Seanachie
New member
Howdy, I’m a newbie from KY and I’d like to request some advice. We have a small (23 acre) gentleman’s horse farm in western Kentucky. We bought it when it was in need of maintenance and repair, both to the land and the house. I’ve pretty much got the house part solved but am wondering what to buy to maintain/repair the land.
We’ve got 4-5 acres of sloping lawn to be mown weekly and 10 acres of semi-smooth (and semi-bumpy) pasture to be limed, dragged, and knocked down 4-5 times a year. The prior owners left a bunch of tree tops at or in the woodline and I’d like to move them to either the wood pile or the burning pile. I also want to maintain/ expand some overgrown riding trails through the woods.
We’ve got two horse at the moment and plan to add more within a few years. Obviously, horses mean muck carts and moving organic fertilizer. I have a big muck/compost pile that’ll need to get turned soon. I’ve got some minor landscaping project planned like flower beds and vegetable gardens for sometime in the future. We also have a ¼ mile long gravel driveway which will require maintenance.
I’m just finishing up 20 years of playing Army and Uncle Sam keeps me out of town a lot, therefore my beloved spouse will be the primary lawnmower and property maintainer for the next year or so. I won’t really be able to spend a lot of time on a tractor for a couple of years.
We had a Cub 1042 which died an ugly death after 550 hours.
(Yeah, I know it wasn’t big enough for that place but it was perfect for the 1 ½ acre level suburban carpet, er, lawn at our last house.) Now we need to replace it. No lawn tractor means no tow-behind garden trailer and the wheelbarrow gets old quick.
Options:
I. A Husqvarna GT26K54 garden tractor. I know the Mrs. and our 10-year old daughter (who is already 5’3” tall ) could use it. The daughter would not be running the blades right now but has been towing stuff with the tractor for two years so it’s getting time to teach her. I know this means hiring someone to deal with the pasture but I’m not gonna be home all that often and I’d really like to spend part of the time I do get at home with the family. Don’t get me wrong, I like using a tractor but it’s kind of a solitary activity. I can always drive the pickup truck or the Husky with 17 cubic foot garden trailer over to the woodline and load the wood by hand. Also, I actually own (NIB) a 48’ snow and gravel blade, sleeve hitch, and box blade for a Husky that I found on deep clearance. Why? My buddy has a GT2448 and I figured I could give them to him for a birthday present if I didn’t buy one. Also, I’m thinking of adding a Johnny Bucket to it. Anybody got one? What do you think of them? My only concern with the Husky is the hand-operated ground speed control. We’re used to a forward and back foot pedal and this is a new concept. What do you folks think of this setup? How safe would it be for my daughter? And would it make things too complicated when using attachments that also use the hands to control such as the snow blade or Johnny Bucket?
II. A 2004 John Deere model 2210 with FEL and 48” bushhog. The tractor has 71 hours on it and is in great shape. They want $10K-ish for that setup or they’ll throw in a new 62” mid-mount mower for a total of $12K (before I start negotiating). I don’t want to spend $12K outright so I’d want to finance it and I think the Deere 0% promo expired yesterday. Because this one is used, it wouldn’t qualify for the promotion anyway. My wife said the 2210 that we test-drove basically “feels like the Cub Cadet on steroids”. Meaning that she was fine with it. She said that about the one with the MMM only; she wasn’t so comfortable with the one with the FEL and bushhog mounted. That’s OK, I’d mostly be the one using those. The problem is that I won’t be around to do a lot of it. I’m not sure if this tractor would be big enough to tackle all that I want to do but I’m thinking (haven’t driven one yet) that the next size up (JD 2320) would stop feeling like a “big mower” and start feeling like a “small tractor”. That might be cool for me but not so much for my wife who wants to almost exclusively use it as a mower. Plus, I don’t want to destroy my lawn with a tractor that’s too big. I want to get the full use out of any attachments and I’m concerned that the 22210/2305 would be overtaxed using them. I would eventually like to get a backhoe, but that’ll need future clearance from the Household Command Authority.
III. A new JD 2305 (or orange equivalent) with the same options as above. Basically the same tractor as the 2210 but comes with full warranty and shiny new paint. Obviously, it’ll cost more. How much should I expect to pay? Not sure on financing options. Might save a chunk on financing costs if we buy new, plus it’ll be a newer model and more desirable on (if/when) resale.
IV. Buy the Husky now and look for a new JD 2320 in two years. This way my wife will have something she’s comfortable with right now and we actually get a bigger tractor which should handle everything when I’m ready to devote more time to it. Downside, no tractor to play with during my infrequent opportunities to play and additional costs. Upside, deferred purchase, not paying for tractor to get old in my barn, and two separate tools when we’re done.
