Buying Advice Is this tractor, the right tractor for the tasks at hand?

[CobyRupert]

The flip side to the "ease of operating" argument is maybe many of the inexperienced volunteers shouldn't operate a tractor, which is more likely to occur if the tractor is an easy to drive HST. There's still a lot of things that are dangerous & can go wrong with an easy to drive tractor. I shouldn't stereotype, but I'd guess that some of the possible operators are more idealistic and wishful than experienced in the harsh realities and casualites of heavy equipment operation and excess animal populations.
An "intimating" manual tractor may keep them off it.
Then again, there are more dangerous things that might go wrong with a manual.
One can argue both ways.

 

[newbury]

Has anyone explored getting a 2 wheeled tractor like a gravely? That with a small trailer would greatly enhance the mucking capability and be easy to maneuver in and around the stalls.

I've got a 50HP geared Kubota and would not want to try to muck stalls with it even in that big of a barn.

It seems like unless you luck out on operator selection there is a great chance of significant damage with even a BX or similar. Take down a couple of stalls or a horse and it gets expensive real quick.

 

[TBDonnelly]

I've got a 50HP geared Kubota and would not want to try to muck stalls with it even in that big of a barn.

The Ford 345c is listed at 52hp, so size wise should be comparable to your 50hp Kubota. It's difficult to get a good sense of how large the tractor is from the picture. The box blade behind the tractor looks fairly small. So figuring that's a standard size box blade, that's a large tractor. The Ford 345c would do well grading the pastures on either side of the barn, after that my feeling is it's way to big and cumbersome for everyday barn chores. If there were more than one tractor in the picture it would be nice to have it available for an experienced operator, however I don't forsee two tractors at the rescue. I share the safety concern inside the barn. There's 1/2 dozen free ranging dogs(inside the barn) at any given time plus kids. In my own experience I'm always looking over my shoulder, checking for kids behind my tractor. I added rear facing LED strobe lights that I leave on day and night to alert people/kids of the tractor. It was a good idea (mentioned in a previous post) to take a contingent from the rescue to the tractor to sit in the seat, get the feel of the tractor and instructed on it's operation, then get their feedback.

 

[TBDonnelly]

Take down a couple of stalls or a horse and it gets expensive real quick.

Unintentional demolition is never a good thing. There will need to be a lot of open arena practice drills whichever tractor eventually resides at the rescue. The exhaust is another factor to consider, much of the time the tractor could be operating inside the barn with all the occupants (4 legged, 3 legged and 2 legged). Does it belch excessive black smoke or what's consider normal for a tractor of it's age.

 

[TJP89]

Unintentional demolition is never a good thing. There will need to be a lot of open arena practice drills whichever tractor eventually resides at the rescue. The exhaust is another factor to consider, much of the time the tractor could be operating inside the barn with all the occupants (4 legged, 3 legged and 2 legged). Does it belch excessive black smoke or what's consider normal for a tractor of it's age.

The bottom line here I think is that the Ford in question is not suitable for the tasks and operators in mind. The first time I was moving my Farmall H around the barn, I forgot which way reverse was, put it in 1st, let off the clutch, and plowed into a wall. luckily the throttle was real low, so no damage was done (except to my pride) before the tractor stalled. Then again, all I hit was an exterior wall and a work bench. If someone did the same in your case, they could pin a horse between the wall and a 4000# tractor, not pretty. Although the risk of serious accident is always there with any tractor, it will be greatly reduced with modern equipment. I also would make sure that nobody drives the tractor until they have shown that they can use it in a safe and competent mannner. Even if you get a brand new tractor, there will be maintenance and small repairs to handle and you must have a plan for that. Buying a tractor is a serious business, and you must think through all the issues with it, like where are you going to keep it? It seems to me that the group has decided a tractor is needed, but although well intentioned, they have no idea what they are getting into and need good advice so this does not end up in a disaster. 8 grand is a lot of money to spend on a spur of the moment decision.

 

[bspeedy]

Something that caught my attention is that you mention 'free range' dogs and kids. Dogs usually have the sense to take care of themselves, but kids are not always aware of their surroundings. I do not recommend operating a tractor if there is any chance a child can or would be within 50 feet of the operating area. I have two boys and they are very aware of the need to keep distance between the tractor and their bodies. Still, their safety is my number one concern, and they are not permitted to play or walk or stand near the area where tractor work is being done. Please adopt a strategy to keep every person and animal safe from the work area - whichever tractor you choose. Failure to do so could cause an accident that will haunt those involved forever.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Something that caught my attention is that you mention 'free range' dogs and kids. Dogs usually have the sense to take care of themselves, but kids are not always aware of their surroundings. I do not recommend operating a tractor if there is any chance a child can or would be within 50 feet of the operating area. I have two boys and they are very aware of the need to keep distance between the tractor and their bodies. Still, their safety is my number one concern, and they are not permitted to play or walk or stand near the area where tractor work is being done. Please adopt a strategy to keep every person and animal safe from the work area - whichever tractor you choose. Failure to do so could cause an accident that will haunt those involved forever.

