The big question...what tractor should I get...?

[mygoatboy]

Hello,
This is my first post of what I hope will be many in this great forum. I have a question regarding what tractor I should get. I have 5 acres which is about 65% woods and I am hoping that a tractor will help me clear out some of my land. I also will use it for snow removal on a roughly 600 ft. driveway. I am planning on renting about 10 acres for haying and 5 acres of orchard. It will also be used for cleaning out the barns. Any help would be great.

 

[RoyJackson]

Anything between 22 and 30 HP at the PTO.

I've a Deere 790 with 24 HP (PTO) which I can attest would be a good machine for your tasks.

I'm sure the Kubota and New Holland folks will respond with their opinions as well...

 

[Mark4510]

Mygoatboy,
Welcome to TBN. I think you will find you can get most of your questions answered here. If you have not done so already you might want to take a quick look through previous and current posts and see if any of the information applies to you.

You dont offer a price range that you are comfortable with so let me start with what my experiences have been and assume you are not fixed by price too much. We have 3 horses, about 800 feet of gravel drive to maintain, lots of wooded slope and severel pastures. What drove my tractor decision was my implement needs. I needed an arena drag, a box scraper for the drive and a loader for moving logs, shavings, etc. It seemed like something in the 30-50 hp range was about right. Big enough to do most of what I wanted yet small enough to get in the barn and around trees. Long enough to make smoothing the drive easy and heavy enough to get the traction I need.

I bought a JD 4510 because it was the larger frame size and it would do what I needed it to. The other reason I bought that tractor was the dealer. I looked at Kioti, Kubota, MF, and NH but none of the dealers seemed to have time to answer questions. The reality here, from my perspective, is that the tractors are all so close in price/performance that the dealer is a key factor.

Others might have a different opinion but you could start there or slightly smaller and try them out at the dealer.

My only biased comment here would be that, compared to the other colors, I find the JD layout to be, by far, the best.

Best of luck.
Mark

 

[mygoatboy]

I was thinking of in the 40+ hp range because of wanting to be able to have a baler with a kicker and still have enough power to pull the wagon filled with 150 bales. I would have to go used probably because my budget is about $8500. I would like diesel and 4wd unless there are goods arguements against both. I have read alot of the posts but still can not make my mind up.

 

[BarryinMN]

Take a look thru fastline.com to get a feel for what is out there in your price point & start narrowing it down from there.

 

[Inspector507]

<font color="blue"> I would like diesel and 4wd unless there are goods arguements against both </font>

There's going to be argument FOR both /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[mygoatboy]

Also one other concern I have is if I am going to be using it in an orchard I would need to have wide tires on it so as to avoid damaging roots. Should I just switch them out when I get the tractor or search for an orchard model?

 

[Soundguy]

That means you will want turf tires.. or at very least.. industrials.. but not agg tires. Many industrials can be found that fit agg rims.. however turf's usually require different rims.. and no matter what you choose.. if you have 4wd.. you need to keep the ratio for the front and rear correct to prevent driveline windup. Also.. rubber is expensive. A turf rear costs about twice as much as an agg rear tire.

Look around.. there are a few deals.

Soundguy