mason156
New member
I am a nubie looking at whether it is time for a "first-time" tractor. I know very little about "farming" per se, but have been here and running our operation "tractorless" for 15 years, so I definitely have a good sense of the kind of things I need to do.
I live on a ~100 acres of hilly land in Northeastern CT. ~15 acres of the property are fields which (for the time being) are hayed by a farmer down the street. The rest is woods with a few crude path/roads running through it. We heat with wood, get a bunch of snow, want to garden on a "fairly grand" scale, and would like to move lots of heavy things like rocks, abandoned equipment left in the woods, etc. We currently use a walk-behind brushmower, and would love it if that could become a thing of the past - particularly if we could fight back the multiflora rose and autumn olive that encroach on the fields if not held in check. In the ideal world, we could also use it to mow the lawn, but I am concerned that a tractor that is "delicate" enough for the lawn is not going to fare well in the woods. On the flip side, a monsterous tractor will not do well in our woods. Its wet, rocky, and uneven.
To date we have used a beat-up farm truck to do most of these jobs. It's not pretty, but it has been OK and remarkably cheap. With the kids getting older, we have less time to mess with this. A little speed would go a long way to making things easier.
A problem is that I can't spend $20k-$30k on tractor right now. We'll probably have that kind of money to spend on a tractor someday, but it isn't now and not likely to be in the next 10 years. We have the house, and the kids, and other stuff. I could probably spend $10k-$20k, but would rather be <$15k. I don't know that that tractor exists. (I like to think I am somewhat realistic)
On the new/used argument, I am reasonably good at fixing things, but I don't need another "project." I have a house that is one of those.
Options that have been suggested to me are;
1. Buy a smaller new tractor, have the farmer do the heavy lifting for now, buy a bigger tractor later
2. Buy a bigger used tractor now.
3. Wait and buy a bigger new tractor when you have the money
4. Get an old 2WD tractor as an "intro machine"
5. Hire out the work to locals with machines of their own.
I would appreciate any insight people could offer on these approaches or maybe even one I have not listed. I would like to get started - more importantly my wife would like to get started, so I could benefit from making a decision on this soon.
Thanks,
Steve
I live on a ~100 acres of hilly land in Northeastern CT. ~15 acres of the property are fields which (for the time being) are hayed by a farmer down the street. The rest is woods with a few crude path/roads running through it. We heat with wood, get a bunch of snow, want to garden on a "fairly grand" scale, and would like to move lots of heavy things like rocks, abandoned equipment left in the woods, etc. We currently use a walk-behind brushmower, and would love it if that could become a thing of the past - particularly if we could fight back the multiflora rose and autumn olive that encroach on the fields if not held in check. In the ideal world, we could also use it to mow the lawn, but I am concerned that a tractor that is "delicate" enough for the lawn is not going to fare well in the woods. On the flip side, a monsterous tractor will not do well in our woods. Its wet, rocky, and uneven.
To date we have used a beat-up farm truck to do most of these jobs. It's not pretty, but it has been OK and remarkably cheap. With the kids getting older, we have less time to mess with this. A little speed would go a long way to making things easier.
A problem is that I can't spend $20k-$30k on tractor right now. We'll probably have that kind of money to spend on a tractor someday, but it isn't now and not likely to be in the next 10 years. We have the house, and the kids, and other stuff. I could probably spend $10k-$20k, but would rather be <$15k. I don't know that that tractor exists. (I like to think I am somewhat realistic)
On the new/used argument, I am reasonably good at fixing things, but I don't need another "project." I have a house that is one of those.
Options that have been suggested to me are;
1. Buy a smaller new tractor, have the farmer do the heavy lifting for now, buy a bigger tractor later
2. Buy a bigger used tractor now.
3. Wait and buy a bigger new tractor when you have the money
4. Get an old 2WD tractor as an "intro machine"
5. Hire out the work to locals with machines of their own.
I would appreciate any insight people could offer on these approaches or maybe even one I have not listed. I would like to get started - more importantly my wife would like to get started, so I could benefit from making a decision on this soon.
Thanks,
Steve