old gaffer
New member
I'm driving myself nuts, obsessing with getting as much information as possible so I don't make a huge mistake when buying my first-ever tractor.
I've just retired to TN, have about 6.5 acres, half of it woods, half cleared. I'll likely - eventually - put in some sort of a crop on a couple of acres and have a small home garden. I may sublet the fields for crops and not to "real" farming myself - not sure about that yet.
What I'm pretty sure I'll be doing is mostly bush hogging, with a little bit of dirt re-arranging, snow plowing, and the general lifting/hauling/grading work that I've heard is always going on on a farm.
I'm looking at a JD 950, 4WD, with a FEL on it. The power specs (from TractorData.com John Deere 950 tractor information) show 24 hp diesel engine, 27 hp at the PTO.
the tractor has 2400 hours on it, and is just under $7K asking price. the tires look good, the sheet metal, not so much, but if that drives down the price, I can live with dents in the hood...
Am I looking at a big enough tractor for what I want to do, and is this a decent price for this tractor? I know I can add bush hogs, blades, box blades, and myriad other stuff after the fact and as I need them, but buying a tractor that's too small seems to be both a common mistake among newbies (like me) and a rather expensive one that can be avoided.
At this same location, there's a JD 990 with FEL, only about 400 hours, but it's $15K, and I'm REALLY trying to stay under $10K with attachments if I can.
But if $10k isn't going to buy me want I need, I'd rather know up front.
thanks for any and all responses - I'm so knew, I won't know if I've been offended or not
I've just retired to TN, have about 6.5 acres, half of it woods, half cleared. I'll likely - eventually - put in some sort of a crop on a couple of acres and have a small home garden. I may sublet the fields for crops and not to "real" farming myself - not sure about that yet.
What I'm pretty sure I'll be doing is mostly bush hogging, with a little bit of dirt re-arranging, snow plowing, and the general lifting/hauling/grading work that I've heard is always going on on a farm.
I'm looking at a JD 950, 4WD, with a FEL on it. The power specs (from TractorData.com John Deere 950 tractor information) show 24 hp diesel engine, 27 hp at the PTO.
the tractor has 2400 hours on it, and is just under $7K asking price. the tires look good, the sheet metal, not so much, but if that drives down the price, I can live with dents in the hood...
Am I looking at a big enough tractor for what I want to do, and is this a decent price for this tractor? I know I can add bush hogs, blades, box blades, and myriad other stuff after the fact and as I need them, but buying a tractor that's too small seems to be both a common mistake among newbies (like me) and a rather expensive one that can be avoided.
At this same location, there's a JD 990 with FEL, only about 400 hours, but it's $15K, and I'm REALLY trying to stay under $10K with attachments if I can.
But if $10k isn't going to buy me want I need, I'd rather know up front.
thanks for any and all responses - I'm so knew, I won't know if I've been offended or not