Buying Advice 130 acre new purchase

[AK Migrator]

I am in the process of purchasing a 130 acres of mostly logged off low lands. There is a 20 acres of cypress swamp, not much relief in the terrain and the soils are not well trained, ie, they are only dry in the spring/summer/early fall. There is still a lot of deadfall, slash piles ready for burning. My intent is to turn this into a duck, deer, dove and fishing area. I will need a tractor to clean up the left over slash, blade out the rutts, mow the weeds, plowing to put in food plots and dig some ponds. I need to dig a 5 - 10 acre fishing pond as well. I imagine that I need to purchase an all around good tractor with right implements to do everything except the pond digging. I estimate I will need to hire a trackhoe or dozer to do this. In my initial research I think a 50 HP tractor with 4and1 bucket, backhoe, brush hog, box blade would get me through. However, another thought is I might need a tracked loader or dozer to knock out a lot of the major tasks for a year or two and then sell that off to get the more appropriate "farm" type tractor. Eventually I want to have some deer plots, seperatred by replanted forest and orchards.

Okay, give me you thoughts please. Do I buy new (John Deere and Kubota are in my local area with good service), buy used, buy a dozer, hire a guy to do the initial rough stuff and take on the cultivation my self?

Thanks guys,

 

[crash325]

Hi,
Sounds like you have a great place there.
With 45 / 50 HP or a little more and the attachments you mention, you can do everything you want done. You can even dig the ponds that you want. That is if you are not in a real big hurry.

Take your time, enjoy the land & tractor time.:thumbsup:

 

[TripleR]

We own several tractors including an M8540 and I think you are on the right track thinking of multiple machines whether you buy, rent or hire someone.

There is no way I would even attempt that with one tractor no matter the size.

 

[flusher]

I am in the process of purchasing a 130 acres of mostly logged off low lands. There is a 20 acres of cypress swamp, not much relief in the terrain and the soils are not well trained, ie, they are only dry in the spring/summer/early fall. There is still a lot of deadfall, slash piles ready for burning. My intent is to turn this into a duck, deer, dove and fishing area. I will need a tractor to clean up the left over slash, blade out the rutts, mow the weeds, plowing to put in food plots and dig some ponds. I need to dig a 5 - 10 acre fishing pond as well. I imagine that I need to purchase an all around good tractor with right implements to do everything except the pond digging. I estimate I will need to hire a trackhoe or dozer to do this. In my initial research I think a 50 HP tractor with 4and1 bucket, backhoe, brush hog, box blade would get me through. However, another thought is I might need a tracked loader or dozer to knock out a lot of the major tasks for a year or two and then sell that off to get the more appropriate "farm" type tractor. Eventually I want to have some deer plots, seperatred by replanted forest and orchards.

Okay, give me you thoughts please. Do I buy new (John Deere and Kubota are in my local area with good service), buy used, buy a dozer, hire a guy to do the initial rough stuff and take on the cultivation my self?

Thanks guys,

50hp (pto) is a good size for your needs--my main tractor is a 2008 Mahindra 5525 (54 hp(engine), 45 hp (pto), 2WD, power steering, gear tranny 8F/2R) with the ML250 FEL (6-ft bucket, 2950 lb lift to 10.5 ft height). Get double or triple remotes on the rear and one remote on the front to handle your grapple. Chain hooks on the FEL bucket. Skid steer quick attach on the FEL arms. Here's the setup on my 5525



Orchards: I'd get a post hole digger and flail mower. And you may have to do some deep subsoiling (18-24" depth) if there's hardpan where you want the orchard.

Deer plots: 6-8 ft tandem disc, some type of seeder/fertilizer spreader (broadcast, drill, drop seeder like a Brillion).

Good luck

 

[AK Migrator]

Exceptional advice - couple of quick questions. 1) What are the "remotes" for? Obviously so you can run other implements but can you be a bit more specific please? 2) How does a flail mower work apposed to a swinging blade mower?

