700 acres spread across 3 different properties with approx 5 miles between them...
cash/crop if you are not already doing so. the open fields you currently have. and let the local farmers do there thing with the given acreage. the good farmer, is going to spray for stuff in the fields, mow 1 to 3 times a year over all. around each given field. and you get some income with no work on your part. beyond dealing with renting the land out.
5 miles ok not real big deal. but it means driving the tractor on the road, trying to trailer equipment back and forth, you spend more time loading/unloading than anything else. vs time it would of taken just to drive tractor to given area. it also not the distance from each area, but your talking a couple miles easy on each property most likely, to drive around / through it, pending on the path ways. track units are good, but on roads, were ya driving a lot on the roads *big frown* a regular ag / R1 tire tractor will do you so much better and cheaper long run.
you will be looking at multi units. but to get you going i would look more into a TLB (tractor loader backhoe) in the 45HP to 90hp range. and more to the point backhoe needs to come off, to allow access to a 3pt hitch. a grabbel for FEL (front end loader) and/or a thumb for backhoe.
---you get a lot of "industrial" TLB for commercial work, but the backhoe does not come off, for access to a 3pt hitch. they normally all have a cab on them, with bare min heat, maybe a/c but hard saying if it works or not if buying used. if ya go over to agirculature and get away from industrial units) then the backhoes do come off with access to a 3pt hitch.
---when ya cross over into agirculature units, some do come with cabs and some that do not come with cabs. with amount of work you want to do, i would suggest a cab be a high priority. when it is early spring, to late fall. and your out and about with just the tractor and the rain starts in and yo don't have a cab. the cold you end up having and the doctor bills starting gong up. to spring/summer and dealing with dust and pollen / allergies. to winter and even if the heater does not work, and you have a cab, the cab keeps the bloody wind off you, that alone is night and day difference.
---stay away from track units for first tractor, tracks bring in a whole new set of overall costs / maintenance and knowledge you need to have to maintain and to check the tracks, that and you will most likely be driving on township/county/state roads, were it may be illegal to drive on road with metal tracts. the metal tears things up, not to mention wears the tracts down.
---standard 2wd drive tractor can do a lot of things. 4x4 / MFWD can help ya get through some areas, if you are doing FEL (front end loader work), dealing with hills / mud / snow it can be a nice thing to have to keep you going.
---pending on local laws, it may be illegal to drive tractor on road with chains on the tractor tires. in which case you may be forced more or less to seek a 4x4 / MFWD if need be to keep you going in winter, to wet springs and falls and getting through mud.
---to note it you don't need 4x4 / MFWD, to state it in a different way...if you need 4x4 / MFWD to get around, it is to stinking muddy to begin with, and all you are doing is tearing more stuff up (putting ruts in to the ground) that will take more time to fix later on, vs just waiting till things dry up. but it is though wet years, that 4x4 /MFWD shines, and ya gotta get to livestock, or fix something, and nothing will dry up enough to get it done easily.
---suggest getting larger alternator for tractor (a cab should auto come with larger alternator but not always so), if you get an electrical winch (dealing with logs), it means a tractor that gets turned off, will start backup. or needing to jump start the tractor. due to dead battery.
---pushing a bit more for a cab... the upper front work lights, and rear work lights. *awe* i can not live without them. i generally don't run tractor at night, but generally i might run right up into the dark, if it means i can complete a task, and doesn't mean i have to put everything away, bring it all back out, and put it all back away again, the next day. and that is were those lights come in handy, have used them more for "portable lighting" than actually using them while driving the tractor.
3pt hitch stuff.... check out Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer they give a good amount of text and videos on everything, and should help get you started in figure out what is out there.
--rear blade, possibly a offset rear blade
--box blade
--rotatory cutter (bush hog = brand name), possibly a single deck width of tractor tires, and then a bat wing deck (2 or more decks behind tractor)
--landscaping rake, the old metal garden rake with handle. (manual labor) in the garden. but a much bigger version for the tractor.
--PHD (post hole digger) most likely a down force kit for PHD.
--forks (for pallets and like) though forks for FEL more likely better choice to remove pallets or like off a trailer or out of a truck.
--backhoe with sub-frame, you can get backhoes without sub frames, but you will more likely damage the tractor, as in split it in half (shearing bolts) to destroy the 3pt hitch parts themselves. sub frame adds the extra structural support to keep things together and working like they are suppose to.
-----backhoe buckets, a 6" to 12" trenching bucket, you really do not want a wide bucket, generally there is a min width (to small and mud / dirt never wants to come out),
-----backhoe buckets, the 16 to 36 inch width buckets, are more geared for basement digging, or digging into an area, the FEL (front end loader with general duty bucket) can not dig into easily itself. the backup comes to the resuce with wider bucket, and breaks up the hard compact dirt, to create a pile of dirt, that is much easier to drive into with with FEL. ((been known to make a large pile of dirt with backhoe. grab a bucket full of dirt with backhoe and put it in lock position, and then turn around and load up the FEL with dirt, and drive 1 plus mile. to were i needed to place the dirt. it would be nice to have a dump truck for this to make it even more quicker and cheaper, but does the job, it is not like i need to do this every day or week or month, just when various projects come up that needs dirt brought in, or removed in small amount))
--TNT (top n tilt) replacing the manual turn buckles on the 3pt hitch (1 top link, and 1 or 2 side links) with hyd cylinders. with amount of roads (gravel, dirt, paths) you will most likely have. if time is money, TNT most likely save you cash long run. do you need it no. does it come in handy and make many jobs easier and quicker? yes. it gets rather time consuming getting off tractor adjusting the 3pt hitch linkages, and getting back on tractor. you can only adjust so many times, before your entire day is just eating away by manual adjusting the 3pt hitch linkages.
