Ready to order

[sizzler]

We're on 5 acres near St. Paul, MN (hilly, woods and heavy underbrush, old pastures, some marshy areas in spring). We keep a few llamas (well more than a few) and the expanding hobby farm jobs now justify a tractor. More importantly, spouse finally agrees, so I'm ready to order, and could use some help with a few last details...

Immediate jobs include:
- FEL for managing bean piles (llama manure) and bedding
- lifting & moving oak timbers for a small timber-frame barn project
- filling & grading around barn site and in pasture areas
- clearing snow from drive and access areas
- hay wagon, bale moving
- reclaim/maintain old pasture from sumac and vine invasion
- fence post holes

It's a really hard choice between Kubota and JD (I've rented both) but I've decided on:
- JD 4410 HST
- 430 Loader
- standard ballast box
- pallet fork attachment

box blade, post auger, bush hog have to come later ($$$)!

Questions:

1. SCV - how many total for FEL and future box blade (and maybe front blower)? I was thinking 4 (?)
2. Mid PTO - don't need it now, but how difficult is field install if needed later?
3. Power beyond - what would use this besides log splitter and backhoe? Again, how difficult is field install?
4. Tires - I'm thinking R4 for puncture resistance and tread, but will the R4s rip up grass if I run on the yard occasionally? With 4WD, would turfs work OK for loader, snow, and hills?

Thanks for any input, and especially thanks to all for everything I've learned hanging around TBN over the last year or so!

 

[Thomas]

So when do you plan to purchase your new JD..maybe us Bota owners could swing your vote back. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Boondox]

Sizzler -- No way I'd be thinking turf tires for what you intend to use the tractor for. Had em on my previous tractor and found them pretty worthless even in 4WD except for perfectly dry turf. Even in a heavy dew they'd slip going uphill. Mud or snow? Forget it!

Personally, I'd consider ags first and R4s second.

Pete

 

[DavidH]

Sizzler: I'm sure the JD 4410 is more than enough tractor for 5 acres. My question is about your llamas. I just had some dogs come through my property and kill 15 of my baby goats. If I see the dogs they're dead, but since I can't be there all the time some people have suggested llamas for protection. Others have suggested donkeys and Great Pyrennes dogs. The llamas sound like a great idea, I just wonder if you had any information.

 

[Bird]

Dave, I don't know anything about llamas, but in this part of the country, the larger goat farms usually have the Great Pyrennes, with donkeys being second and llamas probably about tied. However, if you go with donkeys, get jennys, not jacks, and get more than one. I made the mistake of putting a young gelding donkey in with my goats and he went berserk and killed one; would have killed more if we hadn't fought him off.

 

[Steve_in_Ont]

Your decision looks great to me... Just one small thing that I can't understand... Why buy a ballast box, when you could buy a dirt scoop... load it with sand bags when you need rear weight... and get the additional benefit of one additional implement. It might be just a bit larger than a ballast box, so if turning clearances are an issue this might be a problem... but other than that...

Just a thought.

 

[Buck]

I made the mistake of buying a ballast box too. It sits in my barn-- what a waste! Get a scraper or other heavy thing to stick on the back. Get someting you can use as a complement to the FEL. I wish my dealer would have parented me on this. I would have increased his business and saved myself $175.

Buck

 

[Knight9]

Pete,

<font color=blue>Had em on my previous tractor and found them pretty worthless even in 4WD except for perfectly dry turf. Even in a heavy dew they'd slip going uphill. Mud or snow? Forget it! </font color=blue>

Hmmm....makes a guy wonder why some folks have issues like this and others don't. I have turfs on my 2410 and have gone up and down wet hills with a lot more than dew on them. I've gone through some mud (limited however) and certainly snow. I can honestly say that I just have not experienced the slippage you are talking about. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif Now I'll confess to being a tractor rookie so it certainly so maybe I'm just not pushing the tractor hard enough? Now I certainly think industrials or ags look cooler /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif and for applications like Sizzler where it sounds like barnyard work I would certainly order one of those. However, I do think that turfs seem to get a bad rap when it comes to the traction game!

Just my $0.02
Kevin

 

[sizzler]

Steve -

Clearance is a factor - the rentals I used had box blades, and I got into a couple of tight situations grading around the barn foundation with the extra 2-3 ft hanging off the rear. But agreed, a scoop or box scraper makes more sense than ~$200 for just dead weight. I'll price it out and see how much extra length I'd pick up.

 

[sizzler]

David -

The 4410 is more than adequate for 5 acres, and if we weren't doing the heavy lifting and loader work I'd look at something smaller. Also, there's a good chance we'll be on 40A or so in the next two years, so best to think ahead. That's my story and I'm sticking with it, if my wife asks.

Llamas work great as herd guards - sheep, goats, cattle, even ducks and geese. We have several farms in northern MN wolf country using them (and we have llama caddies at a few local golf courses). They have to be bred or trained to guard - look under "Uses" at the link below for some general info:

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.llamapaedia.com/>http://www.llamapaedia.com/</A>