I am in the Army and have ran some D7 and D5, a few big Case buckets but I am an absolute cave man on the backhoe - nothing like a nice piece of land to practice on.

I am familiar with the fundemental "flail" concept from a standpoint of weapons and mine / IED clearance. Our Army flail swing a chain with a spike that hits the mine body and theoretically splits the main charge away from the booster so you don't get full detonation - theory! My mental model is shadowed with flails trying to cut grass / brush. With that said, when we demine and area everything in the way is cut up. I think that effect is a bit to devestating for my needs.

Thanks!!!

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I am in the process of purchasing a 130 acres of mostly logged off low lands. There is a 20 acres of cypress swamp, not much relief in the terrain and the soils are not well trained, ie, they are only dry in the spring/summer/early fall. There is still a lot of deadfall, slash piles ready for burning. My intent is to turn this into a duck, deer, dove and fishing area. I will need a tractor to clean up the left over slash, blade out the rutts, mow the weeds, plowing to put in food plots and dig some ponds. I need to dig a 5 - 10 acre fishing pond as well. I imagine that I need to purchase an all around good tractor with right implements to do everything except the pond digging. I estimate I will need to hire a trackhoe or dozer to do this. In my initial research I think a 50 HP tractor with 4and1 bucket, backhoe, brush hog, box blade would get me through. However, another thought is I might need a tracked loader or dozer to knock out a lot of the major tasks for a year or two and then sell that off to get the more appropriate "farm" type tractor. Eventually I want to have some deer plots, seperatred by replanted forest and orchards.

Okay, give me you thoughts please. Do I buy new (John Deere and Kubota are in my local area with good service), buy used, buy a dozer, hire a guy to do the initial rough stuff and take on the cultivation my self?

Thanks guys,

First off, thank you for your service in the Army.

How fast do you want to get into the hunting/fishing part?

Do you want to spend a year or two getting ready for the finishing touches, or would it be better to hire the heavy work done, and get that out of the way fast?

I bought 190 acres right after I got out of the Army in 1968. I spent the better part of 3 years cleaning the place up before the first real "farming" took place. I worked for a general contractor that allowed me to borrow a 'dozer and back hoe. The rest of the work was done with a pair of 40hp 2wd tractors. Looking back now, I could have hired the heavy work done, clean the place up, and been farming maybe 2 years sooner. We added a few more acres, a total of 331 at one point. For most of the years I was farming the place, it was with those same two tractors and one more, a 60hp 2wd. Point is, some people will tell you that you need a 125hp tractor with that much ground. IMHO, I'd have to have a good 45/50hp utility tractor FIRST, and if the budget allowed, maybe a bigger tractor somewhere down the road.

 

[flusher]

Exceptional advice - couple of quick questions. 1) What are the "remotes" for? Obviously so you can run other implements but can you be a bit more specific please? 2) How does a flail mower work apposed to a swinging blade mower?

I am in the Army and have ran some D7 and D5, a few big Case buckets but I am an absolute cave man on the backhoe - nothing like a nice piece of land to practice on.

I am familiar with the fundemental "flail" concept from a standpoint of weapons and mine / IED clearance. Our Army flail swing a chain with a spike that hits the mine body and theoretically splits the main charge away from the booster so you don't get full detonation - theory! My mental model is shadowed with flails trying to cut grass / brush. With that said, when we demine and area everything in the way is cut up. I think that effect is a bit to devestating for my needs.

Thanks!!!

Remotes: pairs of hydraulic quick disconnect fittings (female fittings on the tractor, mating male fittings on hydraulic hoses--feed and return--attached to the implement. Here's my wheel disc hookup. The big, honkin' hydraulic ram on the disc raises and lowers the transport wheels and is operated via the hydraulic control valve on the fender of the tractor (see my previous post to this thread for a photo).



Here's my 68" wide flail mower on my Mahindra 5525. It operates similar to your military flail--swinging blades attached to a horizontal rotation axis. A rotary mower (aka brush hog, bush hog, slasher--the mowers with the swinging blades) spins about a vertical axis.

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Flails are used for cutting everything from underbrush in the woods to golf course fairways and roughs.

 

[scoutcub]

AK -
You didn't mention stumps? If so, are there many of them? I can tell you they always get in the way when you're trying to clear property. I bought 62 acres in Ohio that had just been logged, and the tops and stumps are everywhere. I bought a dozer and ended up also getting an excavator, both have their strengths/weaknesses. I shopped around for awhile for both, and should be able to make my money back when done with them.
For what you're wanting to do, I personally can't see doing everything with any size tractor. A good sized CUT/UT with 4wd will definitely do a lot, but I would offer you need to get tracks in there to start.
If you can get multiple machines, (CUT & tracked) then you can really be effective.
Good luck!

 

[AK Migrator]

Guys thanks for the advice. That flail mower sounds awesome. Maybe that is the way for me to go with all the various stuff I got to cut.

Scout cub - I do have a mess of stumps. Some I want to integrate in the pond and some I "think" i can rip out with a decent bachhoe. Others I am sure I will need a dozer / trackhoe combo.

I am taking on one **** of a project here. I have been in the Army for 24 years and my wife and I save up some cash to do somthing like this - that is a lot of deployment / danger pay for some hard work!

Back on the stumps, I have experience with stumps but mostly using explosives and the point I learned doing that was a guy on the right piece of equipment can go a **** of a lot faster than I guy with a shovel and case of TNT!

Regarding "Farmwithjunk's" question on time I plan on spending on this endeavor - well, it kind of depends. If i take on another assignment here at Fort Bragg then I will hire out some of the heavy lifting and finish much of it when I can - in between work, family and outdoor activities. If i completely retire, then I will do the vast majority on my own as I figure out what to do with the rest of my life.

I never even planned on staying in NC let alone the south. ****, I was raised in the mountains of OR and lived in AK. But alas, the plan has changed so if I am going to stay here I am going to attempt to forge my own outdoor recreational playground, grow some of my own quality food, learn how to cook up some good wine along the way. But of course, I need some good old equipment to knock this out.

So by now, I think a 50 hp John Deere is in my future. I think I am going to need the best backhow and bucket that I can afford. I will look for a flail mower.

I think i will pay new price and avoid the headache of busting my knuckles on a set of sockets under some used jelopy of foolishly purchased.

I am setting up my "schedule" as well. First thing is I got to pull a bunch of timber out of the creek the logging company left and get a road with culvert in there. I will then cut the "reprod" out in a couple of select areas and get a few food plots in place and ready to go. I wll tackle the access road that runs through the middle of the property and get all the ruts and swamp holes out the skidders left. When weather appropriate, I start burning down the slash and add to it as I go - with great care as I don't want to burn up my new property or pretty JD green tractor! As I clear back the brush, i will start in on my dug out pond. Initially i think I will use a box blade and the FEL to get a 1-2 foot waterfowl pond in place, plant it with millet and get ready for the fall hunt.

I got to do some further soils anlysis to figure the pond design and I got to figure out weather t go with some kind of "farm" or "conservation" status to keep Uncle Sam from deeping too far into whats left of my savings.

In the meantime, I plan on bugging the **** out of you guys for some sage advice!

Thanks to all

 

[flusher]

Regarding flail mowers- mine is a Chinese-made unit sold by Value Leader, Creswell, OR.

EFGC175 68" Heavy Duty Flail Mower - Value Leader Implements

I got it last Aug for $1350. I picked it up at the dealer's place and avoided the $400 shipping fee. Of course, I put about 700 miles on my F150 round trip and spent one night in a motel in Creswell. Just wanted to take a road trip and Oregon is a hoot.

Caroni also makes a nice flail.

47 CARONI FLAIL MOWER TL1200FSC - Agri Supply