--carry all. (think mini trailer but connects to 3pt hitch), hey it comes in handy, for a variety of projects, dragging a small little 2 wheel trailer can be a chore, more so backing up on uneven ground (ruts) and having the stupid trailer jack knife on ya constantly. 3pt carry all, toss a gas generator on it, some power tools, maybe a small air compressor, strap the stuff down, attach it to the 3pt on tractor and off you go, with a on the go tool box ((kinda like tool box for a truck, but built for a tractor, and more universal)). have lugged a small generator around the 80 acres here, multi times, for those odd projects, battery operated drills, saws, etc.. only cut it so far.
buckets in general FEL (front end loader bucket) to backhoe buckets....
--one of them should have some teeth on it. for me i prefer backhoe bucket in the larger 20 to 36" width. i generally don't dig that much into fresh new ground with the FEL. and in that rarely have need for a tooth bar on the general duty FEL bucket. but i do a lot of "back dragging" with the generaly duty fel bucket, and for that reason alone "back dragging" i really do not need a tooth bar on the bucket, on other hand a teeth on wider backhoe bucket does come in handy, for those times i need to get through some tougher compacted dirt, it is there to puncture and tear up the compacted dirt. it takes a couple minutes to set out riggers out and deal with backhoe, but once a given project is over it is over. that and, most of the time, if i am moving dirt from one place to another. the place i am moving it to. i end up dumping the dirt and back dragging with general duty FEL bucket. and then run over it a few times with TLB to compact it. not to thrilled having teeth from a FEL bucket tearing up areas i just ran over a few times compacting it....
trailer....
--i would not look for a trailer just to for hauling the tractor. it would be nice to have, but rather, a flat bed trailer, with removal side panels with 2 axles. this is more meant to be a generic trailer to haul stuff (lumber, bricks, twigs from trees that were cut down, pallets of stacked firewood, etc... something in the 12 to 16 foot range.
--you can always get a bigger trailer to haul a bigger tractor on, but when ya get up there in HP (horse power) of a tractor, the overall weight also goes right on up. requiring extra licenses requirements, etc... to deal with a truck that can handle the trailer and tractor on it. by the time you get up there, the trailer itself weighs so much and becomes so long, that it becomes harder to maneuver it into close quarters were you want it, and move stuff off of it / on it. (in the woods / pasture, driving along fence lines in softer mud, etc...) to note it again, with amount of land and distance between properties, you will most likely be driving the tractor on the road, vs ever trying to trailer it back and forth. and if tractor does break down. the local dealer, will have ability to deal with tractor and hauling it, for those hopefully vary rare occasions it needs to be brought back to the dealer for a fix.
--duelies stink, i hate them. granted there nice for commercial vehicle trucks for hauling trailers back and forth for work sites, with heavy loads. but for agriculture work, when ya running the trucks into wet grass, mud and on hills, even with 4x4, you more likely get stuck. ((the 4 tires in back, just float the truck on the ground, and you never get any traction. on pavement ok, but not in grass/mud. with that a generic 1/2 to 3/4 to 1ton truck. with 4 wheels (2 front, 2 rears) and 4x4. for the material handling trailer noted above. granted you could always pull trailer with tractor, but generally, at least with me, it ends up being a 2 person team, and one person on tractor, and another person driving a truck with trailer. when working out in pasture, fence lines, etc...
atv / utv
---a 30 gallon sprayer (to deal with various weeds that you don't want, to spray fence lines and like) there realitvy fast, there small, do not use that much fuel, get into places tractor, truck, etc... most likely not be able to get into. 30 gallon sprayer sounds small, but can go pretty far, for hand wand spot spraying, and when ya run out, of chemicals / water, you can get back to were ever fairly quickly to load backup, and go again. and when ya need to get off, it is a quick easy step, vs trucks and tractors that are abit more complicated. and if you need to leave tractor running to spot spray, ((it is way to easy to hit a lever and have tractor take off on you, been there done that, *shakes head* i do not want to try it again)) just say it gets deadly risky.
skid steers,
---i would stay away from if i was you. they are to slow. MPH (miles per hour) wise. they can be mighty beasts. but more geared for work sites. were distances travel is not very much, and trailer-ed in as needed for specific job.
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for agricultural equipment.... it sells a lot of used stuff but also new stuff shows up. it is a good place to get your feet wet, and learn what is out there and is available.
Used Tractors For Sale at TractorHouse.com: John Deere Tractors, used farm tractors and farm equipment, tractors for sale, Case IH, New Holland, Agco, Kubota
for industrial equipment.... TLB (like what you might see local city/township drive around, dealing with city / town ship up keep), backhoes do not come off. wheel loaders, dozers, etc... mostly commercial work.
Construction Equipment For Sale at MachineryTrader.com: Dozers, Scrapers, Wheel Loaders, Excavators, Motor Graders, Caterpillar, Komatsu, Case, John Deere, Volvo
TractorData.com - information on all makes and models of tractors ... gives very basic info, but used as a tool to compare the basic stuff between tractors.
