Tractors 101 - where to learn

   / Tractors 101 - where to learn #1  
T

travelrider73

Member
Joined
May 31, 2016
Messages
47
Location
Palmetto, FL
Tractor
Kubota B7100HST
I have been a reluctant city dweller all my life and at 40 years old, I have just gotten lucky enough to contract on a 5 acre parcel zoned Agricultural. This is my dream situation! If only it were 10 acres!

I now have questions I never thought I would be fortunate enough to have and I need to start educating myself. My wife and I want to cultivate some of this land and I think we should buy a small used tractor and the right mix of attachments. The 5 acres cost us a pretty penny (relative to our budget), so we can't spend a fortune.

So, not too small, not too big... Able to handle a variety of attachments such as a tiller, post hole digger, backhoe, skidder, loader, mower, etc. I'm not saying I want to buy all of these things necessarily, and I certainly can't afford to buy them all at once, but I want a tractor that can handle small versions of these accessories.

So, the question isn't specific to "What tractor should I buy" (at least not yet). I'm really asking how to best educate myself.

Thanks for your advice!
 
   / Tractors 101 - where to learn #2  
   / Tractors 101 - where to learn
  • Thread Starter
#3  
   / Tractors 101 - where to learn #4  
Those are good links indeed.

If you will hang around this forum and do your best impression of a sponge and try to absorb as much information as your brain can process, I think this forum is probably the best resource because you are not getting just one person's point of view. There is an absolute wealth of knowledge and experience here on TBN, and I have learned a lot from many, many posters here.

Oh, and congratulations on your new place. For 5 acres without any major clearing work to be done, I'd suggest looking at subcompact tractors like the Kubota BX series. They will do more work than their size would lead you to believe, there is a huge aftermarket (especially for Kubota and Deere), they are less expensive than their larger counterparts, and the implements are less expensive too. For the most part, they will do the same amount of work as a larger tractor; it just takes longer.
 
   / Tractors 101 - where to learn #5  
All of "tractor Mike" videos are worth watching too. He is a local to my area fella, but he has years of tractor experience, having retired from a tractor dealership in my area.

Tractor Mike
- YouTube
 
   / Tractors 101 - where to learn #7  
One more thing: Read the Safety forum here. It will teach you a lot about things NOT to do or things to avoid. There are a lot of ways to get hurt when using a tractor and implements. A lot of them are common sense stuff, but some might not be so apparent to the uninitiated.
 
   / Tractors 101 - where to learn
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Thanks everyone!!! You've already pointed me to a ton of information to keep me busy for a while.

I do have one question in light of the suggestion for a "sub-compact" tractor. If I'm buying used, is there any truth to the idea that you can get a used high quality farm tractor that's designed to last 50-60 years as inexpensively as you can a lightly used sub-compact? What do you all think about the pros and cons of buying a "small farm quality tractor" with a lot of hours on it vs a "high end homeowner quality tractor" with low hours? As an analogy, I've been researching heavy tow vehicles for a giant 5th wheel. An interesting thing I've learned is that I can buy a Class 8 tractor with 500k miles on it (designed to go 1M before overhaul) substantially cheaper than I can a Medium Duty Truck with 50k miles on it (designed to go 200k). Does this same anomaly hold true in the tractor world?

P.S. I've been watching Tractor Mike for at least 45 minutes. Excellent videos! Thank you, Mike -- wherever you are!
 
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   / Tractors 101 - where to learn #9  
I'm not knowledgeable on the prices of older farm tractors, so I can't directly answer your questions. But, yes, those old 50 - 60 year old tractors were made to last forever. The problem is that nothing lasts forever, and anything made by man can and will break at some point. Then the questions are: (1) are the parts available, (2) what does it cost to fix it, and (3) WHO is going to fix it?

What I'm saying is instead of looking at the purchase cost, look at the overall cost of ownership.

When you buy an old tractor, you never know if you're buying something that will be trouble free for the next 5 years, or if the last guy got rid of it because he knew it was soon going to need an expensive repair.
 
   / Tractors 101 - where to learn
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Poopdeck Pappy said:
I'm not knowledgeable on the prices of older farm tractors, so I can't directly answer your questions. But, yes, those old 50 - 60 year old tractors were made to last forever. The problem is that nothing lasts forever, and anything made by man can and will break at some point. Then the questions are: (1) are the parts available, (2) what does it cost to fix it, and (3) WHO is going to fix it?

What I'm saying is instead of looking at the purchase cost, look at the overall cost of ownership.

When you buy an old tractor, you never know if you're buying something that will be trouble free for the next 5 years, or if the last guy got rid of it because he knew it was soon going to need an expensive repair.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear about what I was asking. I am not suggesting I might consider a 50 year old tractor by any means. I like new technology too much to do that. What I was asking is if used larger farm quality tractors lose value faster than used compact tractors, thereby making them a good value for a homeowner with acreage. Maybe it lost more value because of higher hours, but if it was manufactured better because of its intended use, then maybe 3000 hours on a high end model still has more life left in it than 1500 hours on a lower end model... That's what I'm wondering about.

Another way to frame my question: Given a particular budget, would you buy a higher end bigger model that may be a couple years older and have more hours on it -- or would you buy a smaller lower end model that's closer to the current year with less hours on it? Is the bigger tractor necessarily "better built" enough that the extra hours don't matter?
 
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