Sorry for the length of this post, but I’d gratefully appreciate any advice you can offer. Thanks in advance for your help.
We’ve got 4-5 acres of sloping lawn to be mown weekly and 10 acres of semi-smooth (and semi-bumpy) pasture to be limed, dragged, and knocked down 4-5 times a year. The prior owners left a bunch of tree tops at or in the woodline and I’d like to move them to either the wood pile or the burning pile. I also want to maintain/ expand some overgrown riding trails through the woods.
We’ve got two horse at the moment and plan to add more within a few years. Obviously, horses mean muck carts and moving organic fertilizer. I have a big muck/compost pile that’ll need to get turned soon. I’ve got some minor landscaping project planned like flower beds and vegetable gardens for sometime in the future. We also have a ¼ mile long gravel driveway which will require maintenance.
I’m just finishing up 20 years of playing Army and Uncle Sam keeps me out of town a lot, therefore my beloved spouse will be the primary lawnmower and property maintainer for the next year or so. I won’t really be able to spend a lot of time on a tractor for a couple of years.
We had a Cub 1042 which died an ugly death after 550 hours.
(Yeah, I know it wasn’t big enough for that place but it was perfect for the 1 ½ acre level suburban carpet, er, lawn at our last house.) Now we need to replace it. No lawn tractor means no tow-behind garden trailer and the wheelbarrow gets old quick.Options:
I. A Husqvarna GT26K54 garden tractor. I know the Mrs. and our 10-year old daughter (who is already 5’3” tall
) could use it. The daughter would not be running the blades right now but has been towing stuff with the tractor for two years so it’s getting time to teach her. I know this means hiring someone to deal with the pasture but I’m not gonna be home all that often and I’d really like to spend part of the time I do get at home with the family. Don’t get me wrong, I like using a tractor but it’s kind of a solitary activity. I can always drive the pickup truck or the Husky with 17 cubic foot garden trailer over to the woodline and load the wood by hand. Also, I actually own (NIB) a 48’ snow and gravel blade, sleeve hitch, and box blade for a Husky that I found on deep clearance. Why? My buddy has a GT2448 and I figured I could give them to him for a birthday present if I didn’t buy one. Also, I’m thinking of adding a Johnny Bucket to it. Anybody got one? What do you think of them? My only concern with the Husky is the hand-operated ground speed control. We’re used to a forward and back foot pedal and this is a new concept. What do you folks think of this setup? How safe would it be for my daughter? And would it make things too complicated when using attachments that also use the hands to control such as the snow blade or Johnny Bucket? II. A 2004 John Deere model 2210 with FEL and 48” bushhog. The tractor has 71 hours on it and is in great shape. They want $10K-ish for that setup or they’ll throw in a new 62” mid-mount mower for a total of $12K (before I start negotiating). I don’t want to spend $12K outright so I’d want to finance it and I think the Deere 0% promo expired yesterday. Because this one is used, it wouldn’t qualify for the promotion anyway. My wife said the 2210 that we test-drove basically “feels like the Cub Cadet on steroids”. Meaning that she was fine with it. She said that about the one with the MMM only; she wasn’t so comfortable with the one with the FEL and bushhog mounted. That’s OK, I’d mostly be the one using those. The problem is that I won’t be around to do a lot of it. I’m not sure if this tractor would be big enough to tackle all that I want to do but I’m thinking (haven’t driven one yet) that the next size up (JD 2320) would stop feeling like a “big mower” and start feeling like a “small tractor”. That might be cool for me but not so much for my wife who wants to almost exclusively use it as a mower. Plus, I don’t want to destroy my lawn with a tractor that’s too big. I want to get the full use out of any attachments and I’m concerned that the 22210/2305 would be overtaxed using them. I would eventually like to get a backhoe, but that’ll need future clearance from the Household Command Authority.
III. A new JD 2305 (or orange equivalent) with the same options as above. Basically the same tractor as the 2210 but comes with full warranty and shiny new paint. Obviously, it’ll cost more. How much should I expect to pay? Not sure on financing options. Might save a chunk on financing costs if we buy new, plus it’ll be a newer model and more desirable on (if/when) resale.
IV. Buy the Husky now and look for a new JD 2320 in two years. This way my wife will have something she’s comfortable with right now and we actually get a bigger tractor which should handle everything when I’m ready to devote more time to it. Downside, no tractor to play with during my infrequent opportunities to play and additional costs. Upside, deferred purchase, not paying for tractor to get old in my barn, and two separate tools when we’re done.
Sorry for the length of this post, but I’d gratefully appreciate any advice you can offer. Thanks in advance for your help.
