Tractor impaired

[Soundguy]

I know you didn't mention New holland, or massey fergusion, but if you have one somewhat near, it is worth checking. NH seels an economy 3010S series which is 48pto hp and a good small ag tractor. It goes for 13k$ something new, plus I bet it pulls a 7' rotary cutter. MF also has the 251S line in the 15K range should be similar. Many MF dealers also sell long/farmtrack. A 45 or 65 farmtrack is in the 13-14K range and are decent ag tractors. For mowing 25 acres.. you want as big a deck as you can get.. and pretty much an ag tractor as opposed to a utility tractor. I love my 33hp 1920 .. but I only have 13.2 acres.. if I had 25.... I would upgrade to the 3010S... just not enought time to sit on the seat all day.

As a side thought, you could cross fence the acerage, and keep a small herd of goats and just swap them back side to side every few weeks. 25 acres will support lots of horses.. even more cows, as they are more efficient at converting grass to energy. Goats are also good at clearing undesirable plants like briars, etc.

I don't have much experience with the JD lineup or kubota, so i can't comment on them.


Soundguy

[DONOTDELETE]

RichZ: Thanks: The domestic boss says 20K for tractor and implements.. (Hopefully just the mowing deck -- i can probably get the scraper at a later date{read more cost })

I asked about the Woods RM990 cause it's bigger (7-1/2) & lighter than what other decks are. I suppose your saying this is probably a bad thing in the end? I want the heavy duty cutter? I will look at King Kutter & First Choice thanks

cj7: Thanks, Thinking rationally I know you're correct. Problem is how does an idiot find a good tractor. (At least with new, there's some chance you end up with something usable) Also, I'm very scared of some old thing, ooh sorry vintage, as i can see it bleeding me dry of money. Is there an honest chap out there willing to part with what I need? Heh, how would I know...


SoundGuy: Thanks! There's a NewHolland dealer 13 miles away, according to mapquest. I was sort of back-burner'ing them as other dealers were much closer, 3miles. But perhaps this distance is no problem.. dunno. To there credit, it would appear that the government around there buys all NH, which perhaps says something. I suppose I will trundle down to see that 3010s. Don't know of any Massey dealers.

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I guess what i'm hearing is that the JD 990 is too small, which is what I would have guessed.

[hazmat]

<font color=blue>I asked about the Woods RM990 cause it's bigger (7-1/2) &amp; lighter than what other decks are. I suppose your saying this is probably a bad thing in the end? I want the heavy duty cutter? I will look at King Kutter &amp; First Choice thanks</font color=blue>

Ideally you need a rotary cutter for the Field and a Finish Mower for your lawn, unless you plan on getting another machine for mowing around the house, or don't care how "rough" it looks.

For best results (IE no clogging bogging down etc.) with the finish mower, you will want to cut the lawn regularly, every one to two weeks depending on conditions. With a rotary cutter, you can let the grass get long before you cut it. You can get away with mowing a few times per season.

Rotary cutters also known as "brush hogs" come in light, medium, and heavy duty. Weight and cost go up with each step up in "duty" I would think a light or medium duty would be sufficient for cutting the pasture.

13 miles is not far to travel. I'm quite satisfied with my little (18HP) New Holland. All the big three JD, Kubota, NH make quality tractors. I chose based on the dealer who concidentally is the farthest away of the three.

I know I will get blasted for trying to sell you something you don't want, but consider an FEL. 1001 uses, once I got one, I didn't know how I lived with out it.

Any of the dealers should be willing to drop of a demo unit at your property for you to try out. Then you will really know if the setup is the right size (HP cutting width etc.) for you.

[Soundguy]

Your ahead of me.. my NH dealer is about 22 miles away.. but i get great service from them.. except for the dumb guy at the parts counter... always gotta have one of them at every business. Anyway, Another option, is buying used FROM the dealer, as opposed to buying used from somebody. Also, as it goes, used equipment of another brand is usually cheaper on a dealers lot.. for instance, a kubota sitting on a NH lot may go cheaper, etc. I bought my 1920 ( 33hp) used from my NH dealer.. the tractor was 3 ys old, had 720 hours on the clock, and 2 hours on a rebuilt engine. Has never hickuped once, and was the same price as a new TC 18 ( 18hp? ). I was told that the 3010S is an economy tractor lacking the bells and whistles of the TC and TN series, and was built to compete pricewise with the masseyF 251S... lets you know that they are at least a rough comparison in HP and size, and masseyF's are real basic tractors anyway.. not much has changed on them since the 70's... but a very viable tractor none the less.. especially for mowing... why pay more if you don't have too [img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Soundguy

<font color=blue>"SoundGuy: Thanks! There's a NewHolland dealer 13 miles away, according to mapquest. I was sort of back-burner'ing them as other dealers were much closer, 3miles. But perhaps this distance is no problem.. dunno. To there credit, it would appear that the government around there buys all NH, which perhaps says something. I suppose I will trundle down to see that 3010s. Don't know of any Massey dealers."

[tdenny]

dbrosius,

On another note: I'm not sure the government buying specifically New Holland tractors is an indication of anything.

[Soundguy]

Our local county now has a contract with NH.. but has had contracts with both JD, and MF in past years... I'm sure it is a best price kind of thing. Though the bulk of our counties equipment / tractor's are interestingly enough, NH.. I still think it is just who is 'on-sale' when the bidding goes out.

Soundguy

[kemartin3]

Dave,

I just finished going through the same research you are involved in: never had a tractor, knew (know) nothing about them, bought a farmette for horses (~25-30 acres of pasture). My research told me that the best answer for me was a Kioti DK35. The one catch was that I couldn't find a dealer close by that I wanted to establish a relationship with. As a result, I eventually found a used Kubota L3710. But if a good dealer had been close, I would have bought the Kioti. That said, there is a very highly regarded Kioti dealer in Mineral, VA. (south of Fredericksburg). I visited them when I was looking, and if they had been close by.... Their name is Tractor Hill Equipment. There is a lot of good information in the Kioti forums on TBN. The one place I would have parted from the norm would have been to purchase a Woods or Bush Hog FEL for it. There seem to have been too many...incidents...with the OEM ones (ironically, the OEM FEL is made here in the US).

Hope this helps,

Kevin

[Ozarker]

It is an indication that NH is the lowest bidder for the specified tractor.

[BigDave]

cj7,

This may be a little off subject, but you mentioned plowing snow with a rear blade.

Newbie question: Is the blade reversed and you drive the tratctor backyards, or is the blade facing foward and you a scraping snow that you just drove over?

[Fly_Rodr]

BigDave,

I have no problem using the rear blade facing foward and scraping snow you drive over if things are frozen. If not with the blade still facing foward I just back up and it still pushes the snow. This information is based on a gravel drive.