17 acres in maine-

[rubicon]

MY wife and I purchased 17 acres in coastal maine 5 years ago and will be moving up there in the spring(2010) with our two young girls and build a home. the property has 80% trees 20% old blueberry fields. with a right of way of approx 1000' to the edge of our property line that we will need to put a road on. I will be doing most of the work myself for $ reasons( I like to do things on my own anyway) and am thinking a tractor with approx. 50hp.pto fel.4wd.filled tires.couple hyd points on the rear for future implements. I have been reading hundreds of the posts on this list for the last coule of years and cannot begin to say what a help it has been. I guess my first question will be about new versus used. I would love to go new but I could probably get something a bit larger and more powerful for the same money used. one thing I seem to be reading a lot about is wishing you got a bigger tractor to begin with so I want to do it right the first time. I have started to search the used postings in the northeast and have found a lot of very low hour tractors and was wondering about the new versus used pitfalls the budget is 24000 max sorry for the long post thanks

[Thomas]

Welcome to TBN Neighbor.

Understand about $$'s but it maybe cheaper to sub out roughing in road stumping etc.,once the heavy works done you may not need 50hp + or - might put you in price range of new 30hp w/some goodies 2010.

Watch papers,bull.boards for farm auctions etc. also some good to great deals on 2wd 50+hp.

[IslandTractor]

Welcome (even though you've been lurking for a while).

I think you already have a pretty good idea of what you need/want. Buying used is a great idea especially now as there are quite a number of used machines with low hours on the market. Your budget seems very reasonable for a 40-50hp used machine with moderate to low hours if you exclude implements. You may be able to find a few good implements bundled with the tractor. I would comment that 50hp machines are less common than 40hp so think carefully about how much power you need. You will presumably be clearing land and mowing etc rather than farm work. The 50hp size becomes important when you are running haying equipment and big plows etc but otherwise a heavy 40-45hp machine with a strong loader should be able to do the other tasks without any real problem.

Craigslist is certainly one place to look. I'd suggest using something like Moxilla and Craigshelper to screen for tractors within 150 miles or so of your location (or whatever distance you are comfortable traveling). There are almost always a few nice tractors of the approximate size you are looking for listed.

[dsgsr]

For 24K you should be looking at getting a Construction type piece of equipment, Like a John Deere or Cat TLB. Do the heavy work then sell it and get as large of NEW tractor as you can afford.

David

[easygo]

Rubicon,

You could do a LOT of work with an L3400 or L4400 and stay inside of the 24k you are talking about. If you will take care of the blueberry field (3-4 acres?) it will certainly be enough of a tractor and they will haul firewood very well. For the roughing in of the road and digging out the foundation you are probably much better off renting an excavator and or a bulldozer. As I'm sure you know there are some VERY big rocks in Maine and you may not want to size the tractor for that project. My neighbor owns a 65hp tractor but not even that was enough to rough in the road to his new house. He rented excavator and bulldozer for a day or three as he needed it instead of beating the tractor to death. That man loves his tractor and loves to save a $ if he can but it was saving LOTS OF TIME and possible damage.
Welcome to the forum and welcome to Maine.

[Stonehaller]

Originally Posted by dsgsr

For 24K you should be looking at getting a Construction type piece of equipment, Like a John Deere or Cat TLB.

David

The problem with getting a construction type TLB is no three point hitch. For putting in a road you will probably need a box blade and or back blade. If you have stumps or other backhoe work you could do the prep work with a 40-50 HP tractor with a FEL and three point and then rent a small excavator or TLB to dig the stumps or contract it out.

[pilot-werx]

I would be on the look out for a deere 110 TLB. Has 3pt and pto. I have one that I use in one of businesses and the thing has been tough as nails. It is 43 hp, skid steer style FEL attachment and loaded tires....

[Stonehaller]

Originally Posted by pilot-werx

I would be on the look out for a deere 110 TLB.

A used JD 110 TLB, Kubota L39 or L48 all would be nice but you may have a hard time finding one in good shape for less than $24K.

[IslandTractor]

Originally Posted by Stonehaller

A used JD 110 TLB, Kubota L39 or L48 all would be nice but you may have a hard time finding one in good shape for less than $24K.

Craigslist in Boston has a 2005 Deere 310G with 4000hrs for 20K. Photos look good.

[Stonehaller]

Originally Posted by IslandTractor

Craigslist in Boston has a 2005 Deere 310G with 4000hrs for 20K. Photos look good.

I don't think the JD 310 has a removable backhoe and three point.