Tractor recommendations for hobby farm

[RJohnson]

You might also want to rent an appropriately equipped tractor for a week and try it out on your place. A lot of dealers will apply the rent to the purchase of a new tractor if you decide to buy from them. Then again if your rental didn't fit your needs you have not tied up a great deal of money and can go on to another option.

Randy

[gerard]

Lot of good advice. I'd say first determine the size you need (30-40 would do what you need) then start shopping the big three and comparing apples to apples. As said I'd consider a loader a must, HST preferable (even though I have the gear!!) and then consider the mid mount vs the 3 pt finish mower. Now about the mowing - if you want to use a tractor that big on finish grass I hope you have wide open space and not a lot of trees to go around. If you do go with the mid mount - much more maneuverable. Downside is not easy to take on/off, can interfere with going "off road" due to clearances, expensive. Even a 3 pt finish mower is going to run you around $1500 for a 5 footer. You might want to consider compact for your big things and a separate lawn tractor for the finish grass - I went that way and paid less for a 42 inch hydro 18hp lawn tractor brand new than a 3 pt finish mower would have run me and I have better maneuverability. (I mow about 1.25 acres of finish grass)

[Anonymous Poster]

These pages are designed to assist first time tractor shoppers.
http://carverequipment.com/tips.htm
http://carverequipment.com/kubota.htm
http://carverequipment.com/used_cool_seasons.htm

Have fun.

[Anonymous Poster]

I would agree with the majority that 50HP is too large for mowing a lawn. I purchased a JD 4500 two years ago with a rear mount finish mower that runs and works great. There clearly is some problem with compaction in the yard and turning if not careful, however overall I can mow my six acres of yard in less than two hours.

I also tried the separate mower for yard, tractor for other work, which was OK except that the time difference in mowing six acres was too much.

The issue of mid-mount versus rear mount mower was also considered. the mounting issue ended that. Secondly I decided to purchase a 8' heavy duty finish mower which could double as a pasture mower provided I raised the deck and mowed the pasture every 4-6 weeks which I do. The 4500 has plently of power to run the 8' mower and still mow at a acceptable speed.

I have nearly 300 hours on this rig, no problems, fun to use and the envy of my neighbors.

[Anonymous Poster]

Add me to the list of folks suggesting a Kubota L3710 HST. I use it with a loader and run the midmount mower. Without the midmount mower, I run a trencher, a sickle bar mower, a logging winch, and a shredder. I also use it to bale hay pulling a NH 311 baler.

I was looking specifically for a hydrostatic tractor with no more than 30 pto hp to run the trencher. The trenchers I've seen restrict input to 30hp and require a hydrostatic trans to get the super slow ground speed you need. With the hydrostatic trans you can run the engine fast enough to maintain pto rpms and still crawl at a snail's pace.

I've got a quick disconnect on the loader so I can switch over to forks. I've picked stuff that Kubota wouldn't be happy with weight wise. I can't say enough about the machine. It's been superb. Last summer I used it to winch a 2 1/2 ton IH dump truck up a hill to remove earth for a cistern.

I've got a Ford 5600 (60hp) MFWD and I still prefer using the Kubota unless I'm towing really heavy loads. After looking at the other brands and reading the posts here, I knew the Kubota was going to be a problem free tractor.
I'm too far from a dealer to buy a tractor that's going to be a hassle.

Acreage wise, I cut hay on about thirty acres and mow about five acres. The only beef I can think of is that the midmount mower is not exactly easy to hookup or remove. That's working on grass. If you have a paved area it'd be simpler.