Buying Advice Small Tractor

[jdwb]

Looking to purchase 30 to 35 hp tractor with turf tires used to pull a 6 ft finishing mower. This is for our local school. It will be used to cut 3 to 5 acres, fairly rough terrain. Need some ideas on the tractor to purchase.

[GManBart]

Will there be any other usage...like will a front end loader be purchased as well? Any idea of budget available? Any idea what dealers are reasonably close by?

There are a lot of great tractors in the 30-35hp range now, by quite a few companies. If you have rough terrain, it pretty much makes 4wd a no-brainier, but that still leaves a lot of other things to decide.

[jdwb]

We will only use it to cut grass and when I say fairly rough terrain, I mean it is not smooth like my home yard. It is not hilly, it is fairly level. We are a local Christian School with a very tight budget. We may have to look at used as well new. Dealers within 50 miles--New Holland, Kubota, Mahindra, John deere, Massey Ferguson, etc.

[murphy1244]

We will only use it to cut grass and when I say fairly rough terrain, I mean it is not smooth like my home yard. It is not hilly, it is fairly level. We are a local Christian School with a very tight budget. We may have to look at used as well new. Dealers within 50 miles--New Holland, Kubota, Mahindra, John deere, Massey Ferguson, etc.

Get a old Ford or Massey little utility tractor.

[MIKE R]

Get a old Ford or Massey little utility tractor.

I second that. You can get a good older tractor for about $5000 to $12000 depending on the model options and conditions.

One thing to consider is who is going to drive it. If many different people are going to, I would say go with hydro because of the ease of operation(no grinding gears and riding clutches), If only a few people will operate it go with a gear drive, they are much more robust but take a little more knowledge to operate.

[mowin]

Sounds like you would be better off with a Z-turn mower. Would take you ALOT less time. I have many customers that have had me
turn there fields(1-3 acres) into lawn. My Z handles it fine, and I can mow 3 wide open acres in about 45 min to a hr with my 60" deck
depending on how thick and wet the area is.......

These areas are not as smooth as there lawn, but not so bad as I bounce out of my seat. My Z goes 11mph, and if its too bumpy it will
remove my butt from the seat...... Ferris make a Z with suspension, but I had issuse with the ones I had. My Exmarks and Toro's have held up well.