Largest HP for lawn and 40 acres?

[Sigarms]

Ok, my two house payments should be turning to one in the near future, which makes actually owning a tractor very possible.

From my previous posts, this board has me leaning towards a 40-50 hp tractor for my 40 acres.

I have at least 5 acres of lawn surrounding the house (most of this "grass land" is in front and on the sides of the house, with a fence behind the house, which seperates the "lawn" from the pasture area), with 43 trees on this lawn.

My neighbor has been letting me borrow his ZTR on my lawn, and I've come to REALLY like riding it (I can get the entire lawn done in 3 hours or so).

I have a "barn" about 80 yards off to the right of the house, which is were I'd keep the tractor.

About 200 yards of driveway from the road to my house (barn sits about 50 yards of the road on the right coming into the house).

Now, for the "big" horse power on the tractor, I'd be using the tractor for the pasture and land behind the house which is the remainder of 35 acres or so.

To access this land, I will need to drive the tractor over some lawn to my gravel road (driveway) to go to the paved road, hang a left and drive the tractor down this road (vehicle traffic, not much) to an access road about 400 yards down the paved road. This road leads to the pasture, and I will need to ride over two creeks at times to access differnet parts of the pasture. From this road, I can literally get to 50 yards behind my house.

There is no way to drive the tractor behind the house due to a back deck and gate area (to tight, but I can make it down in my truck).

Now..at this time I cannot afford a ZTR and tractor.

My wife is thinking why spend the money on a ZTR now and then a tractor later, why not just buy the tractor now and get a finishing mower with tractor.

Couple of questions.

Whats the largest tractor you'd get to mow a lawn?

Should I get Ag or industrial tires?

On my first post looking for a tractor, I was leaning towards a 30hp, but after reading some comments about "coming up short" on hp, I'm leaning towards the 40-50 hp range.

Will a 40-50 hp tractor be too much for mowing a lawn?

I realize with trees on the lawn, it may take more time with a tractor.

The entire land (40 acres) is fenced in, and currently I'm letting a farmer use it for his cattle (about 30 acres for the cattle, multiple fences and gates).

Although we don't mind not charging the farmer for use of the land (he had an agreement with the previous owner to bush hog it for his cattle use). You see, the house and land had been unoccupied for some time, and the pasture was "overgrown", but when the previous onwer actually lived here, he used the land for his horses). A couple of years down the road both my wife and myself would like to use the land for other things (which means a tractor would be nessesary). Thinking about it, still not sure what I'm going to do about hunting season /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

After using my neighbors ZTR, I'm leaning towards buying a ZTR and wait a couple of years for a tractor to do "more work" around the land (such a digging some drainage areas, bush hogging, trees, fence repair.

Nice thing at this point is that the farmer using the land
(the 30 acres) is bush hogging it for me (and you should see the size of that Massey F, not sure what hp it is, but it's got to be at least 100hp!)

So...Do I but the ZTR and wait, or get the tractor (again, both at the same time is not possible at this time).

I'm open to comments or suggestions. I've found that reading the posts here always sheds some "insight/thoughts" that may not have occured to me.

Experience is the best teacher, only that I don't have any experience in this matter /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bill_Calmes]

My 4wd John Deere 770 has ag tires for the best traction on my hill, but at about 2,300 pounds, I won't cross the lawn with it. So if your land is flat, get the industrial tires.

My regret with this 23 horse tractor is that it is only rated for a mower that is narrower than the track of the tires. Buy something with enough horsepower to go wider. Other than that, I'm quite happy with my little tractor (on 5 acres). A little tractor will pretty much do what a bigger one does - only slower.

 

[Sigarms]

Bill

Three out of the five acres are mostly flat.

I was thinking of industrial tires, but... on one dirt road "in back" there are some drainage issues along a portion of the access road. This section does get very muddy, and I'm wondering if industrial tires would be the best choice?

I will need to travel this road to get to another pasture on the property.

But, if I go with ag tires, it may be too much for the lawn (for mowing).

 

[RonR]

One approach might be to buy like a BX2230 with 60" MMM and FEL. This will give you a great mowing machine (maybe not as fast as the ZTR), but will also let you start on some of the larger stuff. For some more $$$$, you could buy an offset mower to pull behind the BX to cover the ground faster.

If I were doing it, I'd get the newer small unit now and later, when needed, get a used utility tractor 25-45HP to do more ag type jobs.

