Maurice
Bronze Member
Hello to all,
I'm new to the board, and this is my first post. I've spent some time looking at the wealth of posts out here. I've already learned a couple of things, but I refuse to pose as a woman just to posts.
The reason for my post is:
I am currently trying to get out of the tractor maintenance business. By that I mean, I have a Farmall 856 and a Farmall 'M' that sucking the life out of my wallet. I'm wanting to replace them with something newer and smaller if possible.
Here's my criteria:
I live on 40 acres in western Iowa. Some hills. 16 acres of hay ground that I will cut and rake, but I hire out the baling.
Will probably have the baler dial down the round bales to 1000 to 1200 pounds. I'm looking to use a front bale spear and rear forks. So that also leads to a FEL. And also a couple of mowers.
I've got a 7' sickle bar that I will use to cut the hay.
I've never used a rear mount mower. How maneuverable are they. I mow 2 yards about 1.5 acrea each with a few trees. How do they handle near houses and building?
My initial thought was ~40 - 45hp. Not many options for a MMM in this range and above.
I have Case and JD dealer with in 10 mile of the house and very familiar with the Case people. Nearest NH and Kubota dealers about 40 miles away.
The only reservation I have with the latter 2 would be the transporting of the tractor if need arises. I have no trailer to haul it on currently.
Otherwise I'm trying to visit all the dealers and get a little seat time on tractor in the hp range above.
Sorry about the size, just trying to answer as many questions up front as I can.
Soooo.... any and all comments will be greatliy appreciated.
I'm new to the board, and this is my first post. I've spent some time looking at the wealth of posts out here. I've already learned a couple of things, but I refuse to pose as a woman just to posts.
The reason for my post is:
I am currently trying to get out of the tractor maintenance business. By that I mean, I have a Farmall 856 and a Farmall 'M' that sucking the life out of my wallet. I'm wanting to replace them with something newer and smaller if possible.
Here's my criteria:
I live on 40 acres in western Iowa. Some hills. 16 acres of hay ground that I will cut and rake, but I hire out the baling.
Will probably have the baler dial down the round bales to 1000 to 1200 pounds. I'm looking to use a front bale spear and rear forks. So that also leads to a FEL. And also a couple of mowers.
I've got a 7' sickle bar that I will use to cut the hay.
I've never used a rear mount mower. How maneuverable are they. I mow 2 yards about 1.5 acrea each with a few trees. How do they handle near houses and building?
My initial thought was ~40 - 45hp. Not many options for a MMM in this range and above.
I have Case and JD dealer with in 10 mile of the house and very familiar with the Case people. Nearest NH and Kubota dealers about 40 miles away.
The only reservation I have with the latter 2 would be the transporting of the tractor if need arises. I have no trailer to haul it on currently.
Otherwise I'm trying to visit all the dealers and get a little seat time on tractor in the hp range above.
Sorry about the size, just trying to answer as many questions up front as I can.
Soooo.... any and all comments will be greatliy appreciated.
I think you'd be happier with a utility tractor rather than a compact with what you're doing. JD had the '05 and '10 series tractors, NH has the TNs, Case has a line of tractors that are basically TNs painted a different color. Kubota has utility tractors in this range, also, but I'm not familiar with them. Since you have Case and JD dealers close I'd look at them first ( which I'm sure you're already doing). I have a TN65 and I'm really happy with the tractor. I would not be afraid to do anything with it you've described. I've found that JD is more expensive than others for the same size tractor and I've also heard that Case is a little high also. When you get into the 40 to 45 HP compacts you won't save that much money over the cost of the next tier utilities. You'll probably find that the dealer's reputation will be the deal maker in your case, since you'll still have to maintain and repair the thing, why not make it as painless as possible?
