Tractor recomendation for my new farm

[bzb]

Hey - just looking for opinions. I have a new farm, pretty much a blank slate - just under 35 acres.

Here is what the land looks like aproximately; 23 acres field/pasture, 1/2 acre tank pond, 5 acres trees, 3 acres of pecan orchard, 2 acres maintained yard/driveway area (driveway is paved). That's about it give or take.

We will run some cattle (3-10 head) on the land at most. Ideally we'd like to grow enough hay to make it through the winter. We'll also run a few dozen meat goats and a few pigs.

My immediate needs are fencing and mowing - I do need to maintain the 23+acres of field, and would like to be able to do the yard as well, but there is a sprinkler and I think a heavier tractor wouldn't work.

I'm not tied to having something big enough to bail the hay, although I have found some bailers that run on low pto (slow maybe, but they're out there). I just want to be able to lift/load and take care of all of our needs on the farm. I'll probably be needing to move round bail around for feed - maybe.

I did visit a JD dealer and he steered me to the 5000e series of utility tractors. I'll visit a few more dealers this coming week I think.

At any rate, I was hoping to get some ideas from you all on the size I would need to take care of the property.

Thanks!

 

[Carykong]

welcome aboard. Goats,pigs,and cattle on 23 acres will place some real limits on the quanity of hay you can expect to grow. If you opt for more livestock,I would not bother with investing in hay bailing equipment. Your livestock will keep the pasture mowed. You may not need a utility tractor(50 horseplus) if you opt out of haymaking. Good luck and have fun with the new property.

 

[doall]

I don't think you will have enough room for hay fields and pasture land for grazing either, so a 30-40 horse tractor would probably keep your weight down for you. As far as pto speed its either 540 or 1000 on any tractor. A 40 horse tractor will run a square bailer ok, but you might consider a small ag. tractor for hay work. I guess the JD dealer is talking about the 5045 5065 tractors. That would be good for hay. Not too big not too small.

 

[TripleR]

For your needs, I would be looking at about a 35-40 HP machine with HST. I don't believe the 5000 has HST available, so that would put you in the 4000 Series. Kubota has these available in the L and MX I believe as do other manufacturers.

 

[wmonroe]

A machine in the 30-40 hp range should work well. I don't think you would have to give up hay bailing even if you went with a 30 hp tractor. Growing up my dad bailed hay with a Kubota B8200HST which is only rated at 19 pto hp. It wasn't super fast but it ran the bailer fine. That was just dropping the hay bales on the ground and then using the wagon and picking them up later. Just saying you don't need a 50+ hp tractor to bale hay.

 

[TripleR]

Just to throw this out there, HP is certainly not going to be your only consideration. There are many older geared units out there that will do an awful lot of work due to their weight and construction. Many on here do an awful lot of work with older equipment. My brothers use elusively our old 730 Case built in the 60's and a couple of 600 Series Fords that were built in the 50's.

I like the newer models, but have an old MF375 that is a real work horse, well so long as you don't needs lights or working gauges, but that is a different story. Our renters use John Deere 8000 Series tractors with the exception of an old Case 1486 that is still reliable though pretty worn.

 

[NorthernChilli]

What about the mowing/conditioning of the hay ? What would be the PTO HP requirement for that part ?

And when wanting to renew the pasture, how heavy and how many HP would be needed to pull a plough (3 furrows as to not spend a month ploughing with a single bottom one)?

Thinking about the HP required for the equipment is one of the things to consider, but I'm just wondering about pulling the baler and a 8x20, 10 feet tall bale wagon full of hay... Are compact tractors heavy and bulky enough to do that safely on light and moderate slopes?

Phil

 

[bzb]

Thanks for the great info! Realistically we'll probably only have a few cattle and a dozen goats - the pigs will be in a pen. We're learning and certainly do want to do what we can to have enough hay for the winter for what we have - so that will limit what we raise - we want an even mix. We'll probably seed and fertilize some pasture for hay so we can make it through the winter - but maybe just letting them graze will do the trick.

I think JD was steering us towards the higher model for speed of jobs as much as moving hay. Who wants to spend a week mowing every few months? But maybe with some changes in our fencing we can get the animals to be doing that work for us.

Jason

 

[Soundguy]

Hey - just looking for opinions. I have a new farm, pretty much a blank slate - just under 35 acres.

Here is what the land looks like aproximately; 23 acres field/pasture, 1/2 acre tank pond, 5 acres trees, 3 acres of pecan orchard, 2 acres maintained yard/driveway area (driveway is paved). That's about it give or take.

We will run some cattle (3-10 head) on the land at most. Ideally we'd like to grow enough hay to make it through the winter. We'll also run a few dozen meat goats and a few pigs.

My immediate needs are fencing and mowing - I do need to maintain the 23+acres of field, and would like to be able to do the yard as well, but there is a sprinkler and I think a heavier tractor wouldn't work.

!

sounds like you have 23ac of grass available to cut hay from.. AND are planning on pigs, goats and cows. pigs won't take up much.. goats and cows will need forage. 3 cows and 4 goats will mow down 10ac easilly.. that leaves you with say.. 14.. figure getting 13 cut out of that.

were you thinking sqaure bales or round bales... that will make a difference on the tractor. if square.. then perhaps something in the 45 to 50hp range.. and if rounds.. more hp and preferably a loader.

if the land is flat and well drained, then 2wd will get you by.. if hilly or steep.. or wet.. get 4wd.

post back some more details.

soundguy

 

[pitt_md]

I have about the same set up as you but i have horses and 30 acres. I run a Kubota MX5000 (50hp) utility tractor. I do grow my own hay but I contract out the bailing. To be honest I would not want anything smaller than what I have to do everything that I do. Tractor and loader weigh about 5000 lbs though so i dont know if that would be to much for your lawn sprinkler.