My two cents. I'm sure others have similar good ideas to spend your money! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

ron

 

[Will_C]

I think you are askimg alot of any one machine. How much work will you do with the tractor? Like Ron said, if you tractor usage will be low hours, I would consider buying an older utility tractor, and buying a Z mower now.
Will

 

[Ryno1]

I agree with the others, ZTR now and a bigger used tractor later. You can pickup something like an Allis D17 with brushog and loader for under $5000. It'll have all the power you will need.

Now the other way, buy a small tractor now, say 30hp (I have the NH TC30) with industrial tires. Don't worry about getting stuck. It can be done but between the FWD, differential lock, and loader you can get out (well most of the time /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) Anything bigger then 30hp is too big for a yard (30 hp probably is to but will work), anything smaller is to small for the rest of the 40 acres.

You didn't ask but letting the guy run cattle and all he does is brushhog? Pretty sweet deal for him. Around here those deals are usually worth $3-$6 per head per month or the cattle owner takes care of fence upkeep, fertilizer, seed, etc.

 

[Sigarms]

Will_C

Starting off, the tractor hours will be low. Most of the time at this point, I will be mowing the lawn (it seems to grow fast and can get out of hand if I let it go for more than a week and a half).

I have numerous other projects with the house that will take alot of time for the next year or two, and at this time, the other 35 or so acres can "wait".

Thats why my thought "process" has changed to getting a ZTR so I can get the lawn done "quick" and have time to do "other things".

Originally, I was looking at getting a CK30 or L3130 for both mowing and "tractor work", but after some feedback, was leaning towards a DK45S or maybe an L4330 or higher.

But...again with the size issue and mowing.

I wouldn't mind buying somthing "older" (tractor wise), but I have looked and will keep looking, but at this point, I'm not holding my breath on finding anything "decent" both in quality and price (at least in my immediate surroundings).

You wouldn't beleive what people had paid for "very old" tractors at four autions that I have gone to. Seems that poeple biuld themselves up into a "bidding frenzy" on somthing they want irregardless of high the bidding is.

Thks

 

[Sigarms]

Ryno1

Yes, I thought it was a "pretty sweet deal" as well.

Before we bought the house, the real estate agent even told of this "agreement".

I consider both myself and my wife reasonable people (to the point where people may take advantage of us), but... at this point he (farmer) is bush hoging (only one time so far, not sure how often he intends to do this), and we (my wife and I) didn't want to "rock the boat" so to speak. If anything, I'm hoping it shows we're trying to be "neighborly" /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Perhaps part of the problem is that I really wanted a dang tractor! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif and at this point, it may not be nesesary (for the time being).

Also, if I spent the money on a 30hp unit, best pricing I've seen with FEL and mower and r4 tires was around 17-21k, depending on make and some other variables). If I spend that much, i'd just as rather spend an extra 5 or 6k to go higher in hp.

At that point, I'd arather just spend 5-7k on a ZTR and wait (and save) for a tractor,

 

[Ryno1]

I understand "not rockin the boat" been there and done that. A ZTR sounds perfect for you at this time. Keep watching at auctions, took me almost a year of watching before I bought my first tractor. It was a older D17, no loader or equipment. Well since I enjoy auctions, I kept going, bought a brushhog, plow etc. Used it all for about 4 years. This spring I sold the old D17 and all the equipment for about $300 more then I had in them. Originally I gave $3250 for the tractor, sold it for $3400.

Keep watching the right deal will come along. Also, around here certain brands go cheaper then others for instance an old Ford 8N might bring $3000 at auction, a D17 about the same. D17 is alot more tractor. Old internationals seem to go low too. Good luck Terry

 

[OrangeGuy]

Sigarms,

Sounds like you have a great place. I also have 40 acres with about 5 of it in lawn. My primary tractor tools are a 35 HP Kubota L3430 (plenty of HP for 40 acres) and a 22 HP Kubota F2260 front mower. I've owned the front mower since 1997 because a great looking lawn mowed as quick as possible was my first priority. In 2003 I added the L3430 with cab to make snowplowing my long driveway more pleasant (getting too old to sit out in the cold). Additional attachments such as a FEL, 90" RFM, 3pt sprayer and others have made the L3430 a year-a-round tool.

So my recommendation would be to get your mowing situation firmed up first and then move on to a bigger tractor in the future.

OrangeGuy

P.S. I like the front mower better than a ZTM in my situation, because I have over 100 black hills spruce trees around my home and the front mower works much better getting under the low hanging branches.