Kao
New member
- Joined
- May 7, 2007
- Messages
- 13
Hi - first time poster and first time tractor buyer.
I have read many of the posts on this site and really like the amount of experience the members have.
After reading several posts, I have come down to a final few tractors that I need help in deciding on because my uses are slightly different from some of the other posters I read.
I'll lay it out as plain as I can.
Geography - I have 80 acres in northern wisconsin, gets very cold in the winter and the soil on my property is clay. The ground I work on is not hilly...pretty much all flat. About 50 acres are wooded and 25 acres are field/pasture and 5 acres are finished lawn.
My intended use:
Repairing and maintaining a gravel driveway - about 300ft long plus parking areas. All the gravel has been scraped off from plowing and now is just a rutted clay mess.
I plan on doing quite a bit of loader work (hauling and dumping dirt/gravel) in the first year...but after the first year it will be only occasional loader work.
Occaisional brush mowing in the field and edges. Most of the field gets hayed and some of it I may open up to horses as I have kicked the idea around of pasture boarding some horses.
I would like to blaze a few trails through the wooded area. The perimeter of my land has been gone through with a tractor in the past (over 10 years ago) and by 4-wheel atvs on a few occasions...so i know it is passable. My hope is to make walking trails for bird hunting or shooting lanes for deer hunting. There are no trees over 6-8" in diameter so any 30hp tractor shouldnt have any problem dragging a few out of the way once they are cut down.
We put a new house up 2 years ago. On a slab in the middle of a hay field. My neighbor did my front yard for me by removing the topsoil, hauling in black dirt and sloped it away from the house using his bobcat. Very nice job, but needs some low spots filled with more black dirt.
The back yard is still field...I would like to use my new tractor to either disc it or remove some topsoil and bring in black dirt - much like the front yard. So I need *some* digging capabilities with the bucked...but not much.
Snow removal - we can get some nasty winters up here. My old full size jeep is on its last legs for plowing and my 10hp Husqy snowblower takes quite a while to do the driveway and parking areas. My neighbors bobcat makes short work of it, but I cant keep relying on him to do my dirty work
Other than that the tractor will be used for light duty stuff...maintenance mostly.
I have narrowed my choices down to:
Kubota L3400 - Manual - 34.7/29hp motor/pto - $16,350
Kubota L3400 - Hydro - 34.7/27.5hp motor/pto - $17,250
New Holland TC30 - Hydro - 30/25.5hp motor/pto - $17,150
Depending on financing, I may be able to afford:
Kubota L4400 - Manual - 45.3/37.5hp motor/pto - $23,000
John Deere 990 - Manual - 40.4/35hp motor/pto - Havent got a price yet.
Dealers:
Here is the real problem in deciding.
I have one JD dealer and one Kubota dealer (bobcat dealer) within 30 miles.
The NH dealer (who also does kubota) is about 85 miles from me.
Thats it. So if the NH needs dealer work - its 85 miles one way.
The JD dealer is a bunch of jerks. They mostly sell motorcycle sand ATVs JD tractors up to about the 4000 series. Their service dept is so-so and basically the whole staff seems pretty arrogant.
The Bobcat/Kubota dealer works mostly with heavy equipment. I have faith in them being able to handle any service work with skill and professionalism. That being said..I have yet to visit them to get pricing.
The pricing I did get is from the far away dealer. My uncle has bought his farm equip from them and he speaks highly of them. They always have had the best pricing and have given him straight advice on purchases.
From a dealer standpoint I am leaning toward buying a Kubota from the farther dealer and getting any service from the closer one...but I will give the closer one a chance to give me good initial pricing as well.
Im open to suggestions, questions and any other comments.
Thanks in advance!
I have read many of the posts on this site and really like the amount of experience the members have.
After reading several posts, I have come down to a final few tractors that I need help in deciding on because my uses are slightly different from some of the other posters I read.
I'll lay it out as plain as I can.
Geography - I have 80 acres in northern wisconsin, gets very cold in the winter and the soil on my property is clay. The ground I work on is not hilly...pretty much all flat. About 50 acres are wooded and 25 acres are field/pasture and 5 acres are finished lawn.
My intended use:
Repairing and maintaining a gravel driveway - about 300ft long plus parking areas. All the gravel has been scraped off from plowing and now is just a rutted clay mess.
I plan on doing quite a bit of loader work (hauling and dumping dirt/gravel) in the first year...but after the first year it will be only occasional loader work.
Occaisional brush mowing in the field and edges. Most of the field gets hayed and some of it I may open up to horses as I have kicked the idea around of pasture boarding some horses.
I would like to blaze a few trails through the wooded area. The perimeter of my land has been gone through with a tractor in the past (over 10 years ago) and by 4-wheel atvs on a few occasions...so i know it is passable. My hope is to make walking trails for bird hunting or shooting lanes for deer hunting. There are no trees over 6-8" in diameter so any 30hp tractor shouldnt have any problem dragging a few out of the way once they are cut down.
We put a new house up 2 years ago. On a slab in the middle of a hay field. My neighbor did my front yard for me by removing the topsoil, hauling in black dirt and sloped it away from the house using his bobcat. Very nice job, but needs some low spots filled with more black dirt.
The back yard is still field...I would like to use my new tractor to either disc it or remove some topsoil and bring in black dirt - much like the front yard. So I need *some* digging capabilities with the bucked...but not much.
Snow removal - we can get some nasty winters up here. My old full size jeep is on its last legs for plowing and my 10hp Husqy snowblower takes quite a while to do the driveway and parking areas. My neighbors bobcat makes short work of it, but I cant keep relying on him to do my dirty work
Other than that the tractor will be used for light duty stuff...maintenance mostly.
I have narrowed my choices down to:
Kubota L3400 - Manual - 34.7/29hp motor/pto - $16,350
Kubota L3400 - Hydro - 34.7/27.5hp motor/pto - $17,250
New Holland TC30 - Hydro - 30/25.5hp motor/pto - $17,150
Depending on financing, I may be able to afford:
Kubota L4400 - Manual - 45.3/37.5hp motor/pto - $23,000
John Deere 990 - Manual - 40.4/35hp motor/pto - Havent got a price yet.
Dealers:
Here is the real problem in deciding.
I have one JD dealer and one Kubota dealer (bobcat dealer) within 30 miles.
The NH dealer (who also does kubota) is about 85 miles from me.
Thats it. So if the NH needs dealer work - its 85 miles one way.
The JD dealer is a bunch of jerks. They mostly sell motorcycle sand ATVs JD tractors up to about the 4000 series. Their service dept is so-so and basically the whole staff seems pretty arrogant.
The Bobcat/Kubota dealer works mostly with heavy equipment. I have faith in them being able to handle any service work with skill and professionalism. That being said..I have yet to visit them to get pricing.
The pricing I did get is from the far away dealer. My uncle has bought his farm equip from them and he speaks highly of them. They always have had the best pricing and have given him straight advice on purchases.
From a dealer standpoint I am leaning toward buying a Kubota from the farther dealer and getting any service from the closer one...but I will give the closer one a chance to give me good initial pricing as well.
Im open to suggestions, questions and any other comments.
Thanks in advance!