After a lot of asking I was honestly starting to think I had it figured out and that a 3616 should do the job pretty well for me but a 4035 would be better. The price, however, on the 4035 made me think that I ought to settle for the smaller rig and be happy with it -- make it work so to speak.
Thinking back nearly 20 years I remember the little front end loaders I drove in a pulp mill (wood plant) and thought the smaller tractors, while not the end all be-all could do the job.
However, this salesmen gave me pause. For one, the $20k price on the 50hp MFWD tractor with loader seemed pretty darn good! It's actually no different in price then the 4035 and only marginally more then the 3616 I was looking at ($18,600 for Shuttle). SO price wise it's a deal I think.
Size on the other hand is, well, HUGE in comparison! We're talking nearly 5000 lbs just for the tractor and then adding the loader. That's a big tractor.
His point on how long it takes to mow 10-15 acres also made me pause; after all, I only have weekends to mow on and it would be nice to be able to mow it all in one weekend if possible.
Then, of course, is the potential to do other things. The 50hp has to count for a lot when hiring out (if at some time I decide to do that or need to). If, for example, I wanted to cut some hay (talk about needing to learn a LOT) then perhaps this tractor would do the job faster/better?
I recently saw a craig's list ad for someone to come (with tractor) to cut 17 acres of hay, windrow it and then come back and bail it -- price was around $1000 for the whole job (though I was guessing on the bailing costs). That made me thing: well, if I needed to I could hire out the tractor and my son