That's good advice. Need to adopt a "No Kids Near the Tractor" policy.

 

[whizdbiz2]

Maybe I can suggest an alternative... a PTO powered manure spreader and a small utility tractor to pull/power it. I'm thinking that you will not be mucking stalls with a loader, no room to do that in most facilities I've ever seen. What I do see is a spreader to dump into, when full run it out into a pile. You could run the spreader down the aisle and let the volunteers load from each side. Doing it a bucket load at a time would seem to be a lot of running back and forth.

We have about 42 llamas and a barn with pens that are 20 x 40 and two 20 x 60. We clean it every night with scrapers (on concrete) and shovel and rakes (no don't have to clean the whole area, llamas are communal dung pile users so we actually scrape up less than half the area). We shovel the piles into rolling trash cans then dump into a 125 bu. spreader sitting outside one of the doors hooked to a Ford 8N. We usually have to empty it one to two times a week onto a compost pile in a corner of the property. Just back up to the pile and let it fly. The Ford you are looking at it really too big for what you have, in addition to the other issues folks here mentioned. We also have a Mahindra eMax 22, and even it is really too big to operate well in the pens, hence the reason we hand clean. The FEL on the eMax can be used to pile the compost up and keep cleaned up around the pile. If you have lots of room that shouldn't be an issue, our space is somewhat tight. You could either acquire something used with a FEL (the Kubotas mentioned would be excellent) or rent something when needed to load the spreader again to spread the composted "material". Utility tractors can be fairly inexpensive to buy and operate.

 

[rimshot]

So far as I can see, Mowing grass with this cut tractor should be passed on to a smaller lawn type tractor. I don't know how much grass you have to mow but there is no reason you cant go to the likes of the corner hardware store and buy a lawn unit for $1-2000. No reason to use a peace of equipment anywhere close to a cut tractor for this type of a task.

rim

 

[sd455dan]

Is this the right tractor for these tasks? There is a 96' x 200' barn on 13 acres. The barn has horse stalls lining either side of the 200 foot length. There are pastures on both sides of the barn. The center, open area of the barn is sand & used as a horse riding arena and needs grading on a regular basis. About 12 horses are housed with regular stall cleaning required. All in all, there are 50 to 70 animals from dogs, cats, pigs, goats, sheep, llama's and horses. The barn sits at the low end of the property so water issues on the sandy barn floor are at times an issue.



The property is utilized as an animal rescue, rehab and sanctuary by a wonderful all volunteer group. They are currently fundraising and have been offered this Ford 345c for $8,500. In your opinions does this tractor have the features necessary to be a efficient barn tractor for the tasks at hand? I believe their will be multiple operators learning to operate a tractor once their is one on site. The Ford 345C's were built between 1988 - 1992. Three cylinder diesel, two wheel drive tractors. I don't know any particulars about this Ford 345c. The barn has no other large power equipment. All tasks are handled by an old riding mower for arena dragging and wheel barrels for transporting manure outside the barn. The tractor needs to be a swiss army knife to handle as many tasks as possible, to include snow plowing & manure spreading. At this stage I'd like to focus the discussion on the Ford 345c capabilities in the barn environment. Size, weight, maneuverability, reliability, part support, features, transmission, etc. Thank you....

T he 345 is an industrial- somewhat like my older 3000 with loader,but built heavier.

It has a loader that will put any b or bx to shame -lift capability of about 3000 lbs.
For pulling a box blade or field work it will also out work a b or bx - Need to verify it has a pto not sure if all 345s do?
If it is a small barn ( Oh I guess not 96'/200') the 345 may take some finesse especially with a manual transmission. (hope it has power steering)
I like the Ford tractors - but for beginner operators a smaller 4 wheel drive tractor with HST trans makes more sense.

The ford will work to plow snow with weight on the 3 point and chains, did it for years with mine.

For one or just a few skilled operators I would take the 345 . But with a bunch of newbies- and inside barn work a smaller 4x4 hst probably makes more sense JMO

Whatever you decide on- a manure bucket/grapple would make a lot of sense for your barn uses- this will be a lot easier to set up on a quick attach /skidsteer style FEL which is not the FEL set-up on the Ford.

Good Luck on your search and whatever tractor you decide on :thumbsup: