Buying Advice New farmer

[Tkgerlach]

I am looking for some general advise. I'm not set on a specific brand or tractor, just looking for general advise but would sure look at specifics that you may recommend. We are new to farming and have recently purchased 80 acres that is a mix of woods and soon to be pastures. I don't plan on field work but more for brush hogging, snow clearing and general hauling, pushing and moving things. Our farm is going to be based on pasture raised animals like cattle, sheep and pigs.

I was originally looking at older 2wd tractors with a loader, but have had people tell me I will regret not having 4wd with the snow and hills on the propery. I should mention that we live in Minneota so we do have winters and the occasional good snow. Any advise on 2wd v 4wd and size/horsepower would be great.

Thanks for any help and advise.

Todd

[MHarryE]

Having grown up in Minnesota on a farm with a 2wd tractor as our loader tractor, it is possible. After 42 years away from the farm I returned and now have 3 - 4wd loader tractors. Work is a lot easier. In fact I would never have retired to partner with my cousin in my old age if I had to use the tractors on which I was raised. As far as size, a lot depends on your terrain. I did okay keeping my home area taken care of (3 miles from the main farm) with a 37 HP CUT but once I retired I felt the need to up that to a 57 HP with cab, also a CUT. Still I always had the larger tractors to fall back on for heavier lifting, more ground clearance, etc.

[dave1949]

Tending to and feeding the animals over the winter will be a significant use of your tractor, besides the usual things around the house like snow removal.

Think about moving hay bales and bulk feed, or processing grain for feed, barn cleaning and what is needed for those sorts of jobs.

If you can keep it out of the woods for the most part, I think a cab tractor would be a good thing for the extremes of MINN summer and winter weather. 4wd can make life a lot easier in mud, muck, snow and on hills.

[Turbys_1700]

Biggest thing to consider is your budget...
How much can you spend?
Are you going to bale hay?
What are your primary purposes???

[wolftree]

When you start talking about livestock, you start talking about hay and bedding. Whether you are baling your own hay or buying it and what size bales will largely determine your tractor needs.

[jenkinsph]

Just for a starting point I would look at a deere 5075E with cab, as a good size for alot of what you need to do. There are lots of good brands out there to consider besides Deere too but I am more familiar with their sizes and configurations. Recognize that whatever you do the livestock has to be fed regardless of weather conditions through the winter. I would also recommend you get hay and hay storage, fences and containment in general done BEFORE you get the animals.

[mud23609]

Four wheel drive is really nice to have and I doubt I would be willing to go back to just using two wheel drive tractors. That being said I ran a lot of cows for a lot of years with two wheel drive tractors in the clay country by lake superior. It can be done but it's not nearly as nice.

Go for something in a utility sized frame. Your going to want the better traction and heavier weight for handling hay in the snow and mud. Your not going to be doing tillage and it will never pencil out to do hay for that small of an operation so Hp is less of a concern than weight.

[jenkinsph]

Four wheel drive is really nice to have and I doubt I would be willing to go back to just using two wheel drive tractors. That being said I ran a lot of cows for a lot of years with two wheel drive tractors in the clay country by lake superior. It can be done but it's not nearly as nice.

Go for something in a utility sized frame. Your going to want the better traction and heavier weight for handling hay in the snow and mud. Your not going to be doing tillage and it will never pencil out to do hay for that small of an operation so Hp is less of a concern than weight.

I agree with this, I suggested a 5075E for size and cab option with power reverser tranny. Mowing can make good use of the extra hp too.

[bigbull338]

yu need a 4wd drive tractor with fel in the 50 to 60hp range.an itll fitt nicely on your 80ac farm.

[Tkgerlach]

Thanks for all the input. Here is my dilema, I have a neighbor looking to sell a 1999 John deere 4300 with a loader. It appears to be around 32hp and weight of only 3000#, but it is a 4wd. Would I be better off passing on this for a larger tractor or trying it and hopefully not losing too much money if I need to sell it.

I anticipate using the tractor mainly around the homestead (snow, mowing, general moving stuff) and trails through the woods as I won't be doing any haying. I will need to use it to move purchased hay which would probably be big square or round bales. Ideally I would like to stay around 20k as I need to get other things for the farm as well.

Thanks for all your help and input as I am a complete newbie.

Todd