DeWrecking Crew
New member
Greetings. I'll apologize in advance for not knowing what I'm doing. I know you guys probably get this same post 100 times a year, and I do apologize. I did look through as many posts as I could before posting, but I just didn't see answers to questions I had.
So the story is I just moved onto 20 acres, this will just be a homestead. I've cleared about 10 acres of it, the other 10 is mesquite brush. In the immediate foreseeable future my plans for a tractor would include site preperations for a 30X40 shop, a 25X40 garage, a 85X50 sport court, and a 20X40 outdoor kitchen/patio. We would also like to develope and maintain a one acre vegetable garden. Aside from that, there is lots of landscaping to do, so I will be moving dirt around, putting in big flagstone rocks for pathways, possibly putting in concrete sidewalks, ect. I will also need to maintain our dirt/gravel driveway which is about 1000' long. I do have a commercial zero turn mower, so I will most likely not be needing a shredder. One thing we would like to do but is not necessarily immediate is to buy some larger trees and transplant them to the property.
So here is my questions, and mind you, I know absolutely nothing about tractors. I can tell you that my general philosophy in life is to oversize everything. I think I have pretty much figured out from reading this forum and others that I need a utiliy tractor, and probably most likely a compact utility tractor. However, I can't figure out what size I need. A lot of what I need to get done in the beginning will require a backhoe. But I can't figure those things out, how much pto horsepower do you need to run a backhoe strong enough to dig the footings for a concrete foundation?
So, not knowing what I'm talking about, I'm thinking about getting around a 50 HP, 4WD with front end loader, box blade, auger, disc, and backhoe. But it seems like whenever I find a tractor with a backhoe they are tractors in the 25-35 hp range, is there a reason for this? Maybe that's all I need? I keep reading about a HST transmission, would this be the best choice for a novice? Can you even have a HST with a backhoe?
So the story is I just moved onto 20 acres, this will just be a homestead. I've cleared about 10 acres of it, the other 10 is mesquite brush. In the immediate foreseeable future my plans for a tractor would include site preperations for a 30X40 shop, a 25X40 garage, a 85X50 sport court, and a 20X40 outdoor kitchen/patio. We would also like to develope and maintain a one acre vegetable garden. Aside from that, there is lots of landscaping to do, so I will be moving dirt around, putting in big flagstone rocks for pathways, possibly putting in concrete sidewalks, ect. I will also need to maintain our dirt/gravel driveway which is about 1000' long. I do have a commercial zero turn mower, so I will most likely not be needing a shredder. One thing we would like to do but is not necessarily immediate is to buy some larger trees and transplant them to the property.
So here is my questions, and mind you, I know absolutely nothing about tractors. I can tell you that my general philosophy in life is to oversize everything. I think I have pretty much figured out from reading this forum and others that I need a utiliy tractor, and probably most likely a compact utility tractor. However, I can't figure out what size I need. A lot of what I need to get done in the beginning will require a backhoe. But I can't figure those things out, how much pto horsepower do you need to run a backhoe strong enough to dig the footings for a concrete foundation?
So, not knowing what I'm talking about, I'm thinking about getting around a 50 HP, 4WD with front end loader, box blade, auger, disc, and backhoe. But it seems like whenever I find a tractor with a backhoe they are tractors in the 25-35 hp range, is there a reason for this? Maybe that's all I need? I keep reading about a HST transmission, would this be the best choice for a novice? Can you even have a HST with a backhoe?