some loss in productivity at SOME jobs. But when everything "penciled out", smaller was more profitable (in my situation)

In recent years, there's been a switch in how tractors are configured. It's not uncommon to see 75 to 90 hp tractors that aren't much bigger physically (if bigger at all) than 50 or 60 hp models of 25 years ago. Still, consider implement size and associated cost with whatever size you finally choose.

 

[JiminGa]

handling round bales and possibly doing some dirt work to grow feed or what not, I'd go for the JD 5000 series utility tractors or similar in other colors. you'll be suprised at the price difference between a JD 4720 cab and a JD 5525 cab.

 

[Soundguy]

I wouldn't even consider under 50hp.. and preferable something in the 70's.. or higher.

100 hp would find lots of work on a farm that size..

soundguy

 

[IslandTractor]

I wouldn't even consider under 50hp.. and preferable something in the 70's.. or higher.

100 hp would find lots of work on a farm that size..

soundguy

It is not a 100 acre farm. Lots of hilly bits apparently and the guy is currently using a 15hp tractor. He wants to raise cattle but doesn't even have land to hay yet. Sounds like a bit of a big step to go up to a 70-100hp Ag tractor.

 

[Soundguy]

It is not a 100 acre farm. Lots of hilly bits apparently and the guy is currently using a 15hp tractor. He wants to raise cattle but doesn't even have land to hay yet. Sounds like a bit of a big step to go up to a 70-100hp Ag tractor.

This was his 1st post:

I'm looking for one to use a hay spear, scoop cattle manure, and pulling farm implements with on 100+ acres of land. I have a small (15hp) tractor, but I've discovered it's not enough for some dirty deeds.

He's not going to spear hay on 15 hp.. in fact.. in anything CUT.. utility or better for rounds is the safe way to go.

I get away with using a beefy 'cut' sized 50 hp antique to do rounds with.. ( ford 850 ).. and have a friend that does it with a similar tractor ( 841 ).. but don't reccomend it with anything under say.. ford 4000 3 cyl when recomending it to others..

soundguy
soundguy