Regional Tractor

[Big Bri]

As i start this Thread i know ya'll will think i'm crazy, and let me also state that i am new to tractors and don't think of my self as a "pro" or "know it all" but it seems that there are a lot of people who buy smaller tractors than large in some parts of the US.

I've noticed that while surfing TBN that it seem that different parts of the states buy different size tractors. Maybe i'm crazy i don't know but it seems that here in Louisiana most of the people i know who own tractors have Large utility or ag tractors. The largest of three lot i take care of is only 5 acre's and i use a mx5100, and i wouldn't want any thing smaller. My father in law has a Large Long for 12 acres. Good friend of mine has Deer 5065 (nice tractor) for 8 acres. I don't see many. . . no any small cut tractors being used around here. I see up north and on the east cost there a lot of people who have 15 to 30 acres who have smaller 25 to 30 hp tractors. while it seems out west they seem to like the bigger tractors. . . what gives.

Guess what i'm asking is how big is your lot and what size tractor do you use and why

Thanks

[Diamondpilot]

Same here. We see nothing smaller than a TC29 or similar. None of the small stuff like the little bx series. Most guys around me have a 25-35Hp tractor then many do as I do and buy a older 50ish Hp tractor for PTO power.

Chris

[Thomas]

Never gave it much thought,thinking needs of owners also dollars.
I had B7100HST w/fel for 14 years did everything I wanted,moved up to L2800 this year..triple size and double hp. w/more whistle and bells plus power steering..for our 3 arces of hilly land.

Guess the older one gets the more comfort one likes.

Good topic.

[dave1949]

Big Bri

That's an interesting observation. One thing I can say about Maine - and it probably applies to most of northern New England, is we don't have all that many farms, there isn't much of a used market in Ag/Utility sized tractors. Very few of us could justify the cost of a new one.

If you go on machinefinder, tractorhouse, etc. and search by region you won't see much coming up for my geographic area.

We can find lots more used logging equip. than Ag equip.

Dave.

[whistlepig]

The tractor has to be sized to the implements that one wants to run. In my case I needed to be able to run a 72" RFM and a 60" brush hog. That worked out that I needed 30HP minimum. I picked the implements that I needed to run and then backed in to the tractor. I couldn't afford to go more than I needed or less than I needed.

[Big Bri]

Thanks guys, i don't think there is, nor am i looking for a right answer. I was just curious what made everyone buy what they bought.
For me it was the fact that i like to get things done and get them done quickly, so i think i might have bought a little large but i like moving a lot of dirt at once, and i like getting my grass cut even faster (gets me back inside to my cold beer) That being said i would still like a bigger tractor. . . kind of dumb but i guess its that Tim the tool man thing

Thanks again

[Gary Fowler]

I have 11.2 acres to mow and it is all in pasture with some thickets of sweetgum and willow along the creek banks. I bought a 45 HP (engine) with FEL and 4X4 because I needed the 4 wd to get thru all the low spring feed areas then never dry up and to mow them you just have to wade in with the 4 WD and I wanted a 6 foot bush hog minimum. Got the loader on it just to appease my Brother-In-Law because he thought it would be nice. I help him mow his 30+ acres whenever I am home. THe FEL is a not just a little but a lot awkward in tight spots, but I would not be without one now that I have had it. Mine is not a QA and my next tractor will have a QA FEL so I can remove the bucket easily when I dont need it.
We never had one on the farm in NE Lousiana where I grew up and never really missed it. Thinking back, I still dont know what I would have used one for on our cotton and soybean farming operation. It was all flatland and the only dirt I ever moved was when I dug a 2 acre pond with 5 foot high levees that ended up about 7 feet deep on the deep end and 5 on the shallow end. Used a big earthmoving bucket and a 120 HP tractor to do that in 2 days. I guess the old saying, you dont miss something that you never had, has a lot of truth in it.

[dave1949]

When I bought my tractor, I needed to be able to trailer it behind a pickup for a couple years until we moved to our land. 110 miles one-way, had to keep the size down for that reason.

Once we started building, I knew I would need the FEL and the backhoe to do finishing on the clearing and driveway.

I have around 3 miles of walking trails, that's where the bush hog is needed the most. I also work at adding to cleared areas. I always get a new cleared spot mow-able so the trees don't take it back. The FEL and backhoe are handy for smoothing, rock digging and some stump removal.

[Ductape]

I wouldn't argue against it being a regional thing, but I'd base it more on what the 'average' sized piece of property is in a given area. Around me, larger tracts of land are getting fewer and farther in between. Population / sq. mile ........ and unfortunately, taxes, go hand in hand. There aren't a whole lot of hundred acre tracts around me (who can afford property taxes on such pieces of property??????) that would require a 100+ hp tractor anymore. Smaller lot sizes make for smaller tractors.

[IslandTractor]

Another prespective from an East Coaster: I'm guessing that most tractors in the northeast are not owned by farmers but rather landowners who need them for land maintenance. We also haven't by and large been raised with tractors the way someone from an Ag community would have been and therefore don't have particular biases about how big a tractor should be. Given those premises, when looking for what sort of machine is necessary to care for 2, 5, 15 or 100 acres as the case may be, it is possible to approach the purchase with a focus on what jobs need to be done and what the tools are that will work. Twenty plus years ago the modern CUT had just been invented (by Kubota) and those machines were initially quite small (less than 30hp anyway). As various implements were designed for that size machine they became popular as land maintenance tools and their popularity increased. Bigger sizes were added but it is still possible to get a 20something hp machine that has pretty decent capabilities. For someone starting out, those machines make a lot of sense both financially and for the same reason as you learn to operate a skiff before captaining a super tanker. A 20hp CUT can do just about anything a larger tractor can do in 5 acres while a 30hp can easily handle 10 acres. As many (?most) land plots in the northeast are about that size or smaller there isn't much call for substantially bigger machines unless they are used for farming (not much of that up here), logging (some), landclearing (competes with bulldozer, excavator) etc. Bottom line is that smaller CUTs simply make sense in non agricultural applications.

I don't have any trouble understanding why 40+hp machines are common in Ag areas but I think the preponderance of the smaller CUTs in more densely populated areas makes sense too.