Stone cold Newbie

[LSmith]

Hello All,

We just bought land in TN. 40ac Mostly hills and creeks. It has a number of projects to be done, from maintaining a road, to pulling stumps & deadfall, to garden chores. I am a MS Delta boy who has only been on small garden tractors and flat land, and I need advice. I am looking for opinions on the best size tractor and accessories to tackle this new homestead. I have done some research and am leaning toward at least 25hp, Diesel, 4wd, and power steering. A box blade, front loader & auger. Yes? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif, No? any opinions and comments are welcome.

Thanks
L Smith

 

[thcri]

Stone,

25 horsepower seems to me a little lite. But it has a lot to do with how many acres are you going to mow? You can mow a lot of acres with a small tractor but it will take a long time to do that. I can see a FEL needed also. You will find all kinds of things to do with a FEL. I have 2.5 acres and I have a 29 horsepower. Well I started with a 21 horsepower and because of my sidehills I needed to go to a larger tractor. Then the 29 was only $400 over the 25 so I had to up to the 29.

I have done some cleaning of trees and brush and found the loader to be a big help and my 29 was on the edge of being too small.

Tell us some more about what you are going to do with that 40 acres and you will get all kinds of responses and recomendations. Probably even more than you want.

murph

 

[Anonymous Poster]

1. Don't buy too small.
2. If you have many trees and stumps, do yourself a big favor and get a 4 in 1 bucket or a set of forks for your FEL.
3. If you get many attachments, a quick hitch is really handy, but check each attachment for compatibility unless you like to weld.

 

[LSmith]

Re: Stone cold Newbie (More Info)

I have two cleared hilltops that we plan to garden (about 4 acres) the problem is climing the hills (steep). We are in deep woods with lots of creeks and several clearings. I don't have much grass to worry about. clearing trees and deadfall and moving dirt are big factors. Also about 1200' of winding gravel road to keep up and eventually a home site to build. Hope this gives you more to go on

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hello L.

Welcome to Tennessee and TBN.

We recently bought 32 acres not too far from Knoxville, and I faced the same questions on how much tractor and which implements to buy.

From what I have learned, 35 HP with 4WD is about as small as you want to go, with more being better. Your thinking on implements is the same as mine, for the initial purchase anyway.

If you haven't already discovered it, you'll find you have a decision to make about tires too. It sounds like your situation might best be served with R4 (industrial) tires rather than R1 (ag) tires. There are several threads here on the subject. You can search on "tires" to see all the varied (and strong) opinions about the choices. Since R4's are a added cost option, it's a good idea to consider tire choice early on in your research.

Again, welcome to Tennessee and good luck.

SnowRidge

 

[HayDR]

Also Welcome to Tennessee,
I think you'd be good to listen to Snowridge. If you have some farming to do then you'll need a utility tractor. If you decide later to raise some cattle you'll want to feed them round bales of hay and the large compacts will haul them but you need a larger frame tractor to be safe. The utility tractor will cost you about the same as the larger compact tractor. To farm and harvest hay a 40 HP on the PTO is about the smallest you'd want.

 

[frank_f15]

Re: Stone cold Newbie (More Info)

WELCOME ABOARD! i think with amt of acreage and the conditions u describe, i strongly suggest a larger tractor. something in the 35 t0 40 hp range. more power, more traction and more mass. bear in mind tho that it will cost u more at first, but u will be much happier in the long run. just my thoughts.

 

[Egon]

Re: Stone cold Newbie (More Info)

Reading the title of the post the first thought that came to mind was a cold marble slab with a cadaver on it. Fortunetly My imagination has runneth away again.

As the others have suggested 30 to 40 horsepower, tractor mass and four wheel drive would be in the right size. For house site development and the building of trails a backhoe may be an addition to consider.

There is another tractor with very sturdy construction, fair mass, a backhoe and FEL but does not have the 30 horse power. It would be my choice but I am biased as it is the tractor I want.

As it would appear you may not be living on the land what are your options for tractor storage/ transportation?

Egon

 

[Soundguy]

Re: Stone cold Newbie (More Info)

Well lets see.. hills and dirt ot be moved.... 4x4 with a loader..... loader guys tend to like HST instead of gear trannies ( -I- like gear trannies.. but that is just me... you'll find gear vs. hydro starts holy wars with pros/cons on both sides ).
Pulling stumps is' hard workin'. .. even on big tractors... backhoes make shorter work of it.. but I wouldn't go to the expense of a backhoe if I only had a few stumps.. unless you are going to do alot of trenching... Might be easier to dig around them with a shovel and just cut them off under the surface with a chainsaw....

Not much mowing?.. how much is not much?.. You would be surprised at how long it takes to mow 10ac with a 5' rotary cutter and a 33hp machine.... a 25 hp machine will handle a 5' machine.. but you gotta go slower in tall grass.. or take smaller bites...

I suggest ag type tires instead of turfs.... they will bite into and mar soft ground... but work great on pulling.

Keep the info comming, and we'll keep the opinions flowing.. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Soundguy

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Stone cold Newbie (More Info)

Hello Stonecold,
I started my tractor search looking for CUT tractor in the 35 HP range, but when I found this board and talked to the dealers in my area about how I was going to use the tractor, I ended up with a much larger tractor. As you can see by all the reccomendations here, a larger tractor will perform the jobs you describe with less wear and tear and in the end be easier on you as well (the more work the tractor does, the less you will have to do by hand). I have 67 acres and a pond in central Va. that has been timbered. The land now has 3 year old brush and small trees (2" - 3") that will have to be grubbed out with the loader or bush hogged, several of the dealers advised me to get the tractor with R4 industrial tires as they felt they would handle running over stumps of various sizes with less chance of a puncture. My father cut over a field this last fall with a JD 7210 and punctured a rear tire on a 2" cedar stump, ($900.00 for a new tire) I know that is a much larger tractor than we are discussing, but its just an example of what can happen. Talk to your dealers and continue asking questions on this board, I'm sure you'll find the right tractor for